Products Featured in this Video ⬇️ OWC Thunderbolt Dock on Amazon: amzn.to/3Lv5qhb Cable Matters USB-C SSD Enclosure on Amazon: amzn.to/3G8ZAkK Thunderbolt 3 Cable on Amazon: amzn.to/3G8ZAkK 1TB SSD Drive on Amazon: amzn.to/3lxcsaS SSD SATA Connector on Amazon: amzn.to/3PsptQJ Hagibis Hub on Amazon: amzn.to/3NqNvtl Sabrent SSD Docking Station on Amazon: amzn.to/3sNdrYa Monitor Arm on Amazon: amzn.to/3GkcHzH M1 Mac Mini on Amazon: amzn.to/3LCsoTA LG Ultrawide Monitor on Amazon: amzn.to/3PLv0Cb Magic Keyboard on Amazon: amzn.to/3LyU0ZK Magic Mouse 2 on Amazon: amzn.to/3MAGV3D USB-C to DisplayPort Cable on Amazon: amzn.to/383x4US Logitech Speakers on Amazon: amzn.to/3NrWN8B Mandalorian Funko Pop on Amazon: amzn.to/3MDWZSi As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I may earn commissions for purchases made through the links above.
I reviewed this video a year later and BOY what a difference this one video made for me! I love my M1 Mac Mini, but this dock saves me hours each week. Thank you again, Lamar!
You might want to check the specs of the drive itself. I have a Samsung T7 external SSD and I'm getting closer to 670 MB/s read and write using the same test utility. The internal drive is so much faster because it is all on the same chip/board. I am sure the bus size is substantially larger as well for a much greater throughput.
The advertised speed of my SSD is around 500 MB/s which I was able to get going directly through the dock instead of the M1 Mac Mini where I only got 300 MB/s. Yes, those are the added benefits of Apple's internal storage. Your T7 advertised speeds are about 1000 MB/s so you're still losing close to 400 MB/s going through the M1 Mac Mini. 👍💪
Great video, good job! I've been using the OWC thunderbolt 4 dock since I purchase my M1 Mac's. I appreciate you doing this type of video, I have experimented my self but I don't do UA-cam videos. I'm sure this will help a lot pf people. Thanks for doing this video comparison.
It depends on what USB spec the ports support on the M1 Mini. If they only support 5gbps then that is around 550MB/s. That would be why an external drive would seem as low. It would need to be an external thunderbolt enclosure with a NVMe drive in it to get anything over 1GB/s transfers.
I havent had a single speed issue with data transfer while connected directly to the Mac Mini. What slows it down, in fact, is THIS hub. It's a great hub, glad I bought it. The extra ports and SSD enclosure is a great way to save money. BUT, it's not going to make data transfer any faster. It's the exact same.
The Hagibis hub does not slow the drives down. The M1 Mac Mini does, that's why I showed every possible scenario in the video. Any regular USB drive connected directly to the M1 Mac Mini will have slower than the advertised drive speeds. 👍💪
@@jirikocman In the video you can clearly see that going through the Thunderbolt Dock there was a speed increase while using this USB-C Dock. With the USB-C Dock the speeds are slower connected directly to the M1 Mac Mini than when they are plugged into the Thunderbolt Dock. Try watching the entire video. 👍💪
My Samsung T7 gets 700 MBps read and write connected directly to the USB-C on the Mac Mini M1. Everything else I've tried gets similar speeds to your tests here, so the T7 is the way to go.
Nice! Yes, the T7 is faster than all the drives I tested. The advertised speed of my SSD is around 500 MB/s which I was able to get going directly through the dock instead of the M1 Mac Mini where I only got 300 MB/s. Your T7 advertised speeds are about 1000 MB/s so you're still losing around 300 MB/s going through the M1 Mac Mini. 👍💪
@@LamarMK could you tell me what is my best bet for speeds if I have imac late 2015 with 2 thunderbolts 2 and usb 3.00 port? which external drive you would suggest?
@@tennisfan6343 There’s no external storage drive speed issues on those Macs. I’d recommend getting the Samsung SSD and $20 SSD enclosure I showed in the video. 👍💪
I was considering the OWC Dock, but got myself a CalDigit TS3 Dock and use a proper Thunderbolt-3 m.2-SSD and get Writespeeds of 1900+ MB/s and Readspeeds of 2500+ MB/s. No problems with other slower SSDs as well. I actually edit my 4k-Video-footage from the external m.2-SSD connected via Thunderbolt-3
i have both the Hagabis and the OWC docks, and I was wondering if you have any idea why when I connect the Hagabis to the OWC USB-C port like you did, the Hagabis SSD connection suddenly becomes USB 2.0? It comes up in my system information as if the drive is under a USB 2.0 hub all of a sudden...
So after a lot of research and testing, it seems that the issue is because my Hagabis hub is in fact running USB 3.1 gen 2, as it is the newer version with SATA and nvme. Plugging your gen 1 hub into the gen 2 port allows for full bandwidth, so the drive runs fine in your video. I suspect that plugging my gen 2 hub into the gen 2 port in the OWC is creating some kind of direct daisy chaining weirdness, and that may cause the OWC to limit the Hagabis hub down to USB 2.0 for one reason or another...Which is good news I suppose, because I was worried my OWC hub was at fault. Plugging the Hagabis into the thunderbolt port on the OWC definitely increases the speed of my SATA ssd by more than 100 mb/s - the real issue in all this is that the mac mini's built-in USB controllers are throttling the speed. The OWC hub uses it's own USB controllers so they are working better than the internal ports, and being passed through the thunderbolt lane to the mac. Your video was incredibly helpful, thank you!
strange to see that the speed of the SSD externally connected via the dock was faster than installing directly in the dock or directly connected to the mac M1 mini, one would actually expect that the shortest route to the mini would be faster, Apple probably has some software built in to speed up a connected SSD that is bypassed in this way
Checking the spec the Thunderbolt ports on the M1 Mac Mini support 10Gbps via USB 3.1 Gen 2 so 1250MB/s. If you want faster than that you need Thunderbolt enclosure and NVMe drives,
Just one question what port did you plug into on the M1? You can’t increase transfer speed above the host top speed. You can only remove obstacles to achieving that speed using the correct cable to achieve top data transfer speed, the correct version of SSD to achieve transfer speeds, using the highest speed port. Buying the right cable and the right drive you can achieve your speed goal. The expansion unit is great tech for added functionality, the case is great to build your own external SSD but you don’t need either for speed.
I used the USB-C/Thunderbolt port on the M1 Mac Mini. I understand what you’re saying, but in this case it really doesn’t matter. I tested every possible scenario in the video, the slow read/write speeds is a known issue with M1 Macs regardless of what you plug into it. The only way around it is going through the dock like I showed in the video. 👍💪
@@LamarMK But It matter, MacMini dock with drive bay you using is USB 3.1 gen 1 only, so you can go up to 5Gbit/s bandwidth even you connected it to TB3/USB4 port with 40Gbit/s bandwidth.. Same as you used USB-A port on your TB dock, it is 3.1 gen 1 too. When you used box with USB-C cable connected to TB dock, your speed goes up becouse it is USB 3.1 gen 2 with 10Gbit/s bandwidth not becouse you connected dock via TB. So Jeffey is correct and on point. I mentioned it on different comment. I have USB doc station which offers only USB 3.1 gen 1 ports, even on USB-C! I have similar Samsung EVO 960 in Verbatim case which is USB 3.1 gen 2. Connected to dock it is bottlenecked by USB port speeds on my dock station and have very similar speeds around 350MB/s. When I connected that case with exact cable directly to M1 Macbook and M1 MacMini, speed are about right, read 510-520MB/s, write 460-470MB/s becouse case dont limit my drive speed. I was about buy similar dock under my mac mini, but in silver to match M1 MacMini, but when i looked into specs and there was USB 3 gen 1, I give up, too slow for SSD drive, and even more if you want connect another drive/flash storage and copy files between those two.
@@jirikocman I showed in the video the USB-C Dock connected to the M1 Mac Mini directly and the speeds are cut in half. Going through the Thunderbolt Dock increased those speeds with the SSD inside that USB-C Dock. That is why I showed other drives outside of a dock connected directly to the M1 Mac Mini and then directly to the Thunderbolt Dock to show the speed increase.
