Very slow performance with San Disk 3.2 Gen 1

I have a San Disk slim fit USB drive (USB 3.2 Gen 1). I've formatted it with APFS (encryption enabled). When copying a large file to the USB drive I see bursts of 20MB/sec, then it drops to 1 to 2MB/sec for about the same time. The USB drive is connected via an Apple USB-A to USB-C dongle. My Mac is an a M1 2020 Air.


Is this caused by the APFS encryption? The CPU doesn't appear to be doing much. I would have expected better and more consistent throughout.



MacBook Air 13″, macOS 13.2

Posted on Mar 25, 2023 3:23 PM

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Posted on Mar 27, 2023 6:57 AM

I'm not sure that USB stick is very fast. The product documentation never mentions the actual write speeds which usually means writing will be extremely slow. Manufacturers like to advertise fast speeds whenever possible. The only mention of speeds is in reference to the read speeds up to 400MB/s (only applies to the larger sized USB sticks)....here is a screenshot of the relevant section:


Even the product data sheet never mentions a write speed, just a maximum transfer speeds up to 400MB/s. I would not trust a product which does not clearly state the maximum write speeds since write speeds are usually slower than the read speeds.


WD/SanDisk do make a USB stick that is advertised as being able to write to about 380MB/s, but AFAIK, there is only the one model which is the Pro (it is hard to be sure since the WD website has terrible filters to search for this):

https://www.westerndigital.com/en-gb/products/usb-flash-drives/sandisk-extreme-pro-usb-3-2#SDCZ880-512G-G46

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Mar 27, 2023 6:57 AM in response to Paul_74

I'm not sure that USB stick is very fast. The product documentation never mentions the actual write speeds which usually means writing will be extremely slow. Manufacturers like to advertise fast speeds whenever possible. The only mention of speeds is in reference to the read speeds up to 400MB/s (only applies to the larger sized USB sticks)....here is a screenshot of the relevant section:


Even the product data sheet never mentions a write speed, just a maximum transfer speeds up to 400MB/s. I would not trust a product which does not clearly state the maximum write speeds since write speeds are usually slower than the read speeds.


WD/SanDisk do make a USB stick that is advertised as being able to write to about 380MB/s, but AFAIK, there is only the one model which is the Pro (it is hard to be sure since the WD website has terrible filters to search for this):

https://www.westerndigital.com/en-gb/products/usb-flash-drives/sandisk-extreme-pro-usb-3-2#SDCZ880-512G-G46

Mar 27, 2023 11:09 AM in response to HWTech

Thanks for your message. I think you're right. I did some more performance tests on a Mac Mini. The write performance was the same. I tried both USB-A & USB-C with the dongle.


The read performance was a lot better. 88MB/sec through the USB-A port and 84MB/sec through the USB-C port with the dongle.


As I'm using the USB drive for backups so its not the end of the world.


San Disk have dropped the price from £73 (what I paid) to £44. Just my luck.

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Very slow performance with San Disk 3.2 Gen 1

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