67% FASTER EXTERNAL DRIVE PERFORMANCE on M1 with thunderbolt display

[HDFan]

The OWC blog has a post detailing how you can get faster external SSD speeds if you use a monitor, up to 2352, 2550 MB/s write/read.

"Our theory to what causes this dramatic speed increase is that the M1 CPU only supports one video output signal to its TB4 ports. When a Thunderbolt display is connected to an M1 Mac’s TB4 port, the other Thunderbolt 4 port on the Mac does not need to support video output. It can then deliver the full PCIe data bandwidth potential to an attached external drive. Inquiring minds might ask, “why aren’t the read speeds affected?”

Simply put, Thunderbolt technology doesn’t use bandwidth for an input (read) video stream."

Get Up to 67% Faster External Drive Performance With Your M1 Mac!

Not getting the write speeds you were expecting with an external drive on your M1 Mac? Read on for some breaking news...

eshop.macsales.com

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

2243 MB/s write and 2827 MB/s read (using BlackMagic) on my TB3 SSD and I don't have a Thunderbolt display.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

Interesting! Here‘s a follow-up to the aforementioned article on the OWC blog:

More Ways to Get Faster External Drive Speed With Your M1 Mac

In order to get the fastest write speed of an external drive when used in conjunction with an M1 Mac, the following conditions are required:

eshop.macsales.com

I really hope that this is a firmware issue Apple is working on it.

 

[ca$hman]

2243 MB/s write and 2827 MB/s read (using BlackMagic) on my TB3 SSD and I don't have a Thunderbolt display.

+1 same for me...

 

[deksawyer]

+1 same for me...

What drives/enclosures are you guys using?

The Sabrent Rocket in my Orico TB3 enclosure doesn't seem to give the fastest write speeds with the M1 Air. It's permanently attached to my Intel Mini anyway, and is faster there so it's not a problem, but it would be good to see what works faster with the M1.

D.

 

[ca$hman]

I am using a Neckteck enclosure with a WD SN750 1T Black.

 

[Patricia1066]

Will the external storage performance increase occur if you put a dummy type-c edid on one of the tb ports of1 mac mini?

 

[Pressure]

Will the external storage performance increase occur if you put a dummy type-c edid on one of the tb ports of1 mac mini?

1. The storage device (either bus-powered or AC “self-powered”) MUST be connected directly to one of the M1 Mac’s Thunderbolt ports.
2. Plus ONE of the following:
   • Connect a TB3 Display to the second Thunderbolt port on the M1 Mac.
   • Connect a TB3 Dock such as our 14-Port Dock, which offers native multiple display type support (HDMI, DisplayPort, or VGA without needing an active adapter) to the second Thunderbolt port on the M1 Mac. In this scenario, no external display needs to be connected to the M1 Mac.
   • Connect a TB3 device to the second Thunderbolt port on the M1 Mac AND connect a TB3 ORUSB-C display to a Thunderbolt port on the TB3 device. The good news here is our Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock and the Mercury Elite Pro Dock (a unique combination of storage and connectivity) both provide a speed boost. When using an OWC Envoy Pro EX (Thunderbolt 3) drive connected to an M1 Mac, a USB-C display connected to the OWC Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock, and the Dock connected to the M1 Mac, there was a 56% write speed increase!