How do I tell if UASP mode is enabled on my MacBook Pro 2023?

TwidgetUSN2EEngrMTU wrote:

The reason I ask is that I purchased an external memory drive (Samsung T7 Shield SSD 1TB from BestBuy) and I cannot get it to "open" very well. The computer recognizes that the device is there, but takes FOREVER to open it and show me the files it contains.

With a mechanical hard drive, this would be a possible sign of imminent drive failure. (When the drive hit a bad spot, this could result in a long delay.)

I don't know if a SSD would give you such warning - and hopefully a new SSD would not about to fail. But just in case, you may want to make sure that you have made backups of any files on that SSD that you care about.

<< How do I tell if UASP mode is enabled on my MacBook Pro 2023 (Chip: Apple M2 Pro, macOS Tahoe 26.2)? >>

Whether it is or it isn't, UASP is completely beside the point.

You should try to get your rescued files off that drive, and once you are satisfied you have what you can get, re-initialize (ERASE) the drive with Disk Utility. Disk Utility will set it up to be as fast as it can be.

Unless you plan to connect this drive to a Windows PC it should be reformatted using an Apple format like HFS+ or APFS, not FAT32 or XFAT. Those are Windows disk formatting schemes. Your Mac can read/write those formats but they are not native to macOS.

@D.I. Johnson supplied you with the best information available with that link to my post last January. Since then, it seems sometimes macOS may show UASP, but most times it does not. I have never tested a UASP supported device under macOS to see whether UASP support is actually being used since I would have to figure out a way to create a test.

As far as the performance of your new SSD, the first thing I would do to every new drive is to fully erase the whole physical drive using Disk Utility on macOS. Unfortunately Disk Utility hides the physical drives by default. Within Disk Utility you may need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" before the physical drives appear on the left pane of Disk Utility. Erase the whole physical drive as GUID partition and the file system of choice APFS, MacOS Extended, exFAT. Which file system to choose depends on the type of drive & how it is to be used.

• APFS -- preferred choice for an SSD if it will only be used with macOS 10.13+
• MacOS Extended (Journaled) --
  • Best if it is a Hard Drive since the APFS file system makes a Hard Drive work a lot harder.
  • Also the file system of choice if the drive is also to be used with an older Mac running versions of macOS 10.12 & earlier.
• exFAT -- Best option if you want to use the drive with a Windows PC as well

How are you connecting this SSD to your laptop?

Have you tried connecting the SSD to the other USB-C port?

Disconnect all other external devices in case one of them is causing a problem.

Run the third party app EtreCheck and post the complete report here so we can examine it for clues. Most performance issues are due to software issues.

How to use the Add Text Feature When Posting an EtreCheck Report - Apple Community

D.I. Johnson wrote:

You may find this related thread interesting:

How do you check if UASP is enabled for a disk?

Great find! I wasn't sure I would be able to locate it again. Made a bookmark this time ;-)

TwidgetUSN2EEngrMTU wrote:

How do I tell if UASP mode is enabled on my MacBook Pro 2023 (Chip: Apple M2 Pro, macOS Tahoe 26.2)?

The reason I ask is that I purchased an external memory drive (Samsung T7 Shield SSD 1TB from BestBuy) and I cannot get it to "open" very well. The computer recognizes that the device is there, but takes FOREVER to open it and show me the files it contains.

Informative posts from HWTech, DI Johnson and others on this topic ... but I don't think an SSD taking "FOREVER" to mount and open involves anything related to UASP. Based on what I have read online, compared to traditional USB 3.0, UASP performs up to 70% faster read speeds and 40% faster write speeds at peak performance. That difference is not going to make it take "FOREVER" for it to open, rather maybe a second or two slower. I would agree with the others that there is either some hardware issue with the drive or it needs to be formatted to a format that works better with Macs. I also agree you should asap copy all files from the drive in case it is failing (would need to do that anyway if it is to be erased and reformatted).

When you first connect a new external drive use Disk Utility to format the drive. There is no need to use any preinstalled apps or the format of the drive when purchased.

You may find this related thread interesting:

How do you check if UASP is enabled for a disk?

Thanks.

Yeah, HWTech, you made yet another great contribution there, my friend. 🙂👍🏽