lechabsbos

Q: Mac mini server - external hard drives enclosure file transfer speed

Hi guys!

 

I wanted to increase the file transfer speed and storage capacity of my Mac mini so I bought an external hard drives enclosure. The one I bought is : http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=219

 

Mac mini's built-in hard drives transfer file at 60Mb/s (write and read) and I wanted to get way better file transfer speed so I bought an SSD that is going to be in the enclosure with another HDD of 3Tb for archiving my files. The enclosure is connected by USB3.0 (5Gb/s) to the Mac mini.

 

[SSD -> Files I open every day] - Speed around 550Mb/s write and 500Mb/s read

[HDD -> Archives, files that I won't open very often] - Speed around 150Mb/s write and 150Mb/s read

 

So I did some benchmarks on my new setup, and the speed isn't really what I expected. The max file transfer speed I reached is about 100Mb/s in writing on the external SSD plugged to the mac mini. This transfer has been made from an iMac 21" 2011 with an SSD (with almost same speed in writing/reading than the one in the enclosure) so that's quite disappointing.

 

Is it possible that the Mac has a "file transfer speed limit" set somewhere? Or whatever else that could affect that?

 

More informations about my setup:

Mac Mini server 2012 - 2 Tb RAID 1 - Mac OSX 10.9.5

iMac 21" 2011 - Crucial SSD 275Gb - Mac OSX 10.9.4

IcyDock external enclosure - 4 bays, USB3 5Gb/s

     - Red WD HDD 3To

     - Crucial SSD 1To

Whole internal network in Gigabit ethernet

 

Thanks!

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014), OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Oct 1, 2016 4:19 AM

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Q: Mac mini server - external hard drives enclosure file transfer speed

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  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Oct 1, 2016 6:23 AM in response to lechabsbos
    Level 10 (123,855 points)
    Oct 1, 2016 6:23 AM in response to lechabsbos

    Was maybe Spotlight indexing the external at the same time the test was being done?

  • by lechabsbos,

    lechabsbos lechabsbos Oct 1, 2016 8:00 AM in response to BDAqua
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 1, 2016 8:00 AM in response to BDAqua

    Maybe, It was also copying 550Gb of files to the HDD. But for testing I used the external SSD, not the HDD I mentionned before. Is it really possible that because of the other process of coping files it slows down everything else? The CPU was used only at 20%...

    Actually it wouldn't even surprise me, a Mac mini isn't really powerful and it was copying from the internal hard drive (where the OS is installed)... I'm gonna do more tests once the transfer finished. I'll keep this post updated!

     

    Oh and I'll be probably take the opportunity to update it to macOS Sierra Server!