I think almost everyone who has got an M1 Mac has tried running some sort of benchmark. This article looks at one specific feature – SMB Target Disk mode – assesses how fast it is, finds a nasty problem with it, and concludes by considering M1 performance more generally.
Setting up SMB Target Disk mode
Apple’s instructions assume that both Macs involved, which I’ll refer to as the Target and Host, are running at the time. I’ll begin with a more likely scenario, with both Macs shut down, and in my case the Target is an M1 Mac mini, and the Host is an M1 MacBook Pro.
Start the Target up with the Power button held in until the display shows Loading Startup Options, then release it. This takes you to the Startup Options screen. Select the Options icon, then click Continue underneath it. Once the main Recovery mode window has loaded (offering its four options), open the Utilities menu and select the Share Diskcommand. Work through the sequence to select the disk until it offers you a button to turn sharing on. Leave the Target then, and turn your attention to the Host.
Ensure the Host starts up fully before reaching for your Thunderbolt cable. If you connect the Host and Target using a Thunderbolt cable (at least) before you’ve started the Host up, it will enter an endless restart loop, in which that Mac starts, takes you through login, then shortly afterwards restarts again. Provided that you don’t connect the cable until the Host has started up fully, both Macs appear stable.
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