• Moving files between externals - how long?

    From Mark@captain.black@gmail.com to uk.comp.sys.mac on Thu Feb 5 22:11:33 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    Media (films/tv) on two older WD 2.5" drives (one 1TB Elements, one... much older 320GB WD). Both formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Both drives only have about 50GB free. Will buy a new 2TB WD Elements tomorrow. How long
    to transfer (one at a time) a total of 1.2GB files across? Will be using a
    base M1 MBA, new drive directly commected vis USB C, older drives (one at a time) connected via USB A + with A-to-C adapter.

    One hour? Three hours? I'd like to use exFat so my housemate can use the
    drive. Can I still do that on silicon? Any real downside to that format?
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  • From Alan B@alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid to uk.comp.sys.mac on Fri Feb 6 07:33:43 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    Mark <captain.black@gmail.com> wrote:
    Media (films/tv) on two older WD 2.5" drives (one 1TB Elements, one... much older 320GB WD). Both formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Both drives only have about 50GB free. Will buy a new 2TB WD Elements tomorrow. How long to transfer (one at a time) a total of 1.2GB files across? Will be using a base M1 MBA, new drive directly commected vis USB C, older drives (one at a time) connected via USB A + with A-to-C adapter.

    One hour? Three hours? I'd like to use exFat so my housemate can use the drive. Can I still do that on silicon? Any real downside to that format?


    Not sure how long it would take to complete the process. I only use rCLspinnersrCY for TM these days but TM is very slow anyway and not a useful guide here. ThererCOs no problem formatting drives as exFAT using DU on a M1 Mac. IrCOve done that several times since IrCOve had my M1 MBP.

    ExFAT is not as robust as say APFS, e.g. It doesnrCOt support journalling. I found this article on Reddit which may be helpful.

    <https://www.reddit.com/r/hackintosh/comments/29hlld/new_to_exfat_are_there_any_drawbacks/>
    --
    Cheers, Alan
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  • From Alan B@alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid to uk.comp.sys.mac on Fri Feb 6 10:00:11 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    Alan B <alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid> wrote:
    Mark <captain.black@gmail.com> wrote:
    Media (films/tv) on two older WD 2.5" drives (one 1TB Elements, one... much >> older 320GB WD). Both formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Both drives >> only have about 50GB free. Will buy a new 2TB WD Elements tomorrow. How long >> to transfer (one at a time) a total of 1.2GB files across? Will be using a >> base M1 MBA, new drive directly commected vis USB C, older drives (one at a >> time) connected via USB A + with A-to-C adapter.

    One hour? Three hours? I'd like to use exFat so my housemate can use the
    drive. Can I still do that on silicon? Any real downside to that format?


    Not sure how long it would take to complete the process. I only use rCLspinnersrCY for TM these days but TM is very slow anyway and not a useful guide here. ThererCOs no problem formatting drives as exFAT using DU on a M1 Mac. IrCOve done that several times since IrCOve had my M1 MBP.

    ExFAT is not as robust as say APFS, e.g. It doesnrCOt support journalling. I found this article on Reddit which may be helpful.

    <https://www.reddit.com/r/hackintosh/comments/29hlld/new_to_exfat_are_there_any_drawbacks/>

    Actually APFS doesnrCOt use rCytraditionalrCO jounalling but uses the copy on write technique. HFS+ does though.
    --
    Cheers, Alan
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Alan B@alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid to uk.comp.sys.mac on Fri Feb 6 10:00:34 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    Alan B <alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid> wrote:
    Mark <captain.black@gmail.com> wrote:
    Media (films/tv) on two older WD 2.5" drives (one 1TB Elements, one... much >> older 320GB WD). Both formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Both drives >> only have about 50GB free. Will buy a new 2TB WD Elements tomorrow. How long >> to transfer (one at a time) a total of 1.2GB files across? Will be using a >> base M1 MBA, new drive directly commected vis USB C, older drives (one at a >> time) connected via USB A + with A-to-C adapter.

    One hour? Three hours? I'd like to use exFat so my housemate can use the
    drive. Can I still do that on silicon? Any real downside to that format?


    Not sure how long it would take to complete the process. I only use rCLspinnersrCY for TM these days but TM is very slow anyway and not a useful guide here. ThererCOs no problem formatting drives as exFAT using DU on a M1 Mac. IrCOve done that several times since IrCOve had my M1 MBP.

    ExFAT is not as robust as say APFS, e.g. It doesnrCOt support journalling. I found this article on Reddit which may be helpful.

    <https://www.reddit.com/r/hackintosh/comments/29hlld/new_to_exfat_are_there_any_drawbacks/>

    Actually APFS doesnrCOt use rCytraditionalrCO jounalling but uses the copy on write technique. HFS+ does though.
    --
    Cheers, Alan
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Mark@captain.black@gmail.com to uk.comp.sys.mac on Fri Feb 6 10:52:45 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On 6 Feb 2026 at 7:33:43rC>AM GMT, "Alan B" <alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid> wrote:

    Mark <captain.black@gmail.com> wrote:
    Media (films/tv) on two older WD 2.5" drives (one 1TB Elements, one... much >> older 320GB WD). Both formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Both drives >> only have about 50GB free. Will buy a new 2TB WD Elements tomorrow. How long >> to transfer (one at a time) a total of 1.2GB files across? Will be using a >> base M1 MBA, new drive directly commected vis USB C, older drives (one at a >> time) connected via USB A + with A-to-C adapter.

