Do the different SSD drive formats make a difference in speed? 1
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Daniel

Thanks for sharing. I usually use APFS on SSDs for Macs, but a benefit to HFS+J is that it’s more readable on non-Mac systems, like if you ever want to plug it into a Linux-based NAS like Synology to offload media.

Strange that using the included USB-C to USB-A adapter caused your computer to slow it down to USB 2.0 speeds. Macs with USB-A ports from 2013 onward have 5Gbps USB 3 ports and some have 10 Gbps Gen2 USB-A ports. I’d blame the cable, I’ve had multiple WD USB-C RAIDs that were shipped with USB-C to USB-A cables that ran at USB 2.0 speeds. (WD & Sandisk are brands owned by the same company.)

Note that the Sandisk Extreme V2 is the cheaper 10Gbps USB 3.2 Gen2 version, while it’s the Extreme PRO V2 that claims to get USB 3.2 Gen2x2 20Gbps speeds.

No Mac has USB 3.2 Gen2x2 ports, so the Extreme PRO is only a 10Gbps drive on all Macs and most PCs. Only if your PC motherboard (or Mac Pro with PCIe slots) has a special USB 3.2 Gen2x2 card installed will you be able to get 20Gbps USB speeds. That little detail is not clarified by most Gen2x2 marketing!

Last edited 2 years ago by Daniel
Neil Sadwelkar

Since SSDs are often used at shoots as well as in post, to copy large file sequences, I wonder if there is a difference copying, say, 500 GB of .ari or .dpx or .exr on to SSD formatted ExFAT vs APFS. Also, what about NTFS. That’s kind of cross platform too, when the Mac side has Paragon installed.

Marc B.

Paragon is a great program, but SSD drives formatted for ExFat are super slow attached to the Mac Studio, unlike with Intel Macs. I had to format my Thunderbolt 3/M.2 drive exclusively for exclusively for APFS on my Mac since it’s not fast enough to use cross platform with my PC convertible laptop.

WILLIAM

Just a warning : EXFAT seems to be the easier format, but we had a lot of “dead” exfat SSD when editors went from Mac to PC to Mac, with some “non readable disk” warning. It’s very fragile. So we prefer HFS or APFS here (or NTFS).

Michael Grenaier

Just a heads up on a couple of downsides to exfat I’ve experienced with exfat. I was doing the final output on a video presentation for a live event working on a mac where the av company needed a file on a windows compatible device, and formatted a thumbdrive as exfat. Got to the event and the windows laptop the av company was using did not read the exfat drive. If I remember correctly this was a windows 10 machine… Luckily I had also uploaded the file to dropbox and we had a decent wifi connection at the venue… And while working with a client who’s a big of a loose cannon (I think we probably all have one or 2 of these), she was backing up a very large drive (a lacie 16 tb something like that) on a m1 macbookpro and when she’d finished she disconnected the camera original drive without ejecting it. (yeah, even I’ve done that) and it totally corrupted the drive (even though afaik she was finished with the data transfer. Neither disk utility or disk warrior could restore the drive… Never seen this happen on a macosextended drive… and haven’t had that much experience with apfs to make this statement… Luckily the facility that supplied the drive with the data on it, retransferred it to a new drive (which my client paid for) without charging her for the transfer..

Russ

A wealth of info here with great links. Thanks for another great article. Humor throughout also brightened my day.

Iain Anderson

Adding to the story late here, but APFS is the safest choice by far if you don’t need PC compatibility. ExFAT is far more easily corrupted, and HFS+ can be corrupted when connected to an iOS or iPadOS device (and presumably not being disconnected safely, though there is no “eject” command available). That corruption will then instantly kernel-panic any Mac you plug the corrupted drive into (!!) and you’ll need a PC with the Paragon HFS+ tools to repair it. Never plug an HFS drive into an iPhone or iPad, and use exFAT with care.

Mantas

Thank you for your time and overview. Great job!

Last edited 1 month ago by Mantas

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