External SSD Speed Comparison -> M1 vs. M1 Max

[ubercool]

I finally broke down and purchased an external drive enclosure for my 4TB WD Black, which has patiently been waiting for months to be used. ?

I decided to try something not reported on here before AFAIK, a Konyead, which had about a dozen positive reviews before Amazon pulled the enclosure from its store. Oh well, I have until April 25 to return it.

Anyway, since I have both a 2020 M1 MBP and a new 2021 MBP 16 M1 Max, I tested both with AmorphousDiskMark. I also tested the M1 with Blackmagic, but since I find its interface not particularly useful, I decided not to install it on my M1 Max.

As you can see from the test results, the M1 Max improves writing speed by 28%. Still not great at 1,104 MB/s but what can you do?

Enjoy. ?

 

[Adult80HD]

Return that and get a better enclosure. The Acasis TB/USB4 (not really, it is using an older chipset so it can't truly support USB4) clocks around 3100 Read/3000 Write with my Sabrent and Samsung NVMe drives. that enclosure is holding you back on the writes for that drive, it should be able to post similar numbers in the Acasis enclosure. Just search for Acasis USB4.0 on Amazon and you'll find it.

 

[ubercool]

Return that and get a better enclosure. The Acasis TB/USB4 (not really, it is using an older chipset so it can't truly support USB4) clocks around 3100 Read/3000 Write with my Sabrent and Samsung NVMe drives. that enclosure is holding you back on the writes for that drive, it should be able to post similar numbers in the Acasis enclosure. Just search for Acasis USB4.0 on Amazon and you'll find it.

If you had been following the main threads on SSD enclosures, you would know that no one achieves those speeds on M1 based machines with a 4TB SSD.

I posted a spreadsheet with a lot of stats here.

 

[Adult80HD]

If you had been following the main threads on SSD enclosures, you would know that no one achieves those speeds on M1 based machines with a 4TB SSD.

I posted a spreadsheet with a lot of stats here.

Apparently you didn't read that I AM getting those speeds? Repeatedly, I might add, with two different models of Sabrent 4TB SSDs? That's on my 16" M1 Max and on three different M1 Studios I have, two Ultras and one Max.

 

[joevt]

Return that and get a better enclosure. The Acasis TB/USB4 (not really, it is using an older chipset so it can't truly support USB4) clocks around 3100 Read/3000 Write with my Sabrent and Samsung NVMe drives. that enclosure is holding you back on the writes for that drive, it should be able to post similar numbers in the Acasis enclosure. Just search for Acasis USB4.0 on Amazon and you'll find it.

Probably the slow write issue is with the NVMe, not the enclosure. Which Sabrent and Samsung NVMe are giving you those numbers from Thunderbolt? Usually PCIe gen 4 NVMe have better behaviour in Thunderbolt enclosures but some of them may have the same problem.

 

[kentzh]

Congratulations, the Acasis TB/USB4 I use is paired with SN750 2T, the speed is the same as yours, the writing is very bad, 1200MB/s, it seems that it can't be solved at present, I can only wait for Western Digital to upgrade the firmware

 

[Adult80HD]

Probably the slow write issue is with the NVMe, not the enclosure. Which Sabrent and Samsung NVMe are giving you those numbers from Thunderbolt? Usually PCIe gen 4 NVMe have better behaviour in Thunderbolt enclosures but some of them may have the same problem.

The Sabrent drives I have tried so fare are the PCI get 3 2TB and gen 3 4TB; the Samsungs that worked were the 2TB 980 and 970 EVO Pro. I've had issues with other WD Black drives in the past so I don't use those or Sandisk, both of which have been overpriced and slow. The Samsung are the best, but are limited to 2TB max; I've been using the Sabrent for a year or so now and have been really happy with them.

