Extremely slow data transfer speed on USB DASD after macOS update

[InquiringMac]

I have an older model of LaCie 2TB USB 2.0 desktop drive. The speed of data transfer to/from this drive dropped from about 12MB/sec to about 1MB/sec after (is this the reason?) macOS Sierra was updated from 10.12.5 to 10.12.6 version on my Mac.

Some additional info:

1. While transferring files to/from LaCie I see the standard OS window with the estimated time required to complete the transfer and can easily compute the speed (the result of such computation closely approximates the actual speed).
2. The drive was not connected at the time the OS was updated.
3. I attempted to use the drive plugging the drive directly into the computer, and my hub: the same drop in the speed of transfer.
4. The power supply plugged directly into a wall outlet or into my UPS: the same drop in the speed of transfer.
5. I tried plugging the drive into different USB ports (I have no other computers): the same drop in the speed of transfer.
6. Disk Utility: First Aid - the volume (LaCie) appears to be OK.

The same set of tests performed on my USB DASDs from WD, Seagate, Fantom shows no drop in the speed of transfer.

Should I attempt using Lacie_Desktop_Manager_for_Mac_OS.pkg to resolve the issue, please?
Or, perhaps, you could please point me to the appropriate firmware updater for my LaCie USB 2.0 DASD?

Is there any way to fix the problem without loosing data? If not, so be it…

EtreCheck version: 3.4.2 (436)

Performance: Excellent

Click the [Lookup] links for more information from Apple Support Communities.

Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

Problem: No problem - just checking

Hardware Information: ⓘ

Mac mini (Late 2012)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

Mac mini - model: Macmini6,2

1 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-3720QM) CPU: 4-core

16 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

Wireless: en1: Unknown



Video Information: ⓘ

Intel HD Graphics 4000 - VRAM: 1536 MB

HP ZR30w 2560 x 1600



Disk Information: ⓘ

APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E662 disk0: (1 TB) (Rotational)

[Show SMART report]

EFI (disk0s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB

(disk0s2) <not mounted> [CoreStorage Container]: 999.35 GB

Recovery HD (disk0s3 - Journaled HFS+) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB



USB Information: ⓘ

USB20Bus

hub_device

USB 2.0 Hub [MTT]

Apple iPod

LaCie LaCie Hard Drive USB

42AS disk3: (2 TB)

(disk3s1) <not mounted> : 134 MB

(disk3s2) <not mounted> : 134 MB

(disk3s3) <not mounted> : 210 MB

Movies 03 [LaCie] (disk3s4 - Journaled HFS+) /Volumes/Movies 03 [LaCie] : 2.00 TB (1.41 TB free)

hub_device

USB20Bus

hub_device

hub_device

Apple, Inc. IR Receiver

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

USB30Bus

CP1500PFCLCD CRCA102-3I1



Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus



Virtual disks: ⓘ

Macintosh HD (disk1 - Journaled HFS+) / [Startup]: 998.97 GB (730.96 GB free)

Physical disk: disk0s2 999.35 GB Online



System Software: ⓘ

macOS Sierra 10.12.6 (16G29) - Time since boot: less than an hour



Gatekeeper: ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers



Kernel Extensions: ⓘ

/Library/Extensions

[loaded] com.logitech.manager.kernel.driver (6.62.1 - SDK 10.11) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.sophos.kext.oas (9.6.51 - SDK 10.11) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.sophos.nke.swi (9.6.51 - SDK 10.11) [Lookup]



/System/Library/Extensions

[not loaded] com.LaCie.ScsiType00 (1.2.13 - SDK 10.5) [Lookup]



System Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] 7 Apple tasks

[loaded] 187 Apple tasks

[running] 88 Apple tasks



System Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[not loaded] 41 Apple tasks

[loaded] 179 Apple tasks

[running] 98 Apple tasks



Launch Agents: ⓘ

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2017-07-10) [Lookup]

[running] com.logitech.manager.daemon.plist (Logitech Inc. - installed 2017-07-24) [Lookup]

