External SSD slows to a stop; normal behavior?

[yungjefferson]

For 3 years I've used my Glyph AtomRAID SSD for music production with Ableton Live sample libraries and DAW files, but lately it's been locking up frequently. I did some troubleshooting with a friend's ssd to make sure it was the cable, my computer, or a bad port, but I'm almost certain it's just the drive at this point. I use the usb-c cable it came with plugged into one of my two thunderbolt ports.

I posted a video showing it's performance in Blackmagic Speed Test. It starts out as expected, and then quickly plummets slower and slower until the red progress bar basically isn't moving at all. Maybe the cache size on the glyph is trash, or maybe it's just time to get a new hd after 3 years? Any help or opinions at all would be very helpful!

I'm on an iMac 2019 27" running Mojave OS 10.14.6

EDIT: I should also have mentioned that I backed up my drive and reformatted it as APFS, then put the backup back on, then performed the speed test.

 

[chrfr]

Even at the start of your test that's pretty poor performance- it could be a thermal problem or the drive just failing. You can get NVMe based drives which will offer far more performance at the same price as the Glyph, or even for less money.

 

[yungjefferson]

You're right, I didn't realize the drive started at around 300 write. It gets to the low 800s (0:31 in video) at it's best, but never consistently.

I plan on getting a NVMe SSD with enclosure, but it's a bit unclear as to which one's optimal for a 2019 running Mojave.

 

[Juicy Box]

I have see very similar behavior on SSDs that did not have TRIM enabled, and in use for very long periods of time.

There is no TRIM support for MacOS *on USB*.

I should also have mentioned that I backed up my drive and reformatted it as APFS, then put the backup back on, then performed the speed test.

What % of the drive has free space?

Have you tried doing the test with the drive empty?

Edit: I missed the important part

 

[yungjefferson]

I have see very similar behavior on SSDs that did not have TRIM enabled, and in use for very long periods of time.

There is no TRIM support for MacOS.


What % of the drive has free space?

Have you tried doing the test with the drive empty?

The drive had about 25% free space, but I just erased reformatted the drive to APFS again, and am still running into the same issue with 100% free space.

Is there any way I can enable TRIM on another PC or specialty software? Don't care too much if it bricks the drive since it's virtually unusable for me.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"I plan on getting a NVMe SSD with enclosure, but it's a bit unclear as to which one's optimal for a 2019 running Mojave"

BE AWARE that many nvme blade drives seem to "run hot" regardless of what enclosure they're in.
To cope with the heat, many will "throttle back" to slow speeds during extended writes.

If the drive in question IS NOT a boot drive or a drive that otherwise REQUIRES APFS (such as a tm backup), I'm going to suggest that you reformat it to HFS+ instead.

In disk utility, use "Mac OS extended, journaling enabled, GUID partition format".
Then test it that way and see what results you get.

If they are better, leave it that way.
If they're the same, you could just reformat to APFS if you wish.

 

[MacCheetah3]

I have see very similar behavior on SSDs that did not have TRIM enabled, and in use for very long periods of time.

There is no TRIM support for MacOS.

Enabling TRIM helped with drive performance consistency for my previous Mac.

How to Enable TRIM on Third Party SSDs in Mac OS X with trimforce

For Mac users who utilize third party SSD volumes, the new trimforce command allows OS X to forcibly enable the TRIM function on those drives. trimforce is built directly into newer releases of OS …

osxdaily.com

However, the SSD was connected to the internal SATA controller, second drive bay of 2012 Mac mini, not via a USB-to-SATA bridge — those are supposedly not as widely supportive:

Is it possible to enable TRIM for an external SSD?

I have an iMac from 2011, Mac OS X 10.6.8, and an SDD in a FW800/USB3 case. Which interface can let me enable TRIM: USB2, USB3, FW800 or Thunderbolt ?

apple.stackexchange.com

Either way, might be worth a try, especially if you’re leaning on replacing the drive(+enclosure) anyway.

 

[MacCheetah3]

OP wrote:
"I plan on getting a NVMe SSD with enclosure, but it's a bit unclear as to which one's optimal for a 2019 running Mojave"

BE AWARE that many nvme blade drives seem to "run hot" regardless of what enclosure they're in.
To cope with the heat, many will "throttle back" to slow speeds during extended writes.

A fair forewarn. I had a “blade” drive that even powered off because of overheat protection until I applied thermal pads — which I ended up layering in a pyramid-like platform because I didn’t have enough and didn’t want to order more and wait. It worked. ☺️ Basically, ensure the drive (especially the area where the controller sits) makes acceptable contact with the aluminum of the enclosure — as mentioned, thermal pads are useful.

 

[Juicy Box]

I have see very similar behavior on SSDs that did not have TRIM enabled, and in use for very long periods of time.

There is no TRIM support for MacOS.

Enabling TRIM helped with drive performance consistency for my previous Mac.

How to Enable TRIM on Third Party SSDs in Mac OS X with trimforce

For Mac users who utilize third party SSD volumes, the new trimforce command allows OS X to forcibly enable the TRIM function on those drives. trimforce is built directly into newer releases of OS …

osxdaily.com

However, the SSD was connected to the internal SATA controller, second drive bay of 2012 Mac mini, not via a USB-to-SATA bridge — those are supposedly not as widely supportive:

Is it possible to enable TRIM for an external SSD?

I have an iMac from 2011, Mac OS X 10.6.8, and an SDD in a FW800/USB3 case. Which interface can let me enable TRIM: USB2, USB3, FW800 or Thunderbolt ?

apple.stackexchange.com

Either way, might be worth a try, especially if you’re leaning on replacing the drive(+enclosure) anyway.

Thanks.

I meant "there is no TRIM support for MacOS for USB", just forgot to finish my thought when typing.

The OP has a USB SSD, and there is no TRIM support for USB SSDs on MacOS.

You are correct though, you can enable TRIM on a Mac that doesn't already have in enabled using Terminal. I have done that on plenty of older Macs that I own, and just did it last week on a Late 2013 iMac that I swapped the internal HDD with a SSD.

Actually, I been using TRIM longer than MacOS has officially supported it. I can't remember the app, but I downloaded and may have paid for some TRIM enabler app in the late 2000's for my Mac Pro 1,1.

For the OP, their 2019 iMac should have TRIM enabled without having to do anything to it, unless someone disabled it. Still, regardless of it was enabled or disabled, TRIM wouldn't work on an OS level due to no TRIM support over USB on MacOS.