'Front' USB speed issues on 2010 Macbook Pro?

[macfan246]

Hi all,

About three weeks ago I bought a 15" i7 Macbook Pro from the Apple Store at Doncaster in Melbourne, Australia.

Yesterday I started backing up some blu-ray with an USB BDROM drive. After some trial and error I noticed that the 'front' USB port (the one closer to the headphone jack) would consistently fail during the rip, whereas the 'back' USB port could complete the backup without issue. I also noticed that the back port was transferring the data at a higher rate.

This led me to download xbench to perform some tests with an external HFS+ formatted drive. Through xbench I was able to confirm that the front USB port appears to be operating at a significantly lower speed than the back one. These results are repeatable.

I'm posting to ask two questions. Firstly, has anyone else experienced this issue? Secondly, could someone please do me a favour and compare the two USB ports on their 2010 MacBook Pro with xbench?

As a disclaimer, I have replaced my optical drive with a caddy containing an Intel X25-M SDD but I don't think this would lead to the issues I'm having.

Thanks for any assistance you can provide.

Back USB Port
------------
Results 34.76
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.6.3 (10D2094)
Physical RAM 4096 MB
Model MacBookPro6,2
Drive Type Seagate FreeAgent Go
Disk Test 34.76
Sequential 39.74
Uncached Write 45.07 27.67 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 44.75 25.32 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 25.26 7.39 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 60.52 30.41 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 30.89
Uncached Write 10.70 1.13 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 77.60 24.84 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 80.92 0.57 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 92.54 17.17 MB/sec [256K blocks]


Front USB Port
------------
Results 27.82
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.6.3 (10D2094)
Physical RAM 4096 MB
Model MacBookPro6,2
Drive Type Seagate FreeAgent Go
Disk Test 27.82
Sequential 26.50
Uncached Write 24.92 15.30 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 25.61 14.49 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 20.56 6.02 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 43.25 21.74 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 29.28
Uncached Write 11.16 1.18 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 45.55 14.58 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 80.61 0.57 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 78.97 14.65 MB/sec [256K blocks]

 

[torpy]

Isn't one powered and the other not? I'm willing to bet the back one is.

 

[Carlos E]

On the previous model 15" MacBook Pro I noticed the back USB port to be more reliable. Maybe it is because one is powered and one is not.

 

[Dozerrox]

Hi all,

About three weeks ago I bought a 15" i7 Macbook Pro from the Apple Store at Doncaster in Melbourne, Australia.

Yesterday I started backing up some blu-ray with an USB BDROM drive. After some trial and error I noticed that the 'front' USB port (the one closer to the headphone jack) would consistently fail during the rip, whereas the 'back' USB port could complete the backup without issue. I also noticed that the back port was transferring the data at a higher rate.

This led me to download xbench to perform some tests with an external HFS+ formatted drive. Through xbench I was able to confirm that the front USB port appears to be operating at a significantly lower speed than the back one. These results are repeatable.

I'm posting to ask two questions. Firstly, has anyone else experienced this issue? Secondly, could someone please do me a favour and compare the two USB ports on their 2010 MacBook Pro with xbench?

As a disclaimer, I have replaced my optical drive with a caddy containing an Intel X25-M SDD but I don't think this would lead to the issues I'm having.

Thanks for any assistance you can provide.

Back USB Port
------------
Results 34.76
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.6.3 (10D2094)
Physical RAM 4096 MB
Model MacBookPro6,2
Drive Type Seagate FreeAgent Go
Disk Test 34.76
Sequential 39.74
Uncached Write 45.07 27.67 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 44.75 25.32 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 25.26 7.39 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 60.52 30.41 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 30.89
Uncached Write 10.70 1.13 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 77.60 24.84 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 80.92 0.57 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 92.54 17.17 MB/sec [256K blocks]


Front USB Port
------------
Results 27.82
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.6.3 (10D2094)
Physical RAM 4096 MB
Model MacBookPro6,2
Drive Type Seagate FreeAgent Go
Disk Test 27.82
Sequential 26.50
Uncached Write 24.92 15.30 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 25.61 14.49 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 20.56 6.02 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 43.25 21.74 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 29.28
Uncached Write 11.16 1.18 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 45.55 14.58 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 80.61 0.57 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 78.97 14.65 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Interesting, I think that the front port isn't fully powered either...

 

[HacKage]

I'm having the exact same trouble.Whenever I plug my iPhone into the front usb port, it connects and disconnects constantly, whereas when I use the back one, it works fine.Not very good if I can only use 1 of 2 usb ports.I am going to book an appointment at the Genius bar for tomorrow to see what the solution is.

 

[MBHockey]

That's interesting. I have had no power problems with either USB port. My iPhone charges fine on both. I have a 15" i7.

 

[Deeya]

I've noticed the write speed to both USB thumb drives, and external SATA HDDs are much slower on the front port.

 

[macfan246]

Thanks for the posts... Much appreciated. It seems it's not just me affected. So is this considered an issue if the front port can
't operate at full USB 2 speeds? Note that the external BDROM I was using has it's own power supply so shouldn't that mean I shouldn't be having issues if the problem is indeed power? The HDD I used doesn't have a separate power source by the way.

Interested to get further thoughts and xbench results if possible.

 

[macfan246]

Anyone else having issues with the USB ports? If someone else could post some xbench results with a non-powered usb drive it would be really appreciated.

 

[HacKage]

I've got an appointment at the local Genius Bar on thurs afternoon, so will update everyone on how I got along.