[running] com.sophos.uiserver.plist (Sophos - installed 2017-04-06) [Lookup]



Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[loaded] com.cyberghostsrl.CyberghostPrivilegedHelper.plist (Cyberghost SRL - installed 2016-08-05) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2017-07-26) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.microsoft.office.licensingV2.helper.plist (Microsoft Corporation - installed 2016-04-11) [Lookup]

[running] com.sophos.common.servicemanager.plist (Sophos - installed 2017-03-06) [Lookup]



User Launch Agents: ⓘ

[running] ws.agile.1PasswordAgent.plist (? 13bc79ff 6892db6 - installed 2015-11-11) [Lookup]



User Login Items: ⓘ

iTunesHelper Application (Apple, Inc. - installed 2017-07-24)

(/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)



Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 11.0.12 (installed 2015-07-14) [Lookup]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2017-08-08)

AdobePDFViewer: 11.0.12 (installed 2015-07-14) [Lookup]

nplastpass: 4.1.2 (installed 2017-03-11) [Lookup]



Safari Extensions: ⓘ

[not loaded] AdBlock - BetaFish, Inc. - https://getadblock.com (installed 2016-02-06)

[enabled] Adguard AdBlocker - adguard - http://adguard.com (installed 2017-07-24)

[enabled] Ghostery - GHOSTERY, Inc. - https://www.ghostery.com/ (installed 2016-03-13)

[enabled] WOT - WOT Services Ltd - http://www.mywot.com/ (installed 2015-09-08)

[enabled] LastPass - LastPass - https://lastpass.com/ (installed 2017-08-05)

[enabled] 1Password - AgileBits - https://agilebits.com/onepassword (installed 2017-06-09)



3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ

Logi Options Launcher (installed 2017-07-24) [Lookup]



Time Machine: ⓘ

Skip System Files: NO

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 998.97 GB Disk used: 268.01 GB

Destinations:

Time Machine [Local]

Total size: 1.50 TB

Total number of backups: 85

Oldest backup: 2013-04-29, 18:44

Last backup: 2017-08-07, 10:29

Size of backup disk: Adequate

Backup size 1.50 TB > (Disk used 268.01 GB X 3)



Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ

27% mdworker

27% mdworker

7% Opera

5% WindowServer

3% kernel_task



Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ

937 MB kernel_task

489 MB SophosScanD

424 MB Opera

404 MB sharingd

385 MB cfprefsd



Top Processes by Network Use: ⓘ

Input Output Process name

28 MB 4 KB SophosWebIntelligence

65 KB 154 KB SophosMcsAgentD

123 KB 82 KB Transmission

28 KB 26 KB Notes

11 KB 9 KB mDNSResponder



Top Processes by Energy Use: ⓘ

10.40 Opera

8.02 WindowServer

6.08 Opera Helper

2.92 AddressBookSourceSync



Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ

9.56 GB Available RAM

4.19 GB Free RAM

6.44 GB Used RAM

5.37 GB Cached files

0 B Swap Used



Software installs: ⓘ

Logitech Options: (installed 2017-07-24)

Dr. Cleaner: 3.2.1 (installed 2017-07-24)

VOX: 2.8.25 (installed 2017-07-24)

Traffic Counter: 3.0.0 (installed 2017-08-02)

VOX: 2.8.27 (installed 2017-08-07)



Install information may not be complete.



Diagnostics Information: ⓘ

2017-08-08 10:03:25 mtmd Crash [Open]

Cause: dyld: launch, loading dependent libraries

2017-08-08 10:03:19 syncdefaultsd Crash [Open]

Cause: dyld: launch, loading dependent libraries

2017-08-04 20:43:15 Kernel Panic [Open] [Details]

3rd Party Kernel Extensions:

com.logitech.manager.kernel.driver 6.62.1

com.sophos.nke.swi 9.6.51

com.sophos.kext.oas 9.6.51


While we are here, any recommendations for me on the software/hardware employed?

Please help!