Hey everyone! I just got my first MacBook Air M4, and I'm excited to edit my photos on the go. I did a photo shoot with around 200 images, totaling about 7.5 GB, and tried to transfer them to my Mac to sort them out. Since there's no SD card slot, I used my old USB-C SD card reader, but the transfer process is taking almost two hours! I'm really surprised, as I've never experienced such slow speeds with my Windows laptops. My setup includes the MacBook Air M4, an Icy Box IB-CR200-C SD card reader, and a SanDisk Extreme PRO SDXC UHS-II V60 256 GB SD card. What's causing this slow transfer? Is it the card reader, the SD card, or something else? Any advice on how to speed this up would be greatly appreciated!
3 Answers
You could also look for other options if connecting via USB isn’t working. Some cameras have wireless transfer capabilities that could work faster than an old card reader, as long as the speed of the wireless standard is good enough. Just keep in mind you might need some software for it to work on your Mac.
It’s likely the SD card reader that’s causing the slow transfer speeds. If you're using an older card reader, it might not support faster transfer speeds that your SD card is capable of. Try using a USB-C cable to connect your camera directly to the Mac; that often speeds things up significantly!
Thanks for the tip! When I used a USB-C to USB-C cable and connected the camera directly, it transferred quickly. So the adapter was definitely the issue!
Check the type of cable you’re using. If it’s an older cable, that might be slowing things down too. Also remember, the SD card standard can be quite slow compared to newer technology, especially with older card readers.

I appreciate all the details! Switching to the USB-C connection made a big difference, but I’ll explore the wireless transfer options next time!