My Mac Mini M2 Pro is so slow

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Level 1

10 points

My Mac Mini M2 Pro is so slow

Lorded as the fastest thing since the starship Enterprise, my Mac Mini M2 Pro, is so slow and the worst aspect is USB connectivity. External drives drop out, and back in, continually. My notification panel is swamped with such and such a drive ejected improperly notifications.

I edit photos from cameras and the speed of transference from external drive to the screen is about is as long as making a cup of tea or coffee. Even when not using an external drive it is really slow. My home built Windows computer of four years old is faster than this glorified piece of junk.

Please do not tell me buy another cable or waggle them about or reconnect them I've bought different cables and waggled the cables until I'm blue in the face!

Help me love my Mac again, please!

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Mac mini, macOS 15.1

Posted on Jan 24, 2025 07:56 AM

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Answer 1

tbirdvet

Level 6

16,721 points

Jan 24, 2025 01:56 PM in response to Hilldragon

Very unusual about the speed. My Mini M4 Pro, MBA and iMac are all very fast in transferring files from external to Mac internal. Perhaps you have some incompatibility between your file or external drive.

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Answer 2

den.thed

Level 10

88,900 points

Jan 26, 2025 09:31 AM in response to Hilldragon

You're welcome.

1) It maybe necessary to use a self-powered hub or dock, to run multiple bus powered drives.

(a self-powered hub or dock, is one that has an external power supply)

2) Your cables and devices are probably OK. The older PC's and Mac's have larger inefficient power supplies.

(the Mac mini is built more for processing power and energy saving, than for powering external devices)

3) The Mac mini and current macOS should have no problem using exFat or FAT32 external drives.

(stick with exFAT if you are using the drive for both macOS and Windows)

(only APFS format drives that will stay with the Mac and macOS)

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Answer 3

den.thed

Level 10

88,900 points

Jan 24, 2025 10:54 AM in response to Hilldragon

External drives ejections can be caused by several different things.

1) Two many bus powered drives drawing to much power.

2) A failed or failing drive, drive enclosure or cable.

3) The type of drive and how it is formatted.

EtreCheckPro is an excellent tool for finding slowness and other problems.

Download and run the free version of EtreCheckPro, from > https://etrecheck.com/en/index.html

Then post your Report, as per > How to use the Add Text Feature When Post… - Apple Community

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Answer 4

Hilldragon Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 26, 2025 04:17 AM in response to den.thed

I'm only filling the holes provided. If it doesn't work that's down to design and build, which for the money is lamentable.
cables: I've used several. Can they all be faulty. drives and enclosures worked fine on my PC.
Now you might have an ointment here. I converted back to Apple from PC but wanted a fallback option so I formatted exFat. I could try re-formatting to APFS.

Thanks for your imput, much appreciated.

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Answer 5

Hilldragon Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 29, 2025 07:52 AM in response to hcsitas

Thanks for your advice.

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Answer 6

Hilldragon Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 29, 2025 07:51 AM in response to den.thed

I reformatted my drives to the Apple APFS and the file transfer is quicker but even when I'm using other apps the Mac is slow.

I maybe just unlucky in that I have some issue with other apps that makes the Mac seem slow.

You've been so kind with your time and advice. The formatting was a step forward so I will keep going and try to get it to perform better.

Thanks all

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Answer 7

Hilldragon Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 4, 2025 05:25 AM in response to Hilldragon

OK, so far I have reformatted my drives to APFS, the Mac was much better, and I tried another cable and it and the other mod have made a considerable difference. I also downloaded and ran EtreCheck which reassured me there were no major problems. Very impressed with that bit of kit.

Thank you all who answered my call for assistance you really came through for me.

By for now, Hugh.

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