So now that you have the OWC dock, your not using the other square dock? I am close to ordering a M1 Mini and was liking the idea of the square dock... was there any that where USB 3.1 C/thunderbolt 3/4 ones that wouldn’t bottleneck?
I’m not using the Hagibis Hub anymore, but it’s still the Best Budget Hub that I recommend to everybody where having the max speeds is not a factor for now, it’s not an issue with the dock that’s causing the speed issue it’s something with the M1 Mac that hopefully Apple will fix soon. 👍💪 There’s no similar hubs to the Hagibis hub on the market that’s USB 3.1 or Thunderbolt either. Which Spec M1 Mac Mini are you looking to get?
I apologize if this has been asked before- noob here! Is this compatible with the Mac studio M1 max? Is my understanding correct (total layman) that my Mac Studio is slow when trying to connect to external drive. So many rainbow wheels. I have run any fix I can find online (safe boots, etc in Apple Forum) and the issues doesn't appear to be the Studio M1's issue. I'm not a computer wiz, I just need my workflow sped up and its shocking to me that the system is so much slower than I am! Originally I set up all files non program related on External as I was told that would keep the computer running faster. I use Photoshop CC, Lightroom, and Premiere most frequently. I do shut everything else down when using Premiere. Will this dock plus the cables you have listed fix this issue for my M1 Studio?
Seems like the difference is the OWC hub is powered which allows the SSD to transfer at a higher rate than the mac Mini USB-C port. Curious if you have tried the Hagibis Pro dock that has power input.
@@LamarMK : Mr Davenport is correct and the general principle applies across new and old Mac products. It is called physics and perhaps you should study the subject.
@@stephenhall3515 My response was, "Could be." I never said it wasn't. Was I supposed to answer yes? Not all Thunderbolt 3/4 docks that are powered give the same level of performance. What you need to do is learn to read and comprehend before commenting.
Ok, but you’re still losing over 300MB/s. The advertised speeds of those drives are 1050MB/s. If you connect it to this Dock you’ll get the Max speeds like I did. 👍💪
They should have made a couple of slots for ssds inside that dock. Also if you are interested in speed, you should be using the M2 ssds, they are 3 to 6 times faster than these sata drives.
Thanks for your review, quick question: I have an thunderbolt 2 audio interface, my two SATA sdd’s from my old MacBook, a wall-socket powered usb-a hub with 8 connections (for my MIDI peripherals) and a HDMI (or VGA to mini display port adapter) screen. What do do you think would be the best hub to choose to attach all those peripherals the most energy- and (you guessed it-) cost- efficient way without potentially losing data speeds or being to taxing on the Mac m1 mini ports? The less additional devices, the better Appreciate your help :)
You're welcome! Oh wow, that's a lot going on. You're gonna run into a lot of adapters and conversions. Many new hubs are not being made with Thunderbolt 2 ports.This Hub or a similar hub would be good, but you're gonna have to get some adapters to convert your Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 in order to plug it in. 👍💪
First off I believe it's a design flaw of the owc thunderbolt why did it work better on the back than the front connection . they need to improve make sure that each port has it own circuit and not shared with multiple port to 1 chip.
Hi Lamar ... I use an Akitio Thunder 3 Quad (4 bay drive enclosure), currently connected to a 2018-2020 (i7) Mac Mini, but have plans to soon get an M1 Mini ... Since the M1 Mini only has two Thunderbolt 3 ports, it definitely needs expansion ... Do you, or could you do a video to test OWC's new "thunderbolt port expander", to see if it'll also boost speeds? It has less ports than OWC's Thunderbolt 3 dock, BUT it does add three thunderbolt-4 ports!
Hey David 👋! Nice, which M1 Mac Mini are you planning on getting? It would be nice to get the opportunity to test some of those other OWC products. For Thunderbolt 4 docks, I’ve had other users say it didn’t increase their speeds, so it seems there’s something going on with the M1 Mac Mini and Thunderbolt 4 docks. Thunderbolt 3 seems to work perfectly though. 👍💪
Hey dude how is the owc dock have you had any issues I’m thinking on getting it for mine Mac mini what do you think i should get it let me know stay safe
Hey man 👋! The dock is great, no issues at all. If you need to have the fastest drive speeds and more thunderbolt 3/usb ports, then it’s a great buy with a lot more use case. Stay safe too. 👍💪
What’s the real difference between this OWC Thunderbolt 3 model and the newer Thunderbolt 4 version? Besides ports, to me it seems like a name changes.
Dear Lamar, what are the Read / Write speeds like for the internal storage of the M1 Mac Mini with the BlackMagic testing software you were using please?
It’s still a great hub, but since I have the extra ports on the new dock, I can just use it with the other SSD enclosure and not have too many things on my desk. 👍💪
Lamar MK, this video is fantastic and I want to “pull the trigger” next week. Would this setup work similarly with a PCIE NVMe M.2 SSD? Would it offer similar speed enhancements to justify a $150 upgrade to PCIE instead of SATA?
Now several months out from this video date, the better approach (if you have the OWC TB dock) is to get the OWC Envoy Express bus-powered TB enclosure and populate with a NvME drive. Will see speeds of 1200-1500!!! Using USB-3+SSD external enclosures is now lost favor, much better to use NvME tech with TB enclosure, in the context of Mac M1 solutions.
I bought the Hagibis hub and the ssd sata died the first day. I needed to put it in an enclosure. I live in Bali and the cost of one of those owc hubs is about double. Have to make due for a while and just use the internal drive as much as possible.
Wow! The SATA connector in the Hub died, or the SSD itself died? That’s a lot of money, kinda like buying the M1 Mac Mini again. How much internal SSD storage do you have?
@@LamarMK Thought you could daisy chain 4 devices on TB3. So 1 in and then 2 out plus 1 internal and 1 leftov- make that two internal and none leftover.
This is not a practical solution. The dock would have to be twice the size just to cool the m.2 nvme card. The dock will also run hot all the time, specially if you are doing alot of file transfer work etc.
@@LamarMK I wouldn’t say transfer speeds are slow but, they’re not what Apple was implying during the launch of the iPad Pro M1. Thank you for responding and asking! Subbed!
@@alfabravo80 Ohhh got you. I don’t have an M1 iPad Pro so I can’t do any testing, my iPad Pro is the 2018 model. You’re welcome and thanks for the support. 👍💪
It looks like, the OWC Thunderbolt Dock went from $ 250 to over $ 650 in 9 months, I hope there is something similar out there! Will the CalDigit TS3 Plus Dock do the same? (Cost about $ 259)
Oh wow! 😱 It looks like they might be out of stock and those prices are from 3rd party scalpers. I haven’t personally tried that Dock, so I’m not sure what results you’d get.
It would be interesting to see a Thunderbolt 3 /USB4 fully capable drive arrangement for testing. The RocketStor RAID(s) come to mind, especially with that RAID with 4 NVMe drives. On an Intel Mac, those drives advertise an impressive 3.2GB/s. It would be interesting to see that fed into the M1 arrangements.
If you really want an external closure for NVME speed for your M1 Mac mini, you need a bus powered exclosure for thunderbolt 3/4 like OWC, ACASIS, TEKQ and others.
Again great vid and show of options. You’re time is greatly appreciated on this as it saves me time getting the optimal setup for my work flow. Thx Lamar!
