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SD Card Reader SUPER Slow in 2021 M1Pro MBP 16"

So I know Apple didn't splurge for a top-o-the-line SD card reader in the new 16" 2021 MacBook Pro, but this is ridiculous. The SD Card reader is insanely slow. How slow? Pop in an SD Card with only 30 16GB RAW files on it, and it takes 30+ minutes to import the files to Lightroom Classic. Used the SD card reader in my 5 year-old OWC Thunderbolt port, and the same card will import in 30 seconds.


Anyone have a clue what could be causing the SD Card reader to do this?

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 12.0

Posted on Nov 3, 2021 8:43 PM

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Question marked as Best answer

So I found the solution: Basically, the card reader doesn't support anything slower than UHS-I ... so if you have older slower cards in older slower cameras, your shiny new MBP won't like those cards, and you'll need to replace them with newer SD Cards.

Posted on Nov 4, 2021 1:40 PM

84 replies

Jan 19, 2022 7:35 AM in response to Gregory Simpson1

If you are using card that are already UHS-i or falser, and performance is still poor, you may have a Hardware issue in the reader hardware.


You may wish to make an appointment at your local genius bar at an Apple-owned store for a free evaluation.


Apple-Authorized Service Providers can provide an evaluation, but they are free to charge an "evaluation fee" to keep you from taking up the time of their expensive technicians with trivial problems or non-problems. If you obtain warranty service or pay for any other service, be sure to ask for a refund of the evaluation fee. The worst they can say is, "no".


ANY time you may hand over your Mac for service, you MUST have a complete Trusted backup of all your files on a separate, local disk you keep at home. If there is a serious problem detected and the mainboard needs to be replaced, your drive is soldered to that board, and will NOT be returned to you.

Jan 23, 2022 3:29 PM in response to Rebelvue

<< Tomorrow I'm returning my unit back to the store ... >>


You are welcome to return your unit for a full refund, provided you bought direct from Apple in the same country, and you are within the 14-day free refund/exchange window.


<< ... and get a new one... >>


... there may be a little problem with that part. In my area, the next available base model can be delivered 22 Feb at this writing.

Jan 26, 2022 3:12 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

It would be really useful to have an official Apple opinion on this.


Getting a replacement machine creates a lot of work in rebuilding it, not to mention downtime during the replacement process (and it's very wasteful too). If Apple had a bad batch of card readers then that will be a necessity but it may be a macOS issue, in which case we can just tough it out until there's a fix.


I have been hoping for the latter so am tolerating it for now but it would be polite to tell us what's happening.

Jan 26, 2022 4:31 PM in response to Command_F

If Apple felt there were more than a very small number of MacBook Pro with a problem, they would have issued a recall (they have not).


That leaves the possibility of a sample defect (an issue with your sample of the product). To determine whether that is the case, you can make an Appointment at the Genius Bar at an Apple owned store for an evaluation, free. Apple Authorized Service Providers can also evaluate your MacBook Pro, but they may charge an evaluation fee.

Jan 26, 2022 11:40 PM in response to Command_F

Hi folks

Is there hope? I installed Monterey 12.2 yesterday and have just copied several UHS-I cards (which always gave me problems, unlike UHS-II, which always worked) into the card reader. I'm on card #10 right now, so far it's all worked flawlessly, no hangs in the finder, etc. This would not have worked before, I'm sure. Problem solved? That would be really nice!

Christian

Jan 27, 2022 3:47 AM in response to ChristianAhrens

Hi Christian,

A quick test on Monterey 12.2 gives the same promising results as you saw. I used my same card that has some times worked, sometimes not and got the following results.


Copying in the Finder, two tries separated by eject/remove/reinsert, SanDisk 32GB Extreme Pro (UHS-1, speed class 3) gave:

3.25GB/100 files mixed CR3 RAW and video - 38 seconds

2.72GB/100 files CR3 RAW - 31 seconds


The card is rated at 95MB/s read speed so roughly a GB in 10.5 seconds. On that basis, the reader can't go much faster. I was also able to Quicklook files on the card in sensible times, this has totally failed in the past. So I'm optimistic but will reserve judgement because I got here with 12.1 too.

SD Card Reader SUPER Slow in 2021 M1Pro MBP 16"

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