You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

External Drives extremely slow on M1 Mac

I have a 2021 M1 iMac with a Samsung SSD 860 Evo inside an external Ugreen USB-C enclosure. On my older 27" iMac I get 550mbps read/write. With my M1, I'm only getting 350mbps.


Using MacOS 11.5.2 on both Macs.


Why are the ports extremely slow? I tried both the Thunderbolt ports and the USB-C ports with these drives. It didn't make a difference.


Posted on Aug 24, 2021 5:32 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 1, 2021 4:50 PM

There is a well known issue with the USB implementation on the M1 Macs that causes a large performance drop as compared to Intel Macs or non-Apple laptops. My Samsung T7, for example reaches 1000MB/s on my Intel Mac and barely 660MB/s with the M1 Mac.

This issue has been apparent since soon after the first M1 Macs were released, and, sadly, it appears to be something that Apple is either unable or unwilling to fix.

Similar questions

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 1, 2021 4:50 PM in response to Scott Konradt

There is a well known issue with the USB implementation on the M1 Macs that causes a large performance drop as compared to Intel Macs or non-Apple laptops. My Samsung T7, for example reaches 1000MB/s on my Intel Mac and barely 660MB/s with the M1 Mac.

This issue has been apparent since soon after the first M1 Macs were released, and, sadly, it appears to be something that Apple is either unable or unwilling to fix.

External Drives extremely slow on M1 Mac

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.