I have the same issue with an external NVME drive(samsung 970 Evo Plus in 'thunderbolt 4' enclosure), on windows its over 2500MB/s(USB4-c) on Mac Mini USB-C its just under 700MB/s. Heck on my tablet without USB-C its almost 900MB/s
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Hi sir I have this same tb3 dock . I have also a Orico Usb-c 3.1 gen2 enclosure for my samsung evo sata ssd . The issue is when I am connecting to 3.1 gen2 port of the dock my speed is 30-40MBPS . I changed another cable but no solution 😕 . I am using m1 macbook air . I did install dock ejecter app and update big sur to 11.5.2 . Please help me ? *** on the first after getting my mac the speed is fine but now 😔 30-40MBPS.
im having some trouble with my 2019 mbp, I use a Samsung ehd where I keep everything and as I'm using logic the ehd will just eject itself and close logic, I wonder how to learn about this stuff its killing me
@@LamarMK when I use an Apple thunderbolt to USB adapter to connect ehd it’s pretty solid connection, its just I run out of ports then lol , I guess im waiting for the iMac mini w pro chip n more ram I think
I am delighted to see you have a recommendation for the SSD enclosure and TB3 dock. However, I want a lot more storage in order to bring my collection of 0.5TB--2TB external drives into one place and be accessible to my M1 mac plus bring data on archived Firewire800 into the 21st century. Can you recommend an enclosure (USB 3.1 GEN2 or TB3) for the reliable 12TB SEAGATE 3.5" HDD ST12000NM001G (backblaze 2021Q2 failure rates)? Right now, I can get 2 of the 12TB with enclosures, attach them through your suggested Thunderbolt dock and create RAID 1, and that seems to be the way to satisfy my wish list. I've looked a lot at RAID NAS and I see that the NAS is not a backup and plus I am far from my ethernet and the 2 M1 computers on my desk are all that I need to connect to the backup/storage solution. Thanks for your thoughts on this!
Not sure I might be off track here, but a good solution for safe and large storage (beyond raid) could be a Drobo enclosure. There are multiple solutions to choose from, and come in network access and / or usb3/thunderbolt3 connections.
Going through this Thunderbolt 3 Dock that message doesn’t pop up at all, since the dock has its own power source and is always on. On the M1 Mac Mini, you can disable sleep mode and only allow the monitor to sleep instead and that message won’t pop up. Hopefully, Apple fixes this issue soon. 👍💪
Thanks for sharing. That will also depend on the type of enclosure, if it’s a USB enclosure it’s definitely gonna be slower than the advertised speeds.
You can still use the SSD in the enclosure plugged into your M1 Mac Mini by USB-C. The speeds are pretty good, but won’t be as fast as going through this OWC Dock.
How can I get faster speeds I have a MacBook Pro m1 and I’m using a Samsung external solid-state drive T7 model 2 GB how do I get faster read and write speeds on that
If you connect your Samsung T7 to this dock then you should get the max advertised speeds of the SSD. The only way to get the max speeds is with the dock. 👍💪
@@UTUBESTEVED I haven’t tested this with any other Thunderbolt 3 docks, so I’m not 100% sure. It should work though, when you get it let me know what speeds you get through the Thunderbolt 3 ports. 👍💪
Great vid exploring the options! I guess I was expecting better from my M1, figuring if I used good m.2 chips and 20gbps cases for the chips, and then connected them thru the thunderbolt bus, i'd get in the 1000s or low 1000 at least. Nada so! Oh well, maybe the M2 will do better.
Its not an issue at all. The issue is using USB-c instead of thunderbolt. Ive got samsung 970 EVO 1TB in nvme m.2 THUNDERBOLT 3 enclosure - and hitting easly 2.1GB on writte and 2.5GB read...
You will get the correct USB speeds through this Dock because it is Thunderbolt. A Thunderbolt SSD will also give you the fast speeds because the drive itself is THUNDERBOLT. The issue here is with USB speeds and the only way to fix that is with this Dock.
I edited my footage on 2015 MacBook Pro by using proxies no big deal. I also watched all the reviewers scrubbing through 6k footage like butter on M1 so I bought it. Fast forward...I still have to use proxies and edit in 1080p. Apple tricked me with the 12proMax phone that has a horrible camera and got me again with the 16gb M1.
Yeah, these hubs that aren’t exclusively bus powered are providing a little extra “push” on that thunderbolt retimer because the trace distance of the port and the controller are likely too far, so the hub supplies a little extra juice to repeat that signal 🤷♂️ Nerding out over here 😉 Apparently the engineers are aware, and there’s some intel that they’re trying to figure this out with an update, but really they need to push more power, but they’re working with a 15W chip, so they’ll have to figure out that push without sacrificing per watt efficiency on other tasks....again, I’m just a big nerd. Hopefully I’m wrong. 🤣
@@KevinRossRN Haha the Tech Doctor himself. Thanks for explaining that Brother. Hopefully, they fix it with a software update. 👍💪 For future releases, Apple needs to start testing with a few third party accessories from manufacturers that they work closely with.
If you connect your Samsung T7 to this dock then you should get the max advertised speeds of the SSD. The only way to get the max speeds is with the dock. 👍💪
I don’t get one thing. You connected the drive via USB A to m1. You should’ve also try connecting it via usb c to usb c cable to m1. I’m sure you would get faster results.
All tests were done from the USB-C Port on the back of the M1 Mac Mini. I also connected the SSD enclosure to the M1 Mac Mini directly with the USB-C cable and the results were still the same.
USB 3.1 have GEN 1 = 5Gbit/s (500MB/s max), and gen 2 = 10Gbit/s (1000MB/s max), both are blue, but that color is not important as many manufacturers does not use blue color at all, usually you can see difference between 2.0 and 3.x ports with that color, but what exact generation of USB 3 is using is another story Even USB-C port does not mean that it will support 10Gbit/s, there are devices with only 5Gbit/s or even 480Mbit/s as those devices have implemented only USB 2.0 support but uses USB-C connector and drives can do just little over 40MB/s. But those numbers are maximum bandwidth, real speeds are not that high as there are some overheads for drive controller commands and some parity. 350MB/s over 3.1 gen 1 is about right and real speed. That is reason why some external USB drivers tops at 1000MB/s speeds, it is about maximum for USB3.1 gen 2 protocol. USB4 supports at least 20Gbit/s but it is usually as part of combined port with Thunderbolt 3 or 4 so then it offers 40Gbit/s, but there are no drives for USB4 protocol, only Thunderbolt, then you can use full speed of NVMe drive for PCIe 3.0 interface. Fast NVMes for PCIe 4.0 can go up to 7GB/s (56Gbit/s) which is over TB3/USB4 bandwidth
I am not one to go around negatively talking about products, but I owned one of these, it broke, they replaced it, and got me this exact model. It hums incredibly loud and any USB connected devices and even monitors won't necessarily wake up if you put your Mac to sleep. This makes it pretty unusable for me.
Thanks for your feedback. Towards the end of the video, I did an overhead shot. The only things plugged into the dock is the power cord, the Thunderbolt cable going into the M1 Mac Mini, and the Thunderbolt cable going to the SSD Enclosure. 👍💪
@@LamarMK See, here's the thing. You state those names around like people who have never used a Mac before are supposed to know which of the two thunderbolt ports you are using and where. Depending on the various ports, there a possibility of 16 combinations. I don't want to do some thing. Maybe you could send me a picture of the back of your setup? Thank you in advance.
@@tonynotstated695 You might need to rewatch the entire video. I unboxed the product and said what all the different ports on the dock are front and back. In the series of tests I did in the video, I only used the two ports at the front of the dock to connect my SSD’s. There is 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports at the back of the dock, and I explained that I use both ports, one to connect the dock to my Mac Mini, and one to connect to my SSD Enclosure.
@@LamarMK But do you see what I mean? Your solution is that I rewatch your video looking for the correct information and pair that with other conclusions. Instead, a casual shot by you solves that problem for others as well. The easier you make it for new people, the more they will come back to visit you videos. It's that simply. Lets not have a conversation over this, it's just my opinion, that's all.
@@tonynotstated695 Thanks for sharing your opinion, even after trying to break it down further for you and explain how I have it setup doesn’t seem to help. I will continue try to make future videos as easy as possible to understand.
I get 900 MB/s read/write on my M1 MBP but through the 11-port OWC Thunderbolt 4 Dock I get a max of 200 MB/s write. Confusing as hell since my Akito Thunderbolt 3 dock gets 600 MB/s write.
@@LamarMK There are 3x Thunderbolt 4 ports and 3x USB 3.2 ports (10 gbps). I've tried all of them using a dozen USB-C cables (10 gbps) and two different Thunderbolt 4 cables, one active and the other passive. All the same result. My TB 3 Dock is simply 3x faster with the same two SansDisk Extreme Pro drives. I've revived the firmware on the Mac, tried a bare installation of Big Sur, reset the SMC, you name it.
