New External SSD for FCPX libraries -- APFS performance issues

There are tons of compatibility issues with M1 and the chipset used in a lot of enclosures. I have 5 NVMe enclosures here and I had to buy an Envoy Express TB3 Bus Powered enclosure for the M1 Pro MBP because I ran into the same issues.

Slow speeds with some - where wrote speeds were fine, but read speeds were basically USB 2 performance. Others would randomly disconnect - a LOT. One enclosure broke when I used it with the MBP (maybe something to do with how power is delivered).

I have endless amounts of cables, so that wasn't the issue. Also, I only connect external drives directly to the computer, and never through any passive hubs (as those may not pass through enough power for the drive to function properly). Powered hubs (like Display Monitor USB Hubs) should be fine, though.

The same enclosures are flawless on my PCs or any Intel Mac (I've checked) this has always been the case with M1, since the OG M1 MBP/Air machines.

I think the OWC Envoy Express TB3 enclosure (which is FAR more expensive) is the best and most reliable option. Too many compatibility issues with off the shelf enclosures.

Aside from that, buy Samsung T7 or comparable SanDisk. The controller in those will work (though you still pay the speed tax).

There is the 25-30% speed tax with USB 3.x enclosures/drives that TB3 avoids.

So, even though the OWC Envoy Express caps out at 1.35 GB/s, it reliably delivers that and performs almost twice as fast as a Samsung T7 and almost 4x the speed of a T5 (with a 1TB WD Blue PCIe 3 SSD in it).

No USB 3.2 Gen 2 enclosure will come close to matching those speeds, and you should only use cheaper, lower speed NVMe drives in bus powered enclosures as none will deliver peak speeds. Save the money and buy a drive that runs cooler (and possibly has lower peak power requirements). That is more important than in this scenario.

Is the drive genuinely slow when you use it or are you simply concerned about the low figures you get from Disk Speed Test?

These tests can give false readings . . . I have had writes as low as 8MB/s on drives that work perfectly.

They’re literally slow, disconnect, fault out, etc. Like I said, I have SEVERAL and outside of TB3 enclosures they have generally all been problematic unless you put a powered hub between them and the Mac to avoid a direct connection.

I am 98.6% certain this is due to the controller chipsets in the enclosures not playing well with Apple Silicon machines. It’s the only place where I have experienced these problems and failures. You can get around this by buying a Samsung or SanDisk external SSD. In that case they are reliable. You just pay the speed tax, and probably more $ per MB with current super low NVMe prices.

Most people won’t bother to run a speed test until they experience the performance issues, anyways… Most won’t even notice the lower speeds for USB 3.x drives on Apple Silicon for that same reason.

The issue wasn’t just slow performance. In some cases, the drive wrote at “full performance,” but read at super low speeds (like USB 2.0 with an NVMe in USB 3.2 Gen 2 enclosure).

When you’re copying data and it’s reading or writing at 20 MB/s, you don’t need a disk speed test to tell you something is wrong. It’s just a confirmation. In most cases the drive got disconnected after a while when this happened, anyways.

Yes, but some applications specify APFS to be used, so when you have issues and have to contact support they will simply tell you to reformat the drive because they aren't going to work around a scenario they have clearly indicated you should avoid.

It also wastes support resources.

APFS is basically designed for NVMe drives, anyways.

I see no speed decrease with using APFS, though.

I had forgotten about this thread until Nate replied and then remembered something that happened to me around the time you originally asked the question.

I stated that I had been getting write readings of 8MB/s intermittently.

I was so concerned that it might be a dodgy drive or enclosure or cable that I checked the cable with another and getting no improvement, I ordered a new enclosure as it was cheaper than plunging straight away for a new SSD.

For some reason, the day after I had ordered the enclosure, I decided to take the drive out "to take a look at it".

After admiring it for a minute or so (I don't get out much), I put it back and Surprise! Surprise! It has worked perfectly fast ever since.

Now I had an enclosure speeding to me from Amazon. What was I to do . . . buy a new SSD to go in it of course, which is what I did.

So now I have 4 almost empty SSD drives . . . as all my editing up to 4K is done on USB 3.0 portables.

Maybe if I ever move on to 8K they will see some use.

APFS is theoretically better but ExFAT or MacOS Extended should be perfectly fine.

I don't think FCP will mind all that much!

Apple says only use APFS or HFS+ for the ProApps.

Format drives for FCP, Motion and Compressor. Format drives for Final Cut Pro, Motion, and Compressor - Apple Support

ExFAT should not be used with FCP files.

When you formatted the SSD as APFS did you use the GUID partition map or something else?

Did you choose an Encrypted version by mistake?

Sorry Nate, my question was aimed at the OP not you.

No problemo.

Edit: Just noticed the response tag text. That should be a bit more prominent 🤪