slow usb-c transfer speeds, reliability and Files app bugs, iPad OS, iPad Pro 2018

Known USB-A to USB-C cables version 3.1 gen 1 have been used. They work in all other cases, and when read speeds can reach around ten times write speeds (thereby being impossible on USB 2), there can be no doubt about the USB capabilities (connected to a Thunderbolt 3 dock, connected to a MacBook Pro 13 2018 (4 ports) the exact same drives (7 in total, one spinning rust) deliver far better performance with the same cable(s) - several tested - and SSD’s delivering read speeds in industry typical regions around 450 megabyte/second read and 350 to 400 megabyte/second write on USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports. Clearly demonstrating, that the involved cable(s) are not affecting performance. And that the disks are not defective either.

Thank you for your kind effort.

[Edited by Moderator]

It does seem that the ipad pro ships with a USB 2 cable with a C connector. I am ordering a new cable and will see if there is an improvement like in this video below. Mine came with a piece of crap, cable and slow charger as it was a amazon refurb. But I saved $450 on it. I'm sure speeds will still be slower than they should be but looks like they can be better with the right cable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs4rKJB8GWw

So I am sorry for my earlier posts... I spoke prematurely after being in shock at how long it took to get 32 gigs off the ipad pro to a hard drive the first time I tried it and needed to figure out what was going on and read more before I opened my mouth here. After a few tests today, writing to the ipad took about 6 seconds per gig using the Apple usb c to usb 3 adapter connected to my powered usb 3 hub and a Samsung Evo SSD, but transfering the same file off the ipad took about 30 seconds or more per gig. I hope they fix this soon.

So I got a new USB C to USB A 3.1 Gen 2 cable from Amazon and connected my iPad pro to my 2012 MacBook pro with it, and its transferring files at around 10 seconds a gig on and off the iPad. Before it was over 30 seconds a gig when connected directly to a drive via apples adapter or connected to my usb 3 hub and my 5,1 Mac Pro. The hub does not have enough power to charge the iPad nor does my pcie usb 3 card in the mac pro when the iPad is connected directly to it. If the iPad shows it's charging which it does when connected to the MBP then it seems to deliver the faster transfer speeds. If its running on its own power or connected to a hub that does not have enough juice to charge it, then the speeds drop. I will see what happens when I get the new USB C hub I ordered that has USB C power pass through. Since it can then charge the iPad when connected it should enable it to work at the fast speeds. It's still slower than it should be but not terrible. Not great for those on the road who just want to transfer files to and from their iPad directly with the adapter. Interestingly I found duplicating a file within the files app on the iPad is super fast, 3 seconds or less to duplicate a gig. I also duplicated 28 gigs and it was very fast. Maybe an update can fix this but maybe not, it could just be a power issue. My MacBook pro usb ports drop down to USB 2 speeds sometimes usually when i connect a bus powered drive, usually a reboot fixes it.

I really hope Apple fixes this ASAP so that the iPad can be a capable backup device. Thats one reason I bought it when iPad OS was release! The USB C Gen2 port should be able to handle 10gbits...more than enough for backups. But 20-30 MB/s is not enough. At least 70 or 80 MB/s should be there for some efficiency.

It's a huge frustration! I bought the iPad 50% because of the ability to make backups...I couln't have guessed that it's this bad. Also it shows that many selfproclaimed YouTube professionals don't really dig deep before they make their reviews. I hope Apple gets a hold of this soon.

I also have this (or similar) issue. It took 15 mins to get a 1.5gb Keynote file from my 2019 iPad Pro onto a standard USB stick, via the Apple dongle (with USB-B HDMI, and USB-C). That can’t be right.

Hi City of Sound. UPDATE: I have been doing a lot of testing. I bought an inatek usb c hub and when I transfering a 1 gig file to the ipad pro from my portable USB 3 SSD via the hub it does it in a speedy 4 seconds and this is the fastest I have scene so far. But when I transfer the same 1 gig file from the ipad back to the SSD via the hub it takes 30 seconds. The Apple adapter wont even mount my SSD and is most of the time extremely slow no matter the media, but a spinning portable drive usually mounts and its 10 seconds to the ipad and 1:30 off for the 1 gig file. Now if I use amazon basics data cable usb c to usb 3 and connect the ipad to my MBP its basically can transfer the 1 gig file at 10 to 12 seconds on and off the ipad via my internal system SSD or if I connect the same usb 3 SSD to my second usb 3 port on the MBP the speeds are the same. Its very odd. It seems its very touchy as far as what its connected to, chip sets power all seem to come into play. Maybe an update can fix it and maybe not. I am still on a quest for the perfect hub. My MBP is a 2012 so I am wondering what speeds folks get when using a moder USB C MBP and a USBC Data cable. That may be the best pairing.