@@LamarMK One SansDisk Extreme Pro is 3.1 GEN 2 (1000 MB/s) and the other is 3.2 (2x2) (2000 MB/s). Both get up to 900 MB/s write when attached directly to the M1 and the read speeds are maxed out. They both get 600 MB/s write when attached to my 2013 MBP as they do through the TB3 dock, but the TB4 dock is dismal at 200 MB/s write.
@@idcfilms8868 Definitely something going on with these M1 Macs. Now I wanna try a Thunderbolt 4 Dock and see the results. The M1 Mac Mini says Thunderbolt 3 + USB 4, so I guess it's not really Thunderbolt 4, and with the dock being Thunderbolt 4 I'm not sure if that might be the issue. I'll have to do some more research on this. Did you ever ask OWC about it?
Thank You! Glad you found the video helpful. 👍💪 Shoutout to all my UK Fans! Y'all are amazing, thanks for the support. The UK is actually my 2nd most viewed country. 🇬🇧
ITs true. Even with this dock my G-RAID usb3 drive is getting 90 read/write. This dock does NOT solve the problem. And OWC customer service has been some of the worst I’ve experienced.
@@LamarMK what are the fastest speeds you’ve gotten through the rear USB ports? If I actually think it could be a faulty dock I’ll send it back but OWC basically said try it on an intel Mac and see what happens. to me it’s performance on an intel Mac is irrelevant as the advertise it as m1 compatible.
@@LamarMK yeh I get you but those half advertised are still much faster then getting this and an sata ssd. This is so much like 200 then getting the ssd and enclosure on top it's too much. But good video tho I just don't see the value in this because of how much it costs
@@izzie1200 Got ya. My external SSD was only getting 300MB/s before the dock and it was fine, everything worked great, so the NVMe even with half the speeds would still perform great. This is more for people who needs all the available speeds to work on videos/photos for example. 👍💪
Stil veryyyyyy far from internal speed, and for the price its better to get the SSD upgrade option and buy a cheaper multiport , Nice viea anyway quality test thanks
@@minotor7176 You’re welcome, Thank you! 👍💪 But those are the Max advertised speeds of the Samsung SSD. You can always buy a faster SSD that’s close to the speed of the internal SSD, with this fix now you’ll be able to get those max speeds, before you would basically get half of it.
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I reviewed this video a year later and BOY what a difference this one video made for me!
I love my M1 Mac Mini, but this dock saves me hours each week. Thank you again, Lamar!
WOW! I'm happy to hear that, thanks for sharing this wonderful feedback. It's a pleasure to help. Stay tuned for more amazing content. 👍💪
You might want to check the specs of the drive itself. I have a Samsung T7 external SSD and I'm getting closer to 670 MB/s read and write using the same test utility. The internal drive is so much faster because it is all on the same chip/board. I am sure the bus size is substantially larger as well for a much greater throughput.
The advertised speed of my SSD is around 500 MB/s which I was able to get going directly through the dock instead of the M1 Mac Mini where I only got 300 MB/s. Yes, those are the added benefits of Apple's internal storage. Your T7 advertised speeds are about 1000 MB/s so you're still losing close to 400 MB/s going through the M1 Mac Mini. 👍💪
Great video, good job! I've been using the OWC thunderbolt 4 dock since I purchase my M1 Mac's. I appreciate you doing this type of video, I have experimented my self but I don't do UA-cam videos. I'm sure this will help a lot pf people. Thanks for doing this video comparison.
Thank you, and you’re welcome. That’s great, If you haven’t seen my newer videos I’m using their Thunderbolt 4 hub as well. 👍💪
It depends on what USB spec the ports support on the M1 Mini.
If they only support 5gbps then that is around 550MB/s.
That would be why an external drive would seem as low.
It would need to be an external thunderbolt enclosure with a NVMe drive in it to get anything over 1GB/s transfers.
Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports with support for: DisplayPort. Thunderbolt 3 (up to 40 Gb/s) USB 4 (up to 40Gb/s) USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10 Gb/s)
Excellent review. You showed all possibilities which should answer most everyone's concerns and identified the best solution for today. Thanks
You’re welcome, Thank you! I tried my best to cover everything, glad you appreciate the video. Stay tuned for more. 👍💪 (You earned a pinned a comment)
I havent had a single speed issue with data transfer while connected directly to the Mac Mini. What slows it down, in fact, is THIS hub. It's a great hub, glad I bought it. The extra ports and SSD enclosure is a great way to save money. BUT, it's not going to make data transfer any faster. It's the exact same.
The Hagibis hub does not slow the drives down. The M1 Mac Mini does, that's why I showed every possible scenario in the video. Any regular USB drive connected directly to the M1 Mac Mini will have slower than the advertised drive speeds. 👍💪
@@LamarMK Wrong that hub is USB 3.1 gen 1 not gen 2 with doble bandwidth. JABBER is right.
@@jirikocman In the video you can clearly see that going through the Thunderbolt Dock there was a speed increase while using this USB-C Dock. With the USB-C Dock the speeds are slower connected directly to the M1 Mac Mini than when they are plugged into the Thunderbolt Dock. Try watching the entire video. 👍💪
Thanks Lamar!
You're welcome! 👍💪
How about iMAC M1? I noticed it’s getting slow as well. Have you done some test on that?
I don't have an M1 iMac, but this is happening across all Macs with the M1 Chip.
@@LamarMK thank you. It’s so upsetting to know that apple does that to M1.
My Samsung T7 gets 700 MBps read and write connected directly to the USB-C on the Mac Mini M1. Everything else I've tried gets similar speeds to your tests here, so the T7 is the way to go.
Nice! Yes, the T7 is faster than all the drives I tested. The advertised speed of my SSD is around 500 MB/s which I was able to get going directly through the dock instead of the M1 Mac Mini where I only got 300 MB/s. Your T7 advertised speeds are about 1000 MB/s so you're still losing around 300 MB/s going through the M1 Mac Mini. 👍💪
@@LamarMK could you tell me what is my best bet for speeds if I have imac late 2015 with 2 thunderbolts 2 and usb 3.00 port? which external drive you would suggest?
@@tennisfan6343 There’s no external storage drive speed issues on those Macs. I’d recommend getting the Samsung SSD and $20 SSD enclosure I showed in the video. 👍💪
what about USB 4 enclosure for NVMe's SSD? it seems it has no issues at all with the m1?
Excellent work. Much appreciated. Liked and subscribed.
Glad you appreciate it, thanks for the support. 💯👍💪
I was considering the OWC Dock, but got myself a CalDigit TS3 Dock and use a proper Thunderbolt-3 m.2-SSD and get Writespeeds of 1900+ MB/s and Readspeeds of 2500+ MB/s.
No problems with other slower SSDs as well. I actually edit my 4k-Video-footage from the external m.2-SSD connected via Thunderbolt-3
Nice! I just did a similar setup here with a Thunderbolt NVMe drive, super fast speeds. ua-cam.com/video/sp4vizwmPgw/v-deo.html
Good call this dock doesn’t do it for me. $250 down the drain maybe i will try the caldigit.
i have both the Hagabis and the OWC docks, and I was wondering if you have any idea why when I connect the Hagabis to the OWC USB-C port like you did, the Hagabis SSD connection suddenly becomes USB 2.0? It comes up in my system information as if the drive is under a USB 2.0 hub all of a sudden...
So after a lot of research and testing, it seems that the issue is because my Hagabis hub is in fact running USB 3.1 gen 2, as it is the newer version with SATA and nvme. Plugging your gen 1 hub into the gen 2 port allows for full bandwidth, so the drive runs fine in your video. I suspect that plugging my gen 2 hub into the gen 2 port in the OWC is creating some kind of direct daisy chaining weirdness, and that may cause the OWC to limit the Hagabis hub down to USB 2.0 for one reason or another...Which is good news I suppose, because I was worried my OWC hub was at fault.
Plugging the Hagabis into the thunderbolt port on the OWC definitely increases the speed of my SATA ssd by more than 100 mb/s - the real issue in all this is that the mac mini's built-in USB controllers are throttling the speed. The OWC hub uses it's own USB controllers so they are working better than the internal ports, and being passed through the thunderbolt lane to the mac. Your video was incredibly helpful, thank you!
