SD Card Reader SUPER Slow in 2021 M1Pro MBP 16"

I added to this thread about ten days ago. Had an SD card that just made my 14" MBP go bonkers. Wouldn't show up in finder, couldn't eject or read. Finally got it to read and it said the download would take about 40 mins for some very small files. Spend time on the phone with Apple, got to tier 2 tec (disconnected twice) and they said they'd had no similar reports in spite of this active thread. Used an external reader and the files downloaded in less than ten seconds.

Upgraded OS to 2.2 last night and just inserted the same SD that I'd had the issues with. It showed up on the desktop and finder in a flash and downloaded just as fast.

I guess Apple solved the problem they allegedly never had. Good work for a job not done.

Updating macOS to Monterey 12.2.1 seems to have solved the problem for most people here (worked for me). It seems that some new machines are still being supplied with an older version that is very hit and miss.

Have you updated to the latest version of macOS? The 12.2 (and later) version seems to have fixed it for most people, me included.

I do agree that it’s pretty poor that it was released in such an unreliable form though.

[Update] I updated to macOS 12.1 today (from 12.0.1). A big improvement!

I repeated the load of 101 Canon CR3 files (about 20MB each) and the transfer was much faster. The 10-15s wait before anything started was gone and the transfer was much faster. It's still slower than my external card reader but it's now perfectly usable.

Well done Apple.

Just the Finder in my case, no third-party software involved. However, my problem cards are now working fine after the macOS 12.1 update (which is perhaps consistent with Apple's Photos working properly for you).

I would be surprised if this was a problem with Adobe, or other, software. If that software is working OK with an external reader then the only thing that's changed is the card reader and its "device driver" – whatever parts of macOS that present the device to the application software.

after upgrading my OS to 12.1 and making sure all Apple software was updated as well, I saw signifigant improvement in copying files in the finder.

Imports using apple photos and apple image capture were also fast.

For My Adobe Lightroom issues, I matched my preferences to those found in this video from Adobe: https://youtu.be/ArbjC-kc034

This improved my performance in Adobe Lightroom Classic as well.

Although all of these measures provided improved performance I went ahead and upgraded my SD Card from a Sandisk Ultra Plus to a Sandisk Extreme Pro with 170 mb/s read speed, and SDXC "type" indicator. This new card seems/feels much faster overall in both the camera and on the laptop transfers.

My only regret with my M1Pro is that I didn't opt for 32GB of RAM. :(

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.

I am also having this issue but even with my hi-speed cards (170/s+). The older cards crash the newer cards are slow and unstable.

Did a comparison to my 2015 MBP and it's a night and day difference, my new 2021 mac card reader is transferring at 11kb/s!?

Compared to a USB-c SD reader no matter the card or speed it flies. This is definitely an issue with the new macs and they need to address it.

The Monterey 12.2 update has given me sensible performance. I did a couple of tests (detailed earlier) and achieved about 86MB/s on a card that was previously hopeless (very slow, gave errors, gave up). The 86MB/s compares to the card's theoretical maximum read speed of 95MB/s so I think the reader is going about as fast as possible in my case. I understand that the reader does not support UHS III cards very new cards will not perform at maximum speed.

I'm still reserving judgement because Monterey 12.1 initially gave a good result and then became erratic but this could well be fixed for me.

Have you installed the update to Monterey 12.2, released Wed, 26 Jan 2012?

Rreaders above are reporting massive improvements with cards at least UHS-I or faster.

I can confirm that 12.1 has improved the download times significantly. Now the card reader is usable, as it should have been in the first place.

Some readers have obtained complete relief by upgrading to 12.1, not to be confused with your 12.0.1, which is no longer the latest version.

My issue is with Adobe Lightroom. If I copy the files from the card using Finder, it is reasonably fast. Then I import to Lightroom from the computer.

thanks!!! 12.2 fixed the SD card slot