I feel your pain; alas this is not the right forum to discuss the problem, since most meaningfull comments seem to somehow "disappear without trace". Especially those with actual documentation ;-)

December 2019 I had to decide, whether continuing using Apple gear on travel to Asia beginning 2020. Iphones were out since they have no USB-C and show abysmal import/export performances. My initial candidate iPhone 11 Pro MAX 512GB was soon rejected. My existing iPad also had problems (the start of iPadOS 13 was pure horror). I tested the latest USB-C iPad versions in order to find a replacement for my iPad Pro 10.5 (iPad Pro 11 was the only possible contender for me). Alas…

I finally chose the more drastic approach described here (contains a lot of actual speed measurements - import/export/copy etc):

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/63613663

This may not solve your problem, but it did solve mine. Especially concerning backups of large amounts of images/videos/audio. I also like the option to create “snap-videos” in 4k HDR10+ H265 video with BT.2020 like wide profiles instead of simple BT.709. It can make a huge difference in post with FCPX set accordingly. Don't try to edit HDR10+ material on iPads - it looks sick. Also on the most recent LumaFusion ;-)

The alternative was heaving along my MacBook Pro 13 (4 thunderbolt ports), but my solution made that superfluous (I do not edit or cull anything while traveling anyway - it’s often a waste of time and effort).

Hope you find a solution for your dilemma too.

Regards

I’m not using a hub at all but the standard Apple USB-C HDMI multiport-adapter. And putting a USB stick (thumb drive) - and not an old one - in that. It’s way too slow. I think I’ll have to go back to a MacBook soon. This, and a thousand other small things, suggest that the iPad Pro is (still) not really for pros. Not that copying files is particularly pro-behaviour! Thanks for the replies anyway.

"This, and a thousand other small things, suggest that the iPad Pro is (still) not really for pros.Not that copying files is particularly pro-behaviour!"

Well they finally promised proper file handling (with external media). They failed grossly. It was the reason I bought the iPad in the first place.

PLEAE ALL FILE A BUG REPORT / FEATURE REQUEST.

Re: “PLEAE ALL FILE A BUG REPORT / FEATURE REQUEST”.

P-lease!!

Apple designs its own hardware. Apple designs its own firmware. Apple designs its own software. Also for their iPad Pro’s. Apple knows exactly what limits are involved and why. Apples marketing and sales department also has a near perfect knowledge of all the details. The design was planned, executed and delivered by Apple, and Apple knew every detail possible, before poring the backbone of the design into concrete in chip form. In several main design generations.

Why should anyone waste any time by telling Apple, what it already knows?

If informing Apple of the limititations of their deliberate design is truly needed at this stage, there’s something fundamentally wrong with the company.

But... go ahead and file a “bug report” for this deliberate design called iPad Pro flagellated by Apple self in the unmitigated disaster called ipadOS 13 (the first few versions were pure horror). My four year old Microsoft Surface Pro 4 is still more usable in the “Pro department”, than the Pro’s from Apple. Especially regarding “connectivity” options aaaand speed!!. 

I bought my Apple iPad Pro as a test, and the product - hardware, firmware, software, support and infrastructure based on iCloud - flunked. As simple as that! I only miss one, extra product suffix. In the future I’ll name my pro “iPad Pro Con” (con as in consumer, of course ;-).

Apple is first and foremost a manufacturer of consumer goods. Nothing wrong with that.

Life goes on.

Hi. Hope someone can help.

I have the Pro 3rd gen 12,9 version with 256Gb. I’ve made some videos from my GoPro camera in a very average quality. Only FHD quality 1920x1080.

I have a USB Hub 3.0 and I’ve try to read the videos directly from the Files APP through the microSD port and it’s too damm slow!!! Only play well the first 3 seconds and after it’s impossible...It’s always stopping and very slow....

I try to copy the file to the IPad and it’s also too slow....900mb files takes to long....

A don’t know if it’s normal...f*ck this...it’s too annoying....My wife have a Samsung Note 9 almost with 2 years and with the same hub it’s too damm fast...

Video below to see the problem.

Hope someone can help.

https://youtu.be/IITxToaV6-k

To get the best speeds when transfecting files off the iPad pro to external storage,

Format the drive in AFPS not Mac OS journaled or FAT32 . You should see around 120MBps when the drive is formatted in APFS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2yeqiHAsYM

Apple trickery? The speed is still way slow from what it should be but its much better than any other format.

When I first formatted my sandisk extreme pro to APFS, I was getting errors in the middle of writing a file from the iPad Pro so I formatted it again following sandisks web site directions, and did the formatting in Catalina this time as opposed to the first time I used disk utility in High Sierra. No longer getting any errors. APFS was not a new thing with 13.4. as far as speeds are concerned with the iPad Pro. I was hoping for improved speeds with 13.4s release but sadly no change.