Glad you appreciate the video. I appreciate your research, thanks for sharing with us. 👍💪
Very helpful video, thanks mate
Thanks, Glad to help. 👍
Hi, nice review. Does the audio output work ? i mean, is this audio interface recognized on the M1 Mac Mini ? (Big Sur ?) - Thank you
Hey, glad you like the review. Yes, just select the Dock as the audio source. Stay tuned for more. 👍💪
@@LamarMK Thank you !
@@scronier896 You’re welcome. Stay tuned for more. 💯👍💪
strange to see that the speed of the SSD externally connected via the dock was faster than installing directly in the dock or directly connected to the mac M1 mini, one would actually expect that the shortest route to the mini would be faster, Apple probably has some software built in to speed up a connected SSD that is bypassed in this way
They should do something to fix it!
Checking the spec the Thunderbolt ports on the M1 Mac Mini support 10Gbps via USB 3.1 Gen 2 so 1250MB/s.
If you want faster than that you need Thunderbolt enclosure and NVMe drives,
Just one question what port did you plug into on the M1? You can’t increase transfer speed above the host top speed. You can only remove obstacles to achieving that speed using the correct cable to achieve top data transfer speed, the correct version of SSD to achieve transfer speeds, using the highest speed port. Buying the right cable and the right drive you can achieve your speed goal. The expansion unit is great tech for added functionality, the case is great to build your own external SSD but you don’t need either for speed.
I used the USB-C/Thunderbolt port on the M1 Mac Mini. I understand what you’re saying, but in this case it really doesn’t matter. I tested every possible scenario in the video, the slow read/write speeds is a known issue with M1 Macs regardless of what you plug into it. The only way around it is going through the dock like I showed in the video. 👍💪
@@LamarMK But It matter, MacMini dock with drive bay you using is USB 3.1 gen 1 only, so you can go up to 5Gbit/s bandwidth even you connected it to TB3/USB4 port with 40Gbit/s bandwidth.. Same as you used USB-A port on your TB dock, it is 3.1 gen 1 too. When you used box with USB-C cable connected to TB dock, your speed goes up becouse it is USB 3.1 gen 2 with 10Gbit/s bandwidth not becouse you connected dock via TB. So Jeffey is correct and on point. I mentioned it on different comment. I have USB doc station which offers only USB 3.1 gen 1 ports, even on USB-C! I have similar Samsung EVO 960 in Verbatim case which is USB 3.1 gen 2. Connected to dock it is bottlenecked by USB port speeds on my dock station and have very similar speeds around 350MB/s. When I connected that case with exact cable directly to M1 Macbook and M1 MacMini, speed are about right, read 510-520MB/s, write 460-470MB/s becouse case dont limit my drive speed.
I was about buy similar dock under my mac mini, but in silver to match M1 MacMini, but when i looked into specs and there was USB 3 gen 1, I give up, too slow for SSD drive, and even more if you want connect another drive/flash storage and copy files between those two.
@@jirikocman I showed in the video the USB-C Dock connected to the M1 Mac Mini directly and the speeds are cut in half. Going through the Thunderbolt Dock increased those speeds with the SSD inside that USB-C Dock. That is why I showed other drives outside of a dock connected directly to the M1 Mac Mini and then directly to the Thunderbolt Dock to show the speed increase.
I couldn’t recall, but did you try running the enclosure USB-C to the Mac Minis USB-C to see if it still gets a fast read?
Yes, used the USB-C ports. 👍💪
So now that you have the OWC dock, your not using the other square dock? I am close to ordering a M1 Mini and was liking the idea of the square dock... was there any that where USB 3.1 C/thunderbolt 3/4 ones that wouldn’t bottleneck?
I’m not using the Hagibis Hub anymore, but it’s still the Best Budget Hub that I recommend to everybody where having the max speeds is not a factor for now, it’s not an issue with the dock that’s causing the speed issue it’s something with the M1 Mac that hopefully Apple will fix soon. 👍💪
There’s no similar hubs to the Hagibis hub on the market that’s USB 3.1 or Thunderbolt either. Which Spec M1 Mac Mini are you looking to get?
I apologize if this has been asked before- noob here! Is this compatible with the Mac studio M1 max? Is my understanding correct (total layman) that my Mac Studio is slow when trying to connect to external drive. So many rainbow wheels. I have run any fix I can find online (safe boots, etc in Apple Forum) and the issues doesn't appear to be the Studio M1's issue. I'm not a computer wiz, I just need my workflow sped up and its shocking to me that the system is so much slower than I am! Originally I set up all files non program related on External as I was told that would keep the computer running faster. I use Photoshop CC, Lightroom, and Premiere most frequently. I do shut everything else down when using Premiere. Will this dock plus the cables you have listed fix this issue for my M1 Studio?
I think it should help with the read/write speeds as well since it’s M1. 👍
@@LamarMK thank you so much for all the info and fast reply- I appreciate you!
Great video! Thanks!
Thanks! You’re welcome. Stay tuned for more. 👍💪
Can the enclosure handle the SSD drive 1 T?
Yes.
Seems like the difference is the OWC hub is powered which allows the SSD to transfer at a higher rate than the mac Mini USB-C port. Curious if you have tried the Hagibis Pro dock that has power input.
Could be. No, I haven’t tried that Dock. 👍💪
@@LamarMK : Mr Davenport is correct and the general principle applies across new and old Mac products. It is called physics and perhaps you should study the subject.
@@stephenhall3515 My response was, "Could be." I never said it wasn't. Was I supposed to answer yes?
Not all Thunderbolt 3/4 docks that are powered give the same level of performance. What you need to do is learn to read and comprehend before commenting.
If the dock does not have its power brick plugged in, will it draw power from the laptop and supply to the downstream ports?
Power brick needs to be plugged in.
my samsung t7 connects directly with thunderbolt to my m1 and has excellent speed...over 700mbs for write and read
Ok, but you’re still losing over 300MB/s. The advertised speeds of those drives are 1050MB/s. If you connect it to this Dock you’ll get the Max speeds like I did. 👍💪
They should have made a couple of slots for ssds inside that dock. Also if you are interested in speed, you should be using the M2 ssds, they are 3 to 6 times faster than these sata drives.
Would be cool, but not the purpose of this dock. Yes, those drives are faster, but you would still have the slow speed with them on M1 Macs.
Thanks for your review, quick question:
I have an thunderbolt 2 audio interface, my two SATA sdd’s from my old MacBook, a wall-socket powered usb-a hub with 8 connections (for my MIDI peripherals) and a HDMI (or VGA to mini display port adapter) screen. What do do you think would be the best hub to choose to attach all those peripherals the most energy- and (you guessed it-) cost- efficient way without potentially losing data speeds or being to taxing on the Mac m1 mini ports? The less additional devices, the better
Appreciate your help :)
You're welcome! Oh wow, that's a lot going on. You're gonna run into a lot of adapters and conversions. Many new hubs are not being made with Thunderbolt 2 ports.This Hub or a similar hub would be good, but you're gonna have to get some adapters to convert your Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 in order to plug it in. 👍💪
First off I believe it's a design flaw of the owc thunderbolt why did it work better on the back than the front connection .
they need to improve make sure that each port has it own circuit and not shared with multiple port to 1 chip.
Ports are different USB versions.
Great. My lovely breakthrough M1 Mac Mini went from $700 to $1500 in external storage and ports.
Apple is to be blamed for screwing things up. 😬
Software update fixed everything.
@@Freakphoto Which update is that? Didn’t fix mine.
11.2.2
@@Freakphoto I’m on 11.2.3 and the speeds are still the same as the video when I tested it.
Hi Lamar ... I use an Akitio Thunder 3 Quad (4 bay drive enclosure), currently connected to a 2018-2020 (i7) Mac Mini, but have plans to soon get an M1 Mini ... Since the M1 Mini only has two Thunderbolt 3 ports, it definitely needs expansion ... Do you, or could you do a video to test OWC's new "thunderbolt port expander", to see if it'll also boost speeds? It has less ports than OWC's Thunderbolt 3 dock, BUT it does add three thunderbolt-4 ports!
