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

You know what... Agreed :)

Thank you but the same "cable" is used on my windows machine with the same MVNE.2 drive and iPad is almost 1/3 the speed.

Hello,

This is a known problem. With a new operating system bugs can appear without Apple's knowledge. I ask that you please submit a bug report so Apple can address them in future updates.

Apple Product Feedback

It's consistent. It's general, across all media and all file systems.

When using SSD's, I can read with a maximum speed of 50% (slow SSD's) to 33% (fast SSD's) compared to the same SSD connected to a MacBook Pro 13, 2018 (4 ports).

When using the same SSD's (I have several, behaviour is identical), I can reach a maximum speed of 5% (fast SSD's) to 10% (slow SSD's) compared to the same SSD connected to a MacBook Pro 13, 2018 (4 ports). Fast SSD disks approaching 500 MB/sec on MacBook Pro often tumble around 25 MB/sec on write - and worst of all - slowly falling to approx. 10-12 MB/sec. Even on single files of 1-2 GB in size.

These figures must have been known by Apple; at least if they bothered to test and look before release.

I suspect, that the culprit exists in the disk handler, where you can disconnect the drive without any warning at any time. No need to "unmount" any drives (not even the possiblitilty to perform this task and no way to activate that option either). The safety net required to - somewhat - prevent total write disasters on the target drives must be huge, and any write caching completely out of the question.

What good is it, that I can read up to 60MB/sec (USB 3 camera adapter) - instead of 95MB/sec on my MacBook - but only transfer imported material for subsequent Sync/Backup to an external SSD with somewhere between 10 and 25 MB/sec? Instead of Sync/Backup up to between 250 and 450 MB/sec from my MacBook Pro.

Regards

[Edited by Moderator]

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.

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

using hubs are really slow when transferring files when connected to the iPad Pro. If you connect the same hub to a MacBook Pro it will work as it should. Apple has done something to choke the potential speeds yet the internal iPad storage is quite fast. When using the latest version of performance test app you can see read and write speeds.

"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.

”Files” is so bad that I use File Explorer (3rd party). But the usbc speeds is terrible... I just “migrated” to iPad. I have a 12.9 2020.

I already knew that the FS in iPad sucks so I bought the 1TB version and at night I copy “USING File explorer” to my NAS.

My 1TB external drive with extFAT sometimes is not recognized by iPad and when I inserted back on windows I have to “fix it”.

It’s sucks. I think iPad PRO is pro if you edit 10 pictures or do 10 segments and save it on iCloud.

Just very very bad.

I am considering to by an real computer again an use iPad just for “doodling” or editing photos on Lightroom.

I’ll wait for the iPadOS 14 and see if the apple engineers learnt how to use “file handlers” and “C” pointers correctly. Hopefully they fix it.

In my opinion they should fire the team that “CODED” files; I think my Nintendo DS has a better and solid FS.

FS = Filesystem

File explorer PRO = https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fe-file-explorer-pro/id499470113

I had the same issue. There isn’t viable solution online, ** I managed to found out the solution.

First, unlike some posts’s ideas, we don’t have to stick to APFS, ExFAT can be used, but HAVE to be formatted on Windows, not Mac. If the flash drive is formatted by Mac, it will not works properly on iPadOS, I know it’s weird, but it’s true.

Second, the most important trick is NOT using the default allocation unit size while formatting the drive. I found 512k to be the optimized size. Yes, it loses some storage space, but the flash drive is finally usable.

Speculated reason: 

1. ExFAT is from Microsoft, and Apple did something wrong when implementing this format. 
2. The read/write mechanism on iPadOS is different from other OSs, we can see that by the fact that there isn’t an eject button on iPadOS. To insure safety without an eject button, performance is sacrificed. Therefore, iPadOS cannot handle small allocation unit size, or handles it ridiculously slow. Therefore, using a big allocation unit size is the solution.

I agree with all the above problems. Regarding (no 3) files become visible when using laptop following transfer, I have found files only become visible only after rebooting iPhone or iPad.

Interestingly I have been using a basic Samsung tablet for copying SD cards on holiday, this only needs a OTG cable which costs £5 plus a free app, everything works as it should!

Wake up Apple.