iPad MBP(16" 2021) to iPad Pro(2022) file transfers limited to 80MB/s??

[AppelGeenyus]

Does anyone know how to transfer files directly between Mac and iPad Pro over a cable at high speed? Both devices claim to support Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4 up to 40Gbps but speed is always capped to ~80MB/s which is a joke. I have tried three thunderbolt cables(v3 and v4) and one 10Gbps usb-c cable. Is there specific way file transfers have to be done? Is anyone else able to do this at high speed?

Also transferring directly between an external 10Gbps SSD into iPad Pro gets ~400-500MB/s which is a lot better but that's only half of what I get from the same drive connected directly into my Mac which maxes out at ~900MB/s.

Have tried different file types and sizes all the way up to 10GB, same result every time.

 

[joevt]

What does the Mac say is the connection speed between the Mac and the iPad? Search for an iPad device in the USB or Thunderbolt section of System Information.app.
1) using USB-C 10 Gbps cable.
2) using Thunderbolt 40 Gbps cable.

3) The speed depends on the benchmark. What method are you using to measure the speed?
4) Can the iPad Pro appear as a disk in the Finder so that you can use a disk benchmark utility?
- If you're doing Finder copies then I wouldn't expect greater numbers.
- AmorphousDiskMark.app usually gives the highest numbers (sequential read/write).

- 80 MB/s is slightly faster than USB 2.0 at least.
- I would expect USB 3.0 to be ≈ 450 MB/s. 500 MB/s is definitely over the USB 3.0 limit.
- USB 3.1 gen 2 can max out at 1060 MB/s but that's for Intel Macs. M1/M2 Macs have slightly slower USB 10 Gbps speeds.

Do you have a Thunderbolt 3 device (not Thunderbolt 4) that you can put between the iPad and the Mac?
5) iPad and Mac connected to two Thunderbolt 3 ports of Thunderbolt 3 device
6) iPad connected to Thunderbolt port and Mac connected to USB port of Thunderbolt device
7) iPad connected to USB port and Mac connected to Thunderbolt port of Thunderbolt device

 

[AppelGeenyus]

I've both checked activity monitor and actually timed transfers to check speeds, it's always almost exactly 80MB/s.

Speed in sys info reports as a USB device 'Up to 10 Gb/s' regardless of cable, dock or port used(I've tried it all), and running a disk benchmark app directly on iPad shows Read/Write as: 2.94GB/s/1.33GB/s (yes gigabytes not gigabits), so the capability is all there on the iPad side to at least do up to 10Gbps over USB(which I'd be fine with).

iPad shows up in finder like it used to in iTunes, not as a disk.

80MB/s is obviously truly unacceptable for a 2022 device marketed as USB4 and Thunderbolt compatible. A $5 USB stick from a gas station can perform faster than that 😑.

 

[Rafterman]

When I transfer my video collection from my Thunderbolt 3 drive to my Macbook Pro 16, I can transfer 6TB in about 2-3 hours. When transferring 1TB from my Macbook to the iPad M2, it takes about 3-4 hours. I use Apple's own (expensive) Thunderbolt cable.

So its clear Apple limits the TB speeds on the iPad.

 

[AppelGeenyus]

Tried several times with Apple support to verify what speed should be expected, unfortunately they just regurgitate tech specs from the product pages. 😔