Hey David 👋! Nice, which M1 Mac Mini are you planning on getting? It would be nice to get the opportunity to test some of those other OWC products. For Thunderbolt 4 docks, I’ve had other users say it didn’t increase their speeds, so it seems there’s something going on with the M1 Mac Mini and Thunderbolt 4 docks. Thunderbolt 3 seems to work perfectly though. 👍💪
Hey dude how is the owc dock have you had any issues I’m thinking on getting it for mine Mac mini what do you think i should get it let me know stay safe
Hey man 👋! The dock is great, no issues at all. If you need to have the fastest drive speeds and more thunderbolt 3/usb ports, then it’s a great buy with a lot more use case. Stay safe too. 👍💪
What’s the real difference between this OWC Thunderbolt 3 model and the newer Thunderbolt 4 version? Besides ports, to me it seems like a name changes.
To get the best explanation, it's best to Google "Thunderbolt 3 vs Thunderbolt 4" from there you can see what's different between the standards.
Lamar is there any way to use my older monitors i dont need photo shop only music. i cant afford to buy new monitors
Which monitor do you have?
Dear Lamar, what are the Read / Write speeds like for the internal storage of the M1 Mac Mini with the BlackMagic testing software you were using please?
Hey Steven, just ran a Speed Test and got around 2300 Write and 2900 Read. Stay tuned for more. 👍💪
@@LamarMK thank you very much!
@@StevenJohnstoneJDESIGN You’re welcome! Glad to help. 👍💪
Can the enclosure handle ssd drive?
Yes.
Would you not use the other docking station anymore? The one you had underneath the Mac mini.
It’s still a great hub, but since I have the extra ports on the new dock, I can just use it with the other SSD enclosure and not have too many things on my desk. 👍💪
Whad a drama video :D action like action movie! Nice work!
😀😀😀
Lamar MK, this video is fantastic and I want to “pull the trigger” next week. Would this setup work similarly with a PCIE NVMe M.2 SSD? Would it offer similar speed enhancements to justify a $150 upgrade to PCIE instead of SATA?
Thank you! Yes it will work just the same for any other SSD you have. 👍💪
@@LamarMK Sorry that I'm just seeing this! THANK YOU!!
@@ForestHill_UMC You’re welcome, glad to help. Stay tuned for more. 👍💪
Now several months out from this video date, the better approach (if you have the OWC TB dock) is to get the OWC Envoy Express bus-powered TB enclosure and populate with a NvME drive. Will see speeds of 1200-1500!!! Using USB-3+SSD external enclosures is now lost favor, much better to use NvME tech with TB enclosure, in the context of Mac M1 solutions.
TB is the way to go. Here’s my latest video with some Thunderbolt drive solutions. ua-cam.com/video/TBHdF1NOEq8/v-deo.html 👍💪
I bought the Hagibis hub and the ssd sata died the first day. I needed to put it in an enclosure. I live in Bali and the cost of one of those owc hubs is about double. Have to make due for a while and just use the internal drive as much as possible.
Wow! The SATA connector in the Hub died, or the SSD itself died?
That’s a lot of money, kinda like buying the M1 Mac Mini again. How much internal SSD storage do you have?
Big help knowing that it's not the cable nor my enclosure but my Mac M1 is the problem
Yeah.
That doc would be perfect if it had a m.2 nvme slot with easy swapping.
Hmmm, probably would have less ports in order to fit that.
@@LamarMK Thought you could daisy chain 4 devices on TB3. So 1 in and then 2 out plus 1 internal and 1 leftov- make that two internal and none leftover.
@@v3rlon Yes, you can daisy chain. Here’s a more detailed diagram look www.owcdigital.com/assets/dealer/files/thunderbolt-daisy-chain-inforgraphic.pdf
This is not a practical solution. The dock would have to be twice the size just to cool the m.2 nvme card. The dock will also run hot all the time, specially if you are doing alot of file transfer work etc.
@@EdU-od5ec I don’t have any issues like that with it. 👍💪
I wonder if a thunderbolt dock would help the M1 iPad Pro?
A thunderbolt dock will work with it. What's wrong with the M1 iPad Pro?
@@LamarMK I wouldn’t say transfer speeds are slow but, they’re not what Apple was implying during the launch of the iPad Pro M1. Thank you for responding and asking! Subbed!
@@alfabravo80 Ohhh got you. I don’t have an M1 iPad Pro so I can’t do any testing, my iPad Pro is the 2018 model. You’re welcome and thanks for the support. 👍💪
It looks like, the OWC Thunderbolt Dock went from $ 250 to over $ 650 in 9 months, I hope there is something similar out there!
Will the CalDigit TS3 Plus Dock do the same? (Cost about $ 259)
Oh wow! 😱 It looks like they might be out of stock and those prices are from 3rd party scalpers. I haven’t personally tried that Dock, so I’m not sure what results you’d get.
Great job.
Thank you! Stay tuned for more. 👍💪
For that price it should have CFast card reader slot as well
👍💪
It would be interesting to see a Thunderbolt 3 /USB4 fully capable drive arrangement for testing. The RocketStor RAID(s) come to mind, especially with that RAID with 4 NVMe drives. On an Intel Mac, those drives advertise an impressive 3.2GB/s. It would be interesting to see that fed into the M1 arrangements.
That sounds cool, Thanks for that interesting idea. 👍💪
If you really want an external closure for NVME speed for your M1 Mac mini, you need a bus powered exclosure for thunderbolt 3/4 like OWC, ACASIS, TEKQ and others.
Again great vid and show of options. You’re time is greatly appreciated on this as it saves me time getting the optimal setup for my work flow. Thx Lamar!
You’re welcome Siegel, I’m glad you appreciate the time and effort I put into these videos. Stay tuned for more. 💯👍💪
Wow that's a big change in speed using the externals !! Thank you .
And thank you for your services for our country :) !!!
Yeah, huge difference! Hopefully, Apple addresses it soon. You’re welcome.
You’re welcome! Thanks for your support. 👍💪🇺🇸
I have the same issue with an external NVME drive(samsung 970 Evo Plus in 'thunderbolt 4' enclosure), on windows its over 2500MB/s(USB4-c) on Mac Mini USB-C its just under 700MB/s. Heck on my tablet without USB-C its almost 900MB/s
Yeah, I think Thunderbolt 3 might be the better option. Not sure why it behaves like that with USB-C and Thunderbolt 4.
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Does the M1-based MacBook Air have the same issues?
Yes, all M1 Macs.
So would this also work with Windows 10 PCs with Thunderbolt 3?
Yes, it will work with any Thunderbolt devices. 👍💪
@@LamarMK awesome! Thank you so much for replying back. 🙇♂️
@@joseluisruiz3789 You’re welcome, I’m always happy to help. Stay tuned for more. 👍💪
Hi sir I have this same tb3 dock . I have also a Orico Usb-c 3.1 gen2 enclosure for my samsung evo sata ssd . The issue is when I am connecting to 3.1 gen2 port of the dock my speed is 30-40MBPS . I changed another cable but no solution 😕 . I am using m1 macbook air . I did install dock ejecter app and update big sur to 11.5.2 .
Please help me ?
*** on the first after getting my mac the speed is fine but now 😔 30-40MBPS.
That’s weird. How much storage is left on the drive? Have you used a different Thunderbolt cable to connect the Dock to your M1 Mac?
Great Video! However, I would have been nice to have you show if the MiniDisplay Port works.
Thank you! My monitor doesn’t have a Mini DisplayPort so I couldn’t check it, but I’m pretty sure it works just like all the other ports. 👍💪
@@LamarMK nonetheless, I ordered that dock today.
@@gabrielshetterley9663 Nice! Let me know how you like it once you get it. 👍💪
im having some trouble with my 2019 mbp, I use a Samsung ehd where I keep everything and as I'm using logic the ehd will just eject itself and close logic, I wonder how to learn about this stuff its killing me
Have you tried using a different USB cable?
