MacBook Pro running macOS Sonoma acting sluggish with reading and writing data NTFS drives

Thanks for your feedback. [Also thanks to the Moderator for the title tweak.]

I'm not sure I buy the arguments put forth by PRP_53, especially since the issue I have been facing existed before I bought into a commercial malware product outside of the walled garden - installing the Trend Micro software had no effect on the issue one way or the other. Also, while I applaud Apple's efforts to secure the OS from malware and other attacks, I also know what hackers are capable of, and their skills evolve on a daily basis ...

https://www.macworld.com/article/672879/list-of-mac-viruses-malware-and-security-flaws.html

OSX is much harder to break into, but not impossible.

But here's the total kicker: I solved my problem this morning - quite by accident:

I use an external monitor with my Macbook Pro - even at 16", I need a larger display for my work. Having both monitors as part of my setup is a godsend.

Not long ago (a couple of weeks give or take?), I went into Settings --> Desktop & Dock --> Mission Control, and turned on the 'Displays have separate Spaces' feature. I did this because, as an electronic musician, I wanted to be able to e.g. position my sequencer window between the displays such that the left side of the window displays on the left (Macbook Pro) monitor, and the right side of the window displays on the right (external) monitor. This may seem like an edge case, but it has come in handy from time to time. This is not possible when 'Displays have separate Spaces' is turned off.

Over the past few days I have tinkered with a number of System Settings in the hope that something would resolve my issue with slow data transfers between NTFS drives and the laptop, to no avail.

This morning, on a lark, I turned that setting back off. I am happy to say, doing this seems to have resolved the issue - data transfer speeds from NTFS drives to the laptop are now on par with what I've experienced since I got this laptop back in 2021.

To verify, I turned the 'Displays have separate Spaces' feature back on and, sure enough, the slow data transfer issue was back.

I consider my issue resolved at this point (though it's still an issue with the OS).

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope that my experience helps anyone else having this same issue.

And maybe Apple devs will look into this issue and see if they can reproduce it, and if they can, they would consider tweaking the OS so that the 'Displays have separate Spaces' feature does not affect data transfer rates between NTFS drives and APFS drives.

-fin-

UPDATE: OK, it turns out the issue was both a hardware issue, and sheer incompetence on my part.

Like a number of Macbook Pro users, four USB-C ports are just not enough to connect all my stuff. To get around this, I have not one but three octopuses connected to my laptop.

To the four main laptpo USB-C ports, I have connected:

1) Power

2) External Monitor

3) Thunderbolt Audio Interface (Focusrite Clarett 2pre, connected via a Thunderbolt-->USB-C adapter, sold separately, by Apple)

4) Octopus 1 (a four-port USB-C adapter)

To Octopus 1, I had connected:

1) KVM Switch (for the keyboard/monitor associated with the External Monitor above ++

2) Logitech receiver (for when I want to use my kybd/mouse separate from the External Monitor, which is often

3) iLok dongle (for authorizing 3rd party VST plugins, of which I have many, for music work)

4) Octopus 2 (four-port USB-C + 2 port USB2 adapter)

++ The KVM switch is connected to an older but still well-functioning and useful 2016 Mac Tower running High Sierra, great for handling auxiliary tasks

To Octopus 2, I had connected:

1) 1 TB Sandisk NTFS SSD

2) 2 TB LaCie NTFS HDD

3) 1 TB Sandisk exFAT SSD

4) USB Snake for keeping the Logitech receiver connected to the KVM switch within range of my kybd/mouse

5) Octopus 3 (four-port USB2 adapter, USB3 compliant)

To Octopus 3, I had connected:

1) USB Cable for an HP Laserjet Printer

2) USB-powered desk lamp

3) Floater port for use with USB sticks and hard drives as needed

4) Floater port for use with USB sticks and hard drives as needed

(I know ... what can I say, I have needs. Don't @ me.)

This all was working fine until a week or so ago, when I started having severe video stuttering problems playing MP4 files from the 1 TB Sandisk NTFS SSD.

Since it was all working fine before, I assumed (erroneously, it seems) the issue was software related. This led me down many dead-end troubleshooting paths, wasting fruitless time and effort, until I felt I had exhausted all options.

That's when I turned my attention to the tangle of Octopuses, to which I have all my stuff connected.

I devised a series of tests:

Test 1:

a) Disconnect all octopuses. Connect a single four-port USB2 octopus (Octopus 4 **) to the laptop.

b) Take two identical and equivalent USB sticks (from the same manufacturer, purchased from a Walmart 10 or so years ago).

c) On a Windows PC, format one as exFAT and the other as NTFS.

d) Copy the same 1GB video file onto both sticks.

e) Connect both sticks to the Octopus.

f) Use a stopwatch to measure the length of time it took for each stick to transfer the file onto the desktop.

Result: the times were exactly the same, to the second.

** Octopus 4 is a spare octopus I keep in my laptop bag, 4 USB2 ports, which connects to a USB-C laptop port

Test 2:

1) Connect a single four port USB-C octopus (Octopus 1 from above) to the laptop.

2) Connect the 1TB Sandisk NTFS SSD to the octopus.

3) Play a 10-minute MP4.

No stuttering encountered.

Test 3:

1) Leaving Octopus 1 connected to the laptop, connect Octopus 2 to Octopus 1

2) Connect the 1TB Sandisk NTFS SSD to Octopus 2

3) Play a 10-minute MP4.

Severe stuttering encountered.

Conclusion: having drives connected to Octopus 2, one level removed from Octopus 1, was causing the throughput issue.

I have now re-wired things as followed:

1) Octopus 1 is connected to the laptop, as before.

2) All three drives are connected directly to Octopus 1, giving them a more direct connection than before.

3) The remaining Octopuses are daisy-chained to the one open port of Octopus 1. None of the devices connected to the other octopuses require heavy data throughput, like e.g. playing video files or doing large quantity file transfers.

No more video stuttering or other throughput-related issues have occurred. I can even connect other USB2 HDD drives to the laptop with this new octopus configuration, with no throughput-related issues being encountered.

So, lesson learned: Eliminating the possibility that issues are hardware related, before turning attention to software, may help to prevent time-chewing and wheel-spinning dead-end troubleshooting.

fin

Dang it forget I said anything. Problem persists. (No post delete option?)

See my May 9 post. Issue is resolved