 

[ubercool]

Congratulations, the Acasis TB/USB4 I use is paired with SN750 2T, the speed is the same as yours, the writing is very bad, 1200MB/s, it seems that it can't be solved at present, I can only wait for Western Digital to upgrade the firmware

Thanks for confirming my experience. No one besides @Adult80HD has ever reported similar speeds with 4TB SSDs. The highest speeds come from Intel-based Macs, like a 2020 iMac user who reported a 2,581 write speed with an Addlink S90 2TB (those capacities typically report higher speeds).

Anyway, it's still far faster than my Samsung T5, so I'm good with that for now. ?

 

[Adult80HD]

Thanks for confirming my experience. No one besides @Adult80HD has ever reported similar speeds with 4TB SSDs. The highest speeds come from Intel-based Macs, like a 2020 iMac user who reported a 2,581 write speed with an Addlink S90 2TB (those capacities typically report higher speeds).

Anyway, it's still far faster than my Samsung T5, so I'm good with that for now. ?

I haven't seen anyone try the same drives I'm using in the enclosure though--that really matters, you have to get the right NVMe drive to get the best performance. The same drives are slower in the Sabrent TB enclosure, for example. So the best thing is get the right NVMe drive in the right enclosure.

I'm not the only either, that's incorrect. In fact, I got the Acasis based on a recommendation here from someone else in a different thread, and they were reporting the same numbers I get.

 

[kentzh]

Thanks for confirming my experience. No one besides @Adult80HD has ever reported similar speeds with 4TB SSDs. The highest speeds come from Intel-based Macs, like a 2020 iMac user who reported a 2,581 write speed with an Addlink S90 2TB (those capacities typically report higher speeds).

Anyway, it's still far faster than my Samsung T5, so I'm good with that for now. ?

My SSD is SN750 2T, and the speed is the problem with this model. I can't find any way except waiting for the firmware upgrade. I posted on the WD forum and asked if there is a firmware upgrade plan, but there is no official reply. As far as I know, the SN850 is through Upgrading the firmware resolves the speed limitation.

 

[ubercool]

My SSD is SN750 2T, and the speed is the problem with this model. I can't find any way except waiting for the firmware upgrade. I posted on the WD forum and asked if there is a firmware upgrade plan, but there is no official reply. As far as I know, the SN850 is through Upgrading the firmware resolves the speed limitation.

Hope you hear something from the WD people soon, a firmware solution would be great.

 

[tlindaas]

Return that and get a better enclosure. The Acasis TB/USB4 (not really, it is using an older chipset so it can't truly support USB4) clocks around 3100 Read/3000 Write with my Sabrent and Samsung NVMe drives. that enclosure is holding you back on the writes for that drive, it should be able to post similar numbers in the Acasis enclosure. Just search for Acasis USB4.0 on Amazon and you'll find it.

Do you have any experience or recommendations regarding the newer generation Sabrent 4TB Plus drives (PCIe 4.0) when put into the Acasis enclosures? The Plus drives are twice as fast, for now this extra speed is wasted when the drives are put into external Thunderbolt enclosures (due to the ~3 GB/s max speed on pure data transfers via Thunderbolt 3/4.) Still, those drives only cost $50 or $100 more than old ones (even cheaper on eBay). So when Thunderbolt 5 arrives, you can just exchange the enclosure and be up to date speed wise. Smart thinking, or dumb thinking?

 

[ubercool]

Update: Today, I backed up my 4TB Mac SSD containing 736 GB in 10 minutes and 46 seconds. Not surprisingly, the case got very hot but not hand-burningly so.

Hope that helps.

 

[ubercool]

I believe this introduction from SanDisk yesterday, the PRO-BLADE ecosystem, is the ultimate SSD solution!

 

[pippoappo]

@ubercool hey man, I have the same problem as you do with the 4TB WD SN750 on a Mac M1.
Read speeds are OK, but write speed is nowhere as good. At least with the Acasis enclosure.

Were you ever able to sort it out? My WD SSD runs on the latest firmware, so that's been checked.