@@LamarMK when I use an Apple thunderbolt to USB adapter to connect ehd it’s pretty solid connection, its just I run out of ports then lol , I guess im waiting for the iMac mini w pro chip n more ram I think
I am delighted to see you have a recommendation for the SSD enclosure and TB3 dock. However, I want a lot more storage in order to bring my collection of 0.5TB--2TB external drives into one place and be accessible to my M1 mac plus bring data on archived Firewire800 into the 21st century. Can you recommend an enclosure (USB 3.1 GEN2 or TB3) for the reliable 12TB SEAGATE 3.5" HDD ST12000NM001G (backblaze 2021Q2 failure rates)? Right now, I can get 2 of the 12TB with enclosures, attach them through your suggested Thunderbolt dock and create RAID 1, and that seems to be the way to satisfy my wish list. I've looked a lot at RAID NAS and I see that the NAS is not a backup and plus I am far from my ethernet and the 2 M1 computers on my desk are all that I need to connect to the backup/storage solution. Thanks for your thoughts on this!
Not sure I might be off track here, but a good solution for safe and large storage (beyond raid) could be a Drobo enclosure. There are multiple solutions to choose from, and come in network access and / or usb3/thunderbolt3 connections.
SO, which of these docks don't suffer from the dreaded 'your ssd didn't eject properly' when the mini goes to sleep?
Going through this Thunderbolt 3 Dock that message doesn’t pop up at all, since the dock has its own power source and is always on.
On the M1 Mac Mini, you can disable sleep mode and only allow the monitor to sleep instead and that message won’t pop up. Hopefully, Apple fixes this issue soon. 👍💪
What about NVME SSDs?🤔
Same. I have another video with SSDs and the ones that are in a Thunderbolt enclosure works great. 👍
Just for info, there are videos out there showing NVME external drives with 2000 Mbps speed on the M1
Thanks for sharing. That will also depend on the type of enclosure, if it’s a USB enclosure it’s definitely gonna be slower than the advertised speeds.
Can i still use just cable like ssd minus usb ports for memory and speed?
You can still use the SSD in the enclosure plugged into your M1 Mac Mini by USB-C. The speeds are pretty good, but won’t be as fast as going through this OWC Dock.
@@LamarMK thanks very helpful
@@womackncheeze6923 You’re welcome. Stay tuned for more. 👍💪
Does it work on a iMac 24”?
Yes, it should work with all Macs that have a Thunderbolt port. 👍💪
Great tests, thank you.
You’re welcome, glad you appreciate the video. 👍💪
How can I get faster speeds I have a MacBook Pro m1 and I’m using a Samsung external solid-state drive T7 model 2 GB how do I get faster read and write speeds on that
If you connect your Samsung T7 to this dock then you should get the max advertised speeds of the SSD. The only way to get the max speeds is with the dock. 👍💪
@@LamarMK I just bought the PowerExpand Elite 13-in-1 Thunderbolt 3 Dock will that work?
@@UTUBESTEVED I haven’t tested this with any other Thunderbolt 3 docks, so I’m not 100% sure. It should work though, when you get it let me know what speeds you get through the Thunderbolt 3 ports. 👍💪
@@LamarMK just did a test not much difference about 50-70mb more with the dock any suggestions
I'm getting around 700mb read and write with out it
Only bummer is the older style display port instead of HDMI Or the newer display ports.
Great vid exploring the options! I guess I was expecting better from my M1, figuring if I used good m.2 chips and 20gbps cases for the chips, and then connected them thru the thunderbolt bus, i'd get in the 1000s or low 1000 at least. Nada so! Oh well, maybe the M2 will do better.
Thanks, glad you liked it. Hopefully, they can fix the issues now on M1. 👍💪
Great Video Lamar...again 😂👌💪, and a great solution too 👍
Thank you Mani. I try my best to put out quality videos, glad you appreciate it. 👍💪
Its not an issue at all. The issue is using USB-c instead of thunderbolt. Ive got samsung 970 EVO 1TB in nvme m.2 THUNDERBOLT 3 enclosure - and hitting easly 2.1GB on writte and 2.5GB read...
You will get the correct USB speeds through this Dock because it is Thunderbolt. A Thunderbolt SSD will also give you the fast speeds because the drive itself is THUNDERBOLT. The issue here is with USB speeds and the only way to fix that is with this Dock.
Have you tried turning it off and on again? Maybe unplug the cord for 10 seconds?
Turn off what?
@@LamarMK haha I was just trying to be funny....
@@Las_cacas 🤔🤔🤔
Does anyone know why the mac mini doesn't get these speeds plugged in directly? Shame on apple for restricting bus speeds!
I wish they would address it.
@@LamarMK New mini M2 is due, we can only hope but if I was a betting man.. lol
Is this the same with the M1 laptops
Yes, all M1 Macs.
I edited my footage on 2015 MacBook Pro by using proxies no big deal. I also watched all the reviewers scrubbing through 6k footage like butter on M1 so I bought it. Fast forward...I still have to use proxies and edit in 1080p. Apple tricked me with the 12proMax phone that has a horrible camera and got me again with the 16gb M1.
😱😱😱
Thanks. Very helpful.
You’re welcome, glad the video is helpful. Stay tuned for more. 👍💪
С П А С И Б О !!!
Пожалуйста! 👍💪
lmfao gotta love it. To fix your $600 Mac mini issue buy $600 of extra stuff when you could just upgrade the internal storage for $500 lol
Then you don’t get the additional ports that you can’t upgrade on the M1 Mac Mini. 🤔
@G Funk 🤔
So much faster! Though I haven’t heard if Apple will address it 😒
Yup, super nice! 👍💪 Seems like Apple has their own plans. They want you to pay for that internal storage and iCloud. 🤦♂️
@@LamarMK omg your conspiracy theory is probably right 🤦🏻♀️
@@rnerissa3843 Haha lol. Yup, I see exactly what they’re trying to do lol. 😁😂🤣 That Subscription thing is Big Business!
Yeah, these hubs that aren’t exclusively bus powered are providing a little extra “push” on that thunderbolt retimer because the trace distance of the port and the controller are likely too far, so the hub supplies a little extra juice to repeat that signal 🤷♂️
Nerding out over here 😉
Apparently the engineers are aware, and there’s some intel that they’re trying to figure this out with an update, but really they need to push more power, but they’re working with a 15W chip, so they’ll have to figure out that push without sacrificing per watt efficiency on other tasks....again, I’m just a big nerd. Hopefully I’m wrong. 🤣
@@KevinRossRN Haha the Tech Doctor himself. Thanks for explaining that Brother. Hopefully, they fix it with a software update. 👍💪
For future releases, Apple needs to start testing with a few third party accessories from manufacturers that they work closely with.
What about if I’m using Samsung t7 ssd?what fix do you have for those external drives
If you connect your Samsung T7 to this dock then you should get the max advertised speeds of the SSD. The only way to get the max speeds is with the dock. 👍💪
I don’t get one thing. You connected the drive via USB A to m1. You should’ve also try connecting it via usb c to usb c cable to m1. I’m sure you would get faster results.
All tests were done from the USB-C Port on the back of the M1 Mac Mini. I also connected the SSD enclosure to the M1 Mac Mini directly with the USB-C cable and the results were still the same.
@@LamarMK thanks for clarifying mate, then it's really strange.
@@t1000se You’re welcome! Yeah, it’s very weird. I just hope Apple can fix it with a software update. 👍💪
why was the USB-A to USB-C adapter needed? doesnt USB with blue color have USB 3.1? which is pretty fast. 500mbps should not be an issue.
Because I wanted to connect them to the USB-C port.
USB 3.1 have GEN 1 = 5Gbit/s (500MB/s max), and gen 2 = 10Gbit/s (1000MB/s max), both are blue, but that color is not important as many manufacturers does not use blue color at all, usually you can see difference between 2.0 and 3.x ports with that color, but what exact generation of USB 3 is using is another story Even USB-C port does not mean that it will support 10Gbit/s, there are devices with only 5Gbit/s or even 480Mbit/s as those devices have implemented only USB 2.0 support but uses USB-C connector and drives can do just little over 40MB/s. But those numbers are maximum bandwidth, real speeds are not that high as there are some overheads for drive controller commands and some parity.
