File transfer from M1 MBA to External Hard disk

[fantasticman]

Hi

Anyone having problems when transferring files from their M1 Macs to external hard disk?

Folders of the external hard disk are slow to load , file transfer are extremely slow if it even starts?!

Anyone know a solution to this?

Thank you

 

[orkuneray]

Yes, I have same problem 268GB data transferring from Lacie Rugged HDD(135MB per second) 16 days!... I tried 2 different M1 computer and 4 different hard drive(HDD/SSD/Flash drive all slow). I called the apple support they made a report I will talk with one of the engineer on Saturday. Will see what's gonna happen. I would recommend to call apple support and create a report they already notice this problem

 

[matrix07]

Nope. Fast as USB 3.0 can be.

 

[Mr Screech]

What hub/dock are you using? I've read that directly connecting a drive to the M1 might have slower performance because of some usb-chipset. Docks usually are faster.

Download the blackmagic disk speed test to see what speed you're getting on the external drive.

I have 5 hdd's connected through one usb port(5 gbps) on a thunderbolt dock. The only slow transfers I'm getting are from disk to disk within that hub <100mb/s. Directly from M1 to one hub-hdd is fast >100mb/s. SSD's are obviously faster.

Last thoughts, it might be indexing the drive with spotlight after transfer, but that shouldn't kill performance by what you're saying. Or the way the external drive is formatted?

 

[orkuneray]

What hub/dock are you using? I've read that directly connecting a drive to the M1 might have slower performance because of some usb-chipset. Docks usually are faster.

Download the blackmagic disk speed test to see what speed you're getting on the external drive.

I have 5 hdd's connected through one usb port(5 gbps) on a thunderbolt dock. The only slow transfers I'm getting are from disk to disk within that hub <100mb/s. Directly from M1 to one hub-hdd is fast >100mb/s. SSD's are obviously faster.

Last thoughts, it might be indexing the drive with spotlight after transfer, but that shouldn't kill performance by what you're saying. Or the way the external drive is formatted?

I'm not using any hub/dock. Hard drive formatted Mac OS Extended(Journal). Using original cable comes with the hard drive. tried 4 different type of hard drives. If I test same hard drive with the same cable but Intel Mac I'm getting normal speed but with M1 around Write 50MB/s Read 35MB/s (which is supposed to be 135MB/s). Yes, I checked some YouTube videos everyone telling some slower speed and you can pass thru with hub but all of them out of stock also why I'm trying to fix apple mistake if I cannot have hub how I'm going to use the computer. copy paste simple task... 16 days little bit lot for transferring 268GB...

Update 1: I see couple articles I tried indexing the drive with spotlight but still same didn't effect anything
Update2: I tried turning firewall on and allowed everything little bit helped not bad right now

I'll keep fuzzing tonight seems like kind of security problem because when I run Aja or Blackmagic speed test starting normal speed and suddenly getting slow like something blocking the speed and sometimes getting faster seeing some spikes. My thought is M1 and Big Sur not communicating well some kind of security fights hardware and software

 

[Ningj]

Have been doing excatly that over the last few days and transferring 1TB+ to several USB3 drives at max drive speed. Admittedly USBC SSD (10Gbps) to USB3 backup drives at the time. All drives formatted as APFS volumes.
What does System Info say the negoitated link speed is for the target USB drive and interface? 35MB read is barely faster than USB2. That said, even @ 35MB/sec read, 268GB should only take around 2hrs 20mins to transfer.

Just repeated the process with an inexpensive Seagate USB3 drive locally connected to a USB3 Mac Mini port (5Gbps so USB3 speeds). Unfortunately I dont have another USB3 drive at home to test USB3 - USB3 throughput.

This is about as fast as this 2TB drive goes as its NOT a high performance model :-(

Same drive connected to USB3 hub via monitor - similar/same results (its mostly full so some variability is expected):

 

[gogogo2]

50-100m is normal speed for HD,
You get 400m for external ssd, 800m for USB3.1 m2 external ssd, 2000m for TB3 m2 ssd,

 

[Ningj]

Do you have encryption enabled e.g. APFS Encrypted? Not sure why given modern CPU's with onboard AES acceleration but throughput will take a significant hit of up to 40% with APFS encryption enabled on external USB drives.

 

[Leon1das]

Using Samsung T7 1Tb Usb-C direct connection and it works with no issues no matter the file system used (journaled, ex-FAT).