Copying files to external HD - are these transfer times on m1pro mbp average?

[i4k20c]

i'm trying to transfer some files from my mac to external hd to free up some HDD space.
i have a 2021 mbp (m1 pro, 512gb, 16gb) running 13.6.6 and to transfer 3 files that are about 2.5gb each (7.5gb total) takes 11 minutes - does this sound right?

the external hdd is a WD My Passport USB 3.1.

it feels very slow but maybe this is about right! luckily most of my newer videos post iOS switch are backed up via icloud but i had some stuff from when i was on android that is backed up.

thanks all!

 

[Bigwaff]

the external hdd is a WD My Passport USB 3.1

Need lot more information...

Are your drive's specs 5 Gbps (Gigibits/sec) USB 3.1? Are you using a USB-C > USB-A adapter with the drive? Check the specs of the adapter.

You can also check the attached drive in System Information app under the USB section. Should tell you the negotiated transfer speed of the device.

What file system type is the drive formatted (APFS, ExFAT, HFS+)?

 

[arw]

(7.5gb total) takes 11 minutes - does this sound right?

No. This comes down to ~11 MB/s. Even USB 2.0 is capable of 30 MB/s.
Your WD My Passport USB 3.1 should be able to transfer files at ~100 MB/s (limited by the HDD, not the connection itself).

As stated above, more information about the exact model and connection is needed.
Even if the HDD was almost full and fragmented, the speed is way too low.

Did you select all 3 files at once or did you start 3 copy processes in parallel? The latter does not work well on HDDs because the read/write head has to physically move back and forth between 3 different locations on the platter.

 

[i4k20c]

Need lot more information...

Are your drive's specs 5 Gbps (Gigibits/sec) USB 3.1? Are you using a USB-C > USB-A adapter with the drive? Check the specs of the adapter.

You can also check the attached drive in System Information app under the USB section. Should tell you the negotiated transfer speed of the device.

What file system type is the drive formatted (APFS, ExFAT, HFS+)?

it is this product: https://www.westerndigital.com/prod...rt-for-mac-usb-3-0-hdd?sku=WDBA2F0050BBL-WESN

i am using the supplied usb a to usb c adapter.

in the system information, it says USB 3.1 BUS and says Up to 5 Gb/s. The file system is Journaled HFS+. Someone told me to always put backups in a .dmg container with a password since i have tax documents and stuff, so it is all going to a big .dmg file if that matters. it is a sparse disk image.

 

[i4k20c]

No. This comes down to ~11 MB/s. Even USB 2.0 is capable of 30 MB/s.
Your WD My Passport USB 3.1 should be able to transfer files at ~100 MB/s (limited by the HDD, not the connection itself).

As stated above, more information about the connection/adapters is needed.
Even if the HDD was almost full and fragmented, the speed is way too low.

Did you select all 3 files at once or did you start 3 copy processes in parallel? The latter does not work well on HDDs because the read/write head has to physically move back and forth between 3 different locations on the platter.

got it, see above for the specs!

i did select all 3 at once and just moved them from one folder to another and than hit delete on my macbookpro's hdd.

 

[Bigwaff]

so it is all going to a big .dmg file if that matters. it is a sparse disk image.

Slow spinning external HHD (not SSD) + older USB spec + sparse bundle ... I think it is what it is... fyi on sparse bundles

Common catches in Sparse Bundles and Disk Images

Why macOS may refuse to give you a very large sparse bundle, how you can’t change the password of encrypted sparse bundles, and more.

eclecticlight.co

 

[i4k20c]

Slow spinning external HHD (not SSD) + older USB spec + sparse bundle ... I think it is what it is... fyi on sparse bundles

Common catches in Sparse Bundles and Disk Images

Why macOS may refuse to give you a very large sparse bundle, how you can’t change the password of encrypted sparse bundles, and more.

eclecticlight.co

got it, that makes sense.
for the sparse bundle piece, i just followed some advice someone gave me long ago on this forum. is there a better way in today's world to protect an external hdd? mostly just wouldn't want someone to access bank records, tax forms, etc. - is there a better way to pw protect the drive so if its lost or a robbery happens, someone doesn't have access to everything?