350MB/s over 3.1 gen 1 is about right and real speed. That is reason why some external USB drivers tops at 1000MB/s speeds, it is about maximum for USB3.1 gen 2 protocol. USB4 supports at least 20Gbit/s but it is usually as part of combined port with Thunderbolt 3 or 4 so then it offers 40Gbit/s, but there are no drives for USB4 protocol, only Thunderbolt, then you can use full speed of NVMe drive for PCIe 3.0 interface. Fast NVMes for PCIe 4.0 can go up to 7GB/s (56Gbit/s) which is over TB3/USB4 bandwidth
Love to see how many monitors you can run with this setup.
Wish I had some more monitors so I could test it. 🙏
Mind-blowing nothing burger :)
👍💪
I am not one to go around negatively talking about products, but I owned one of these, it broke, they replaced it, and got me this exact model. It hums incredibly loud and any USB connected devices and even monitors won't necessarily wake up if you put your Mac to sleep. This makes it pretty unusable for me.
That's weird! I haven't had that issue or saw anyone else report such issues with theirs.
@@LamarMK I would've considered it a faulty unit, but both units I've owned had issues. One completely died on me.
@@ProfessionalJason Did you get a replacement for the last one?
Great testing, I will share this
Thank You! Stay tuned for more. 👍💪
I wish you showed more of your rear connections. That's more important than repeated videos of the front from 6 different directions.
Thanks for your feedback. Towards the end of the video, I did an overhead shot. The only things plugged into the dock is the power cord, the Thunderbolt cable going into the M1 Mac Mini, and the Thunderbolt cable going to the SSD Enclosure. 👍💪
@@LamarMK See, here's the thing. You state those names around like people who have never used a Mac before are supposed to know which of the two thunderbolt ports you are using and where. Depending on the various ports, there a possibility of 16 combinations. I don't want to do some thing. Maybe you could send me a picture of the back of your setup? Thank you in advance.
@@tonynotstated695 You might need to rewatch the entire video. I unboxed the product and said what all the different ports on the dock are front and back. In the series of tests I did in the video, I only used the two ports at the front of the dock to connect my SSD’s.
There is 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports at the back of the dock, and I explained that I use both ports, one to connect the dock to my Mac Mini, and one to connect to my SSD Enclosure.
@@LamarMK But do you see what I mean? Your solution is that I rewatch your video looking for the correct information and pair that with other conclusions. Instead, a casual shot by you solves that problem for others as well. The easier you make it for new people, the more they will come back to visit you videos. It's that simply. Lets not have a conversation over this, it's just my opinion, that's all.
@@tonynotstated695 Thanks for sharing your opinion, even after trying to break it down further for you and explain how I have it setup doesn’t seem to help. I will continue try to make future videos as easy as possible to understand.
I get 900 MB/s read/write on my M1 MBP but through the 11-port OWC Thunderbolt 4 Dock I get a max of 200 MB/s write. Confusing as hell since my Akito Thunderbolt 3 dock gets 600 MB/s write.
That’s weird! Which port are you using on your Thunderbolt 4 Dock?
Which SSD are you using and what’s the advertised read/write speeds?
@@LamarMK There are 3x Thunderbolt 4 ports and 3x USB 3.2 ports (10 gbps). I've tried all of them using a dozen USB-C cables (10 gbps) and two different Thunderbolt 4 cables, one active and the other passive. All the same result. My TB 3 Dock is simply 3x faster with the same two SansDisk Extreme Pro drives. I've revived the firmware on the Mac, tried a bare installation of Big Sur, reset the SMC, you name it.
@@LamarMK One SansDisk Extreme Pro is 3.1 GEN 2 (1000 MB/s) and the other is 3.2 (2x2) (2000 MB/s). Both get up to 900 MB/s write when attached directly to the M1 and the read speeds are maxed out. They both get 600 MB/s write when attached to my 2013 MBP as they do through the TB3 dock, but the TB4 dock is dismal at 200 MB/s write.
I also had a Caldigit TS3+ Dock and it performed the same as my Akito TB3 dock at 600 MB/s write. TB3 seems to work fine but TB4 is a mess.
@@idcfilms8868 Definitely something going on with these M1 Macs. Now I wanna try a Thunderbolt 4 Dock and see the results.
The M1 Mac Mini says Thunderbolt 3 + USB 4, so I guess it's not really Thunderbolt 4, and with the dock being Thunderbolt 4 I'm not sure if that might be the issue. I'll have to do some more research on this. Did you ever ask OWC about it?
Nice vid - well illustrated - from UK
Thank You! Glad you found the video helpful. 👍💪 Shoutout to all my UK Fans! Y'all are amazing, thanks for the support. The UK is actually my 2nd most viewed country. 🇬🇧
Have you seen the price of this dock is £250 GBP
Not sure about the price in your country, in the U.S. it’s around $200+.
*Needs to be the same shape as Mac mini*
There are USB-C hubs that fit to the M1 Mac Mini. Check the channel for those videos. 👍💪
Why is the headphone jack so huge?
It's a regular headphone jack, just the design makes it look like that. 👍💪
@@LamarMK it reminds me of certain TVs where they have the spot for receiving the signal from the remote.
@@bland9876 😂😂😂😂😂
Sadly very few USB ports are at the front, and unlike lots of USB-C hub, it is not fit under a Mac Mini. Not to mention that it is very expensive.
This is a Thunderbolt Dock, so it's gonna be faster than a regular USB-C Hub, that is why it's more expensive.
Quite helpful! :)
Glad the video is helpful. Stay tuned for more. 👍💪
It's reading and writing slow because you're testing using the EHD.
i’ll need to wait to next model, thanks for the video but this is unnecessary complicated (Apple fault)
You’re welcome. Hopefully, Apple will fix it soon. 👍💪
Lamar MK - Tech Videos and More yes, before I buy one.
@@righteyeartistry156 👍💪
Welcome to dongle land :D
😂😂😂
Everything is connected to the thunderbolt port on the Mac Mini, so something doesn’t make sense.
Ask Apple 😂
This is the first video I’ve seen claiming slow speeds from the M1 in conjunction with external SSD.
ITs true. Even with this dock my G-RAID usb3 drive is getting 90 read/write. This dock does NOT solve the problem. And OWC customer service has been some of the worst I’ve experienced.
Google/UA-cam it and you will find more.
@@LamarMK haha I did and ended up here😂
@@phototocanvaspdx And this is my solution in fixing that issue. No more speed issues and others have said the same after using this Dock. 👍💪
@@LamarMK what are the fastest speeds you’ve gotten through the rear USB ports? If I actually think it could be a faulty dock I’ll send it back but OWC basically said try it on an intel Mac and see what happens. to me it’s performance on an intel Mac is irrelevant as the advertise it as m1 compatible.
I didn’t see an HDMI port on the doc.
There’s no HDMI port, you can connect your monitor with a thunderbolt 3 cable, mini display port, or a USB-C to HDMI cable. 👍💪
Wouldn't it just be cheaper to buy an nvme ssd and enclosure? And it's faster around 800mbs
Since it’s USB you’d still get around half the advertised speeds. 👍💪
@@LamarMK yeh I get you but those half advertised are still much faster then getting this and an sata ssd. This is so much like 200 then getting the ssd and enclosure on top it's too much. But good video tho I just don't see the value in this because of how much it costs
@@izzie1200 Got ya. My external SSD was only getting 300MB/s before the dock and it was fine, everything worked great, so the NVMe even with half the speeds would still perform great. This is more for people who needs all the available speeds to work on videos/photos for example. 👍💪
@@LamarMK yes I understand, thanks for the video and taking the time to reply
@@izzie1200 Yeah, I wanna put together an NVMe video on the channel. You’re welcome, I’m always happy to help. Stay tuned for more. 👍💪
Stil veryyyyyy far from internal speed, and for the price its better to get the SSD upgrade option and buy a cheaper multiport , Nice viea anyway quality test thanks
nice " Video
@@minotor7176 You’re welcome, Thank you! 👍💪 But those are the Max advertised speeds of the Samsung SSD. You can always buy a faster SSD that’s close to the speed of the internal SSD, with this fix now you’ll be able to get those max speeds, before you would basically get half of it.