    One hour? Three hours? I'd like to use exFat so my housemate can use the
    drive. Can I still do that on silicon? Any real downside to that format?


    Not sure how long it would take to complete the process. I only use rCLspinnersrCY for TM these days but TM is very slow anyway and not a useful guide here. ThererCOs no problem formatting drives as exFAT using DU on a M1 Mac. IrCOve done that several times since IrCOve had my M1 MBP.

    ExFAT is not as robust as say APFS, e.g. It doesnrCOt support journalling. I found this article on Reddit which may be helpful.

    <https://www.reddit.com/r/hackintosh/comments/29hlld/new_to_exfat_are_there_any_drawbacks/>

    That's cool. I suppose ultimately it doesn't matter how long it takes... I'll probably stick to exFAT for ease of use by other (non-macOS) people!
    Ultimately it's not mission-critical data, & I'll keep the old drives (at
    least the one with movies on). Thanks.
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  • From Theo@theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk to uk.comp.sys.mac on Fri Feb 6 14:49:23 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    Mark <captain.black@gmail.com> wrote:
    Media (films/tv) on two older WD 2.5" drives (one 1TB Elements, one... much older 320GB WD). Both formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Both drives only have about 50GB free. Will buy a new 2TB WD Elements tomorrow. How long to transfer (one at a time) a total of 1.2GB files across? Will be using a base M1 MBA, new drive directly commected vis USB C, older drives (one at a time) connected via USB A + with A-to-C adapter.

    One hour? Three hours? I'd like to use exFat so my housemate can use the drive. Can I still do that on silicon? Any real downside to that format?

    For spinners, I'd ballpark 100MB/s, or 40MB/s if they're connected via USB 2 (the 320GB might be if very old). That's bulk transfer speed - it'll be (potentially much) slower if there are lots of little files to copy.

    So for the 1TB that's at least 3 hours, for the 320GB it would be an hour
    but more like 3 if it's on USB 2. Worse if there are many small files or
    the media files are scattered about causing lots of heads seeks.

    Theo
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  • From richard@richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Richard Tobin) to uk.comp.sys.mac on Fri Feb 6 14:55:34 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    In article <R-l*C-xyA@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>,
    Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
    For spinners, I'd ballpark 100MB/s, or 40MB/s if they're connected
    via USB 2 (the 320GB might be if very old).

    And bear in mind that even if the disk drive supports USB 3, the cable
    might not. A USB A plug on a cable that supports USB 3 will usually
    have blue plastic in the plug.

    And many USB C cables only support USB 2 speeds, especially if they're
    sold as charging cables.

    -- Richard
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  • From Bruce@07.013@scorecrow.com to uk.comp.sys.mac on Fri Feb 6 19:23:28 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On 06/02/2026 14:55, Richard Tobin wrote:
    In article <R-l*C-xyA@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>,
    Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
    For spinners, I'd ballpark 100MB/s, or 40MB/s if they're connected
    via USB 2 (the 320GB might be if very old).

    And bear in mind that even if the disk drive supports USB 3, the cable
    might not. A USB A plug on a cable that supports USB 3 will usually
    have blue plastic in the plug.

    And many USB C cables only support USB 2 speeds, especially if they're
    sold as charging cables.

    -- Richard

    Also USB to USB can be very slow. So much so that sometimes it's quicker
    to copy USB to internal and then internal to the other USB, provided
    that you have space.

    If you don't have space make sure you are on different USB busses.
    System Report -> Hardware -> USB will make it obvious when you have the
    drives plugged in.
    --
    Bruce Horrocks
    Hampshire, England
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  • From David Kennedy@davidkennedygm@gmail.com to uk.comp.sys.mac on Sun Feb 8 09:22:33 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On 07/02/2026 19:35, Mark wrote:
    On 7 Feb 2026 at 2:08:13rC>PM GMT, "David Kennedy" <davidkennedygm@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 07/02/2026 11:48, Mark wrote:

    Sadly not enough space on the MBA for either of them. This is the M1 model so
    only two (USB C) sockets.

    My M1 has a third on the right hand side?

    Not here. Maybe you mean the 14" or 16" MBP? I don't think the 13" MBP has one
    on that side, either.

    Ah, my bad, 16" here

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  • From Alan B@alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid to uk.comp.sys.mac on Sun Feb 8 10:28:49 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    Mark <captain.black@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 7 Feb 2026 at 2:08:13rC>PM GMT, "David Kennedy" <davidkennedygm@gmail.com> wrote:

    On 07/02/2026 11:48, Mark wrote:

    Sadly not enough space on the MBA for either of them. This is the M1 model so
    only two (USB C) sockets.

    My M1 has a third on the right hand side?

    Not here. Maybe you mean the 14" or 16" MBP? I don't think the 13" MBP has one
    on that side, either.

    Yes my 13rCY M1 MBP has 2 USB-C / TB ports on the lhs and a single audio
    socket on the rhs. Charging can be done via the lhs sockets.
    --
    Cheers, Alan
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