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USB 3.0 and 2015 MBP

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redneck6497

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 6, 2009
43
0
Can anyone test an external USB 3.0 HD to their 2015 MBP using the Blackmagic speed test app? I seem to be mostly striking out in that dept. I can't get anything that has any decent speed. I bought a new PNY 3.0 thumb drive. I get around 120 MB/sec read, but maybe 50 or so write. My WD My Passport drive sometimes goes down to 13 writing, and maybe up to a max of 50.

I don't think its the MBP though b/c my MBA has similar results.
 
Y

yjchua95

macrumors 604
Apr 23, 2011
6,725
233
GVA, KUL, MEL (current), ZQN
redneck6497 said:
Can anyone test an external USB 3.0 HD to their 2015 MBP using the Blackmagic speed test app? I seem to be mostly striking out in that dept. I can't get anything that has any decent speed. I bought a new PNY 3.0 thumb drive. I get around 120 MB/sec read, but maybe 50 or so write. My WD My Passport drive sometimes goes down to 13 writing, and maybe up to a max of 50.

I don't think its the MBP though b/c my MBA has similar results.
Click to expand...

It's normal. The HDD and the USB stick are too slow to saturate the bus.

On my Transcend 960GB JetDrive USB3 SSD, I get around 400MB/s in both reads and writes.
 
redheeler

redheeler

macrumors G3
Oct 17, 2014
8,419
8,841
Colorado, USA
redneck6497 said:
Can anyone test an external USB 3.0 HD to their 2015 MBP using the Blackmagic speed test app? I seem to be mostly striking out in that dept. I can't get anything that has any decent speed. I bought a new PNY 3.0 thumb drive. I get around 120 MB/sec read, but maybe 50 or so write. My WD My Passport drive sometimes goes down to 13 writing, and maybe up to a max of 50.

I don't think its the MBP though b/c my MBA has similar results.
Click to expand...

As mentioned above, you can't expect the bus to be saturated by a cheap and tiny USB 3 thumb drive. I recall briefly using one as a boot drive, honestly slower than an HDD.

Edit: Same goes for the USB 3 HDD. It's likely only a 5400 RPM also.
 
Last edited:
R

redneck6497

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 6, 2009
43
0
redheeler said:
As mentioned above, you can't expect the bus to be saturated by a cheap and tiny USB 3 thumb drive. I recall briefly using one as a boot drive, honestly slower than an HDD.

Edit: Same goes for the USB 3 HDD. It's likely only a 5400 RPM also.
Click to expand...

I don't think its saturating it for sure, but I'm just wondering if the USB hardware in the mac is working ok. It seems really slow, but I think part of it is the drive itself.

Also, I saw a joke the other day. The Lacie rugged drive with thunderbolt .... why? its a 5400 RPM drive.
 
R

redneck6497

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 6, 2009
43
0
yjchua95 said:
It's normal. The HDD and the USB stick are too slow to saturate the bus.

On my Transcend 960GB JetDrive USB3 SSD, I get around 400MB/s in both reads and writes.
Click to expand...

I bought a PNY SSD and put it in an OWC case. I mostly got about 250 on read and write ... it did mysteriously go go down to like 110 several times ... not sure why.

I also bought one of the backup Plus units mentioned here also. I got around 110 or 120 out of it.

I think maybe there is something wrong with that WD passport 3.0 drive I have ... no reason for it to go down to like 13.

Does anyone have a super 2.5 USB 3.0 slim enclosure they like for SSDs? I don't know the one I have is so great.
 
Y

yjchua95

macrumors 604
Apr 23, 2011
6,725
233
GVA, KUL, MEL (current), ZQN
redneck6497 said:
I bought a PNY SSD and put it in an OWC case. I mostly got about 250 on read and write ... it did mysteriously go go down to like 110 several times ... not sure why.

I also bought one of the backup Plus units mentioned here also. I got around 110 or 120 out of it.

I think maybe there is something wrong with that WD passport 3.0 drive I have ... no reason for it to go down to like 13.

Does anyone have a super 2.5 USB 3.0 slim enclosure they like for SSDs? I don't know the one I have is so great.
Click to expand...
I use an Archgon UASP 2.5" enclosure with USB 3 and get around 430MB/s in both reads and writes, with a 500GB Samsung 850 Evo in it.
 
R

redneck6497

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 6, 2009
43
0
yjchua95 said:
That's the exact same enclosure that I use.

Note that you'll only get the speeds that I'm getting if you're using a good SSD.
Click to expand...

So after getting the enclosure, there was a modest increase in writes, but a dramatic increase in reads. Now its 424 read and 276 write. Not shabby for an 85.00 SSD.
 
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