 

[chabig]

is there a better way to pw protect the drive so if its lost or a robbery happens, someone doesn't have access to everything?

If you only have specific items to protect, you can put them into an encrypted disk image, as you've done. I do this for my financial files that are backed up to cloud services. It eliminates my data if the cloud service becomes compromised.

But for my external backups, I just encrypt the entire HDD, as there is no performance penalty. The only risk is that you'll lose access to the data if you forget the password, so be careful. Of course, the same is true for your encrypted disk images.

 

[HDFan]

One good tool for evaluating external drive speeds is the Blackmagic speed test.

 

[Squirrrrel]

You don't need to do sparse image bundles. You can just encrypt the entire drive using Disk Utility. The smaller 2.5" Passport drives will have a bit slower transfer speeds than the larger 3.5" drives. Also, for future reference, there's no such thing as a "for Mac" drive. That's marketing nonsense and they tend to charge a little more for no reason. You can use any external drive and simply format it to whatever you want with Disk Utility. I would use the APFS format as I find it to has the fastest transfer speeds of any other partition scheme. exFAT is a lot slower. I'm not sure what drive partition format you're using.

 

[Basic75]

just encrypt the entire HDD

This is the correct answer, you should encrypt all of your backup drives on the volume level, then everything you put on them will be encrypted.

Another point is that when your HDD is very full it will slow down because it has to seek around more for empty spaces to write the new data to.

 

[HDFan]

when your HDD is very full it will slow down because it has to seek around more for empty spaces to write the new data to.

Yes, be sure that you keep ~30% free space.

 

[zapmymac]

I agree with the above comments...encrypt the whole drive, and for easy access have Mac OS Keychain remember your password. If you do feel that is secure enough, make a secure note of the password (suggest 16+ digits).

Transfer speeds seem legit for at 5Gb/s connection to a spinner.

I have 2 full disk encrypted 5400 RPM full sized spinners (HPS+) for various backup reasons and they are slow. FYI, I do not use the 3rd party encryption scheme from Western Digital, I always set a new drive up via Mac OS encryption via Disk Utility.

Did I mention they are slow 🤪

 

[kc9hzn]

I agree with the above comments...encrypt the whole drive, and for easy access have Mac OS Keychain remember your password. If you do feel that is secure enough, make a secure note of the password (suggest 16+ digits).

Transfer speeds seem legit for at 5Gb/s connection to a spinner.

I have 2 full disk encrypted 5400 RPM full sized spinners (HPS+) for various backup reasons and they are slow. FYI, I do not use the 3rd party encryption scheme from Western Digital, I always set a new drive up via Mac OS encryption via Disk Utility.

Did I mention they are slow 🤪

5400RPM is pretty dang slow, if I were using spinning disk backup media, I’d probably want something a little faster!

Come to think of it, the Western Digital website doesn’t mention what the speed spec for those drives is. I’m sure it’s something not worth writing home about (otherwise they would have advertised it). I’m assuming it’s 5400RPM or even something worse like 4500RPM.

 

[zapmymac]

5400RPM is pretty dang slow, if I were using spinning disk backup media, I’d probably want something a little faster!

Come to think of it, the Western Digital website doesn’t mention what the speed spec for those drives is. I’m sure it’s something not worth writing home about (otherwise they would have advertised it). I’m assuming it’s 5400RPM or even something worse like 4500RPM.

Spot-on! Slow (old 2TB Green, and a 4TB Ironwolf). I have 2, 10 Gb/s (LaCie & Sandisk) SSD’s for my working daily use. Yes, they are cagey about RPM’s 😂🤷‍♂️

 

[steve123]

it is this product: https://www.westerndigital.com/prod...rt-for-mac-usb-3-0-hdd?sku=WDBA2F0050BBL-WESN

If you can afford the investment pick up a Thunderbolt NVMe enclosure (about $89) and NVMe SSD ($79 for SN850X). You could transfer those files in three or four seconds.