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The USB 3.0 ports on my mid-2014 Macbook Pro Retina seem to run at USB 2.0 speeds maximum. A USB 3.0 memory stick connected through one of these ports shows as running at USB 2.0 speed (With further testing, the USB 3.0 memory stick is actually running at only ~340 Mbps). I have a few other peripherals connected but these seem to also run at 2.0 or even 1.1 speed.

I've tried unplugging all devices, then plugging only the 3.0 device in - no difference.

What is going on?

USB3.0 device, connected through a USB3.0 port, running at USB2.0 speed

  • Model Name: MacBook Pro
  • Model Identifier: MacBookPro11,3
  • Host Controller Driver: AppleUSBXHCILPTH
  • Operating System: MacOS Mojave 10.14.6

Searching 'AppleUSBXHCILPTH' brought up a similar query, but the user there was only concerned about seeing USB 1.1 speeds for the Apple Internal Keyboard/Trackpad; they didn't check USB 3.0 functionality.

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  • In my experience, if the sysinfo the device is giving MacOS is reporting its speed as 480Mb, then the device itself is not a USB 3.0 device. Also, I think 500 amps is insufficient for USB 3.0, 500 amps is barely enough for USB 2.0 especially if you are using an external HDD. You might be better off buying a powered USB 3.0 hub and plugging the memory stick into that.
    – mr.cook
    Sep 22, 2021 at 14:04

1 Answer 1

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I would suggest making sure the USB pen drive is really fully plugged in (apply a bit of force). Then reboot the computer while the USB drive is plugged in, and the drive should come up with 3.0 speeds.

The reason behind this is that if you do not fully insert the drive, or you are too slow to insert the device in the port, it can be detected as a 2.0 device. This seems to be a general issue for the SanDisk Ultra product that also Windows users are experiencing.

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