Slow Lacie Mobile Drives

[hexa-db]

I've recently got around to running the Black Magic speed test app against my Lacie external drives and they seem far slower than expected, even for non-SSD HDDs.
I have a 5TB mobile drive that seems to get around 72MB/s for reads & writes, and a 4TB version that's even worse at around 48MB/s.
I've tested them with the supplied USB C cable connected to the thunderbolt ports, and also with the included USB A cable. I've tried them on my 2019 iMac and on my work 2018 Macbook Pro - all with similar results. They're formatted as MacOS Extended (Journaled).

Are those the best speeds I can expect or is there anything else I can try? I did see a screenshot on an Amazon review where someone was getting around 120MB/s and someone on here mentioned getting over 200MB/s after reformatting.

I have contacted Lacie support but as they're out of warranty I'm not expecting too much.

 

[Amethyst1]

I assume those are mechanical 2.5" HDDs running at 5400rpm or some such? If so, I'd say 72 MB/s is decent; 48 MB/s is a bit slow indeed. Can you provide a link to the drives?
Those 120 or 200 MB/s results might have come from the drive's cache or some sort of a RAID 0 setup.

 

[hexa-db]

Yep it is a 5400rpm drive so maybe I’m expecting too much.

This is the 5TB one:

LaCie Mobile Drive, 5TB , External Hard Drive, Moon Silver, USB-C, 2 year Rescue Services (STHG5000400)

Sleek design. Extensive storage space. The LaCie mobile Drive reflects how much room there is in a generous loft or large landscape. There's plenty of storage space for your photos, playlists, documents, and more. And thanks to Mac, Windows, USB-C compatibility, that data is easily accessible. On...

smile.amazon.co.uk

(I’ve attached a pic from the Amazon review.)

I also found this review that shows BlackMagic test speeds over 120MB/s but for the 2TB version:

LaCie Mobile Drive Review

A metal-skinned gem of a platter hard drive, the LaCie Mobile Drive looks great and performs on point. It's geared to macOS users, but it will please anyone with an eye for style in their gadgets.

uk.pcmag.com

 

[Amethyst1]

How much free space is on the drives? They get slower as they fill up.

 

[hexa-db]

I think the 5TB one is about 45-50% full. I’ll have to check… (edit: just checked - 2.45 TB free on the 5 TB drive and 648 GB free on the 4TB drive)

Another point of comparison, I also have an old 1TB drive removed from a 2009 iMac and put in a Freedom Quattro USB enclosure. That measured around 80-85MB/s.

 

[Amethyst1]

I think the 5TB one is about 45-50% full. I’ll have to check… (edit: just checked - 2.45 TB free on the 5 TB drive and 648 GB free on the 4TB drive)

The 4 TB drive is nearly 80% full. These reviews are nearly always performed on an empty drive, right at the start of the disk - where hard drives are fastest.

Another point of comparison, I also have an old 1TB drive removed from a 2009 iMac and put in a Freedom Quattro USB enclosure. That measured around 80-85MB/s.

How much free space does that one have? And is it 2.5" or 3.5"? 3.5" drives are faster than 2.5" ones.

 

[hexa-db]

The 4 TB drive is nearly 80% full. These reviews are nearly always performed on an empty drive, right at the start of the disk - where hard drives are fastest.


How much free space does that one have? And is it 2.5" or 3.5"? 3.5" drives are faster than 2.5" ones.

True about the 4TB one - I guess that would account for the difference between the 4 & 5 TB drives.

The old 1 TB drive has 424 GB used.

I think maybe I'm expecting too much.
I started looking at this because I use the 5TB drive for my Lightroom catalog and in the past (on my old 2009 iMac with some kind of external drive - I can't remember what kind) Lightroom was really responsive, now on my newer iMac with the Lacie drive I get delays when moving between photos and when switching to the crop tool etc. I know the real answer is to spend a ton of money on a big SSD in an enclosure but it seems like a big investment to make it perform like my old machine did! I guess I was hoping there was something I'd missed that would improve the performance.