External HDD way too slow reading and writing Macbook Air M1 Montery

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External HDD way too slow reading and writing Macbook Air M1 Montery

Hi everyone, I hope you can help me. I've got a brand new Macbook Air M1, 8Gb RAM, 512Gb SSD, and I'm struggling using my external HDD. It is painfully slow, it is a Toshiba Canvio, 3TB, formatted in NTSF. The first time I used it on my Air it worked fine but now it is just too slow, reading and writing speeds are 12Mb/s- 10Mb/s !!

I tried connecting it directly with an adapter, with a Ugreen Hub, and everything is the same. Right now I'm trying to move 65GB of data and it says is gonna take 2 days!!

Previously I had a Macbook Air Intel (2014) and it worked just fine. I have Monterey and use Tuxera NTFS. Please, help me!

Posted on Jul 19, 2022 3:57 PM

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Answer 1

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Tesserax

Level 10

149,027 points

Jul 19, 2022 4:11 PM in response to hecherdr1

I think the issue is with Tuxera's software. As such, I suggest that you contact them to be sure you are using the very latest version that supports BOTH macOS Monterey and M1 Macs.

Alternatively, you could reformat this drive for APFS and not need Tuxera at all.

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Answer 2

hecherdr1 Author

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Jul 19, 2022 5:08 PM in response to Tesserax

Hi. Thank you for your reply. I have the latest software from Tuxera. I'm thinking in trying a different program, Paragon for example, and see if that improves the situation.

On the other hand, I've been tempted to switch file formats, but I use windows also, and the problem will be on the other side. Do you think it will solve the issue if I use a APFS? It does not depend on the hardware (HDD, SSD, Thunderbolt, etc)?

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Answer 3

Tesserax

Level 10

149,027 points

Jul 19, 2022 5:59 PM in response to hecherdr1

I have a mix of Windows & Macs. For drives that I would use with either OS, I format them in ExFAT. Those I dedicate to Windows get NTFS, and those for Macs, get APFS. Using a 3rd-party "software solution" only adds to a performance loss.

I do think you will find APFS the best choice for your M1 Mac ... especially if you will only be using it with "modern" Macs.

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Answer 4

hecherdr1 Author

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Jul 23, 2022 1:41 PM in response to Tesserax

Update. I moved all my data to another disk, formatted the disk in exFat, and tried everything again. It works much more better, I get decent reading/writing speeds; it definitely was the NTSF format and/or Tuxera. In a few days I will get a SSD external disk to see how much it improves the process. Thanks a lot

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Answer 5

ku4hx

Level 7

23,502 points

Jul 23, 2022 1:57 PM in response to hecherdr1

For use on Mac and Windows, without the proper app, the format of the HDD needs to be exFAT.

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External HDD way too slow reading and writing Macbook Air M1 Montery

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