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2018 Mac Mini vs M1, M1 slower in external SSD speeds
- Thread starter Dave_O
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There is likely a firmware issue been discussed in other thread, that T5 is not recognized at full speed, but T7 is just fine.
I am using a Corsair MP600 2GB NVME SSD in an ORICO Thunderbolt 3 NVME SSD enclosure, here are the results on my M1 Mac mini:
it is as fast or faster than the internal SSD of the M1 Mac mini. I purchased the 512GB version so having this fast 2TB external drive is nice. I am using this drive because I pulled it out of my x570 PC build before selling it so I had it laying around.
it is as fast or faster than the internal SSD of the M1 Mac mini. I purchased the 512GB version so having this fast 2TB external drive is nice. I am using this drive because I pulled it out of my x570 PC build before selling it so I had it laying around.
I have this Thunderbolt enclosure with a third party SSD and get about 2,000 MB/s on both an Ice Lake MacBook Pro, and an M1 Air.
Shell Thunder - Intel-Certified Thunderbolt 3 SSD Enclosure
Shell Thunder is the only NVMe SSD enclosure on the market that is designed specifically for Thunderbolt 3 ports and lightning speed. Shell Thunder is the only high-performance Thunderbolt 3 enclosure engineered for active cooling that’s whisper quiet. Carry your creativity in your pocket, and...
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ally-10gb-s-also-definitely-not-usb4.2269777/
This thread we also have T5 with reduced speed but T7 is at full speed ､
I just tested my external TB3 SSD drive on Mac mini M1 and MacBook Pro i9. I can confirm that speed on M1 is very "jumpy". Between 500 and 2100 write and same for read. On the other hand on i9 it is always at max! So M1 seems to have a problems with Tb controller, not only USB affected but also TB3 devices. Not good at all 
Hey guys! Just faced the same issue. What I've got:
- An M1 powered Mac Mini
- 1 TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVMe drive capable of 3300MBps write / 3500MBps read speeds
- A 20 Gbps Orico NVMe enclosure with a standard cable from the box
And with all of that I only have ~900 MBps (7.2Gbps) read/write speeds.
1. What I found out is that when I connect it all together, my Mac sees it as a USB 3.1 device with max speed of 10 Gbps. I tried to connect it with a different Type-C cable (the one I'm using to charge my Fuji camera) and it showed max speed of only 480 Mbps (~60MBps) which looks like a USB 2 speed.
2. In one of the posts above I've seen a table with speed comparison on different Mac's and the speeds in that test were significantly higher than my ~900MBps.
3. After summing both above things up I understood that we all just need to use Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4 (it already exists) cables to get max speeds from our external drives. It should help in most cases.
Just ordered one, will see how it works and let you all know if it solved the problem.
P.S. This link might be helpful:
(TBT3/USB3/TBT4/USB4 explained)
- An M1 powered Mac Mini
- 1 TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVMe drive capable of 3300MBps write / 3500MBps read speeds
- A 20 Gbps Orico NVMe enclosure with a standard cable from the box
And with all of that I only have ~900 MBps (7.2Gbps) read/write speeds.
1. What I found out is that when I connect it all together, my Mac sees it as a USB 3.1 device with max speed of 10 Gbps. I tried to connect it with a different Type-C cable (the one I'm using to charge my Fuji camera) and it showed max speed of only 480 Mbps (~60MBps) which looks like a USB 2 speed.
2. In one of the posts above I've seen a table with speed comparison on different Mac's and the speeds in that test were significantly higher than my ~900MBps.
3. After summing both above things up I understood that we all just need to use Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4 (it already exists) cables to get max speeds from our external drives. It should help in most cases.
Just ordered one, will see how it works and let you all know if it solved the problem.
P.S. This link might be helpful:
Received a Thunderbolt 4 cable today. No luck. The speed is still the same.
And now I know for sure what is going on.
Here's the exact model of NVMe enclosure that I use: Orico M2PVC3-G20 (https://www.orico.cc/us/product/detail/7286.html)
As I read in the specifications, it can run on the speeds of up to 20Gbps, but... only if it is connected to USB 3.2 Gen2x2 port. OMG... Who came up with all this USB MESS???
None Mac's support or ever supported this type of protocol and that's why it worked through a slower 3.1.
I decided to buy a new enclosure that works via Thunderbolt 3 or USB 4.
I'll make another post as I receive it...