usb 3 drive switched usb 2

[phuket_iQuit]

my external wd passport drive(bus powered) is usb 3.0 and randomly is now working at usb 2.0 speeds, i pull up system report and it says "Up to 480 Mb/s" which is crazy cuz it used say "Up to 5 Gb/s"

mid 2015 MBP catalina 10.15.5 ------ please help!!

 

[DeltaMac]

Is there any difference if you use the other USB port?
Do you have a different USB cable that you could try?
Is only that drive affected? (try a different USB-3 device)

 

[phuket_iQuit]

Is there any difference if you use the other USB port?
Do you have a different USB cable that you could try?
Is only that drive affected? (try a different USB-3 device)

Yes Both ports, it's a proprietary cord so I don't have another, and it's the only USB 3.0 drive I have currently, I have a Synology Nas with 3.0 ports but that's it

 

[DeltaMac]

Unless the cord is permanently attached, it's probably one such as this - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00P0C4M3Y.
That odd split connector on the drive is a standard USB micro B, just another variety of USB connectors.
Does your Synology drive also show 480 Mb/s ?

 

[jerwin]

I occasionally run into that sort of problem if the cable is not inserted all the way-- the high speed pins (hidden deep inside the socket A) need to be connected for you to get more than 480 Mb/s. Could also be a worn out cable. (It's probably not proprietary)

 

[phuket_iQuit]

Unless the cord is permanently attached, it's probably one such as this - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00P0C4M3Y.
That odd split connector on the drive is a standard USB micro B, just another variety of USB connectors.
Does your Synology drive also show 480 Mb/s ?

Oh cool that's exactly the cord it has, I'm buying it now thx, I'll see it if that works, I haven't had a chance to test out the Synology USB ports yet, I mainly connect to it via SMB/afp
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I occasionally run into that sort of problem if the cable is not inserted all the way-- the high speed pins (hidden deep inside the socket A) need to be connected for you to get more than 480 Mb/s. Could also be a worn out cable. (It's probably not proprietary)

Yes sometimes when I insert it says "up to 12 Mbs" and other times say up to 480mbs but not up to 5gbs anymore, so it might be a worn out cable like u said

 

[DeltaMac]

I think you should try a different USB 3 storage device, and one that you have is the Synology drive.
If THAT shows the same problem, then that should help you to decide if the external device (or the cable) is the problem.

What I would try, in your case, would be to connect an older system that you can boot from, maybe the oldest system that you can use is Yosemite. I have a range of systems, on around a dozen external drives, bootable from as old as Tiger, up to several different setups for Catalina. (I do part time Mac repairs, so I have what I need to boot pretty old Macs, if I need to do that). I know that not everyone has the same needs for storage, but this might be a good opportunity to discover that path forward. Booting to an older system, and test what connection speed your WD drive has on a different system.

 

[chrfr]

I think you should try a different USB 3 storage device, and one that you have is the Synology drive.

Synology units are NAS devices. The USB ports on them are to connect external drives to them; they cannot work as USB drives themselves.