Slow transfer speeds to USB 2.0 flash drive

Anonymous
2010-07-11T02:29:36+00:00

Hi all,

I know that this topic has appeared once or twice in these forums but there haven't been any resolutions and they've been quiet lately so I started a new one. 

Recently, I migrated from Windows XP to 7 and found this problem. When I try to copy a file (a 1.2GB video) to a usb flash drive that I know is usb 2.0 hi-speed (copying files to it in xp were really fast) it takes over 2 minutes. 7 reports that it is copying at 3-4 MB/sec. When I copy from the flash drive to my computer it copies at about 9-10MB/sec. I've also tried plugging it into the rear ports but that doesn't change the transfer speed at all. I know it isn't something related to the flash stick itself because transferring files to it in xp were a lot faster.

Some random information: Transferring files from one hard drive to another averages at about 60MB/sec (both of the hard drives are SATA II drives). I'm not sure what speed it should be but it doesn't feel drastically slower than on my xp machine. Windows 7 and my device drivers are all up-to-date.

System specs:

Dell optiplex GX620

Pentium 4 3.2GHz

2GB Ram

Windows 7 Professional 32-bit

AVG 9 free edition anti-virus

My setup is almost identical to how it was on my windows xp machine except I have less programs installed so there isn't something new that could have caused problems.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-08-08T23:34:58+00:00

    Hi,

    I have the same issue, my transfer speeds start at around 50MB/sec but then drop to 2/3MB Sec when transferring large files to USB sticks.

    I've seen this issue on various forums and no response or update or reason other than cop out answers like above.

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-08-01T10:11:20+00:00

    Cody C, you obviosly don't pay attention to much then, almost every problem i see posted, you have a cookie-cutter response of:

    Since I don't have any other reports of that issue, it's most likely due to the drivers.

    When in fact, if you just did a simple google search of 75 - 90% of these issues, you'll see SEVERAL examples..

    If you don't know what the issue is, simply say " my guess would be XXXX " or " i have no personal experience with XXX " or " I simply don't know "

    As for the 5 - 6mb/s transfer rate being " normal " it's not, that's slow for USB 2.0 or better. the actual cause of the problem is vinsta and win 7's approach to making USB devices safer to remove (in case of error during transfer i'm sure)

    here's the way to get around that HUGE bottle-neck:

      In Device Manager, right-click the USB drive in Disk drives folder, then select Properties, switch to Policies tab, and choose Optimize for performance. Click OK to keep it.

    NOTE: If you use this method, make SURE you use the sub removal tool that pops up in your system tray when you first plugged in the device (system tray is the little area near your clock on the task bar)

    After performing this fix for myself, my transfer rate on a cheapo cruizer micro went from 4.5 - 5mb/s to 20 - 30mb/s on small files, and average of 10 - 15mb/s on huge file transfers

    This is because this method utelizes windows write-behind system of file management.

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-05-12T01:58:03+00:00

    Same thing on a hp probook 5310m, win7 pro 32 bit. 500 KB/s max. Working fine on my dell vostro 1710 with win7 pro x64 and ubuntu 10.10 x64

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-04-05T06:36:59+00:00

    Cody,

    Have you or anyone in your community figured out why USB and hard drive transfer rates are slow in 7 compared to XP.  My Dell Studio 1735 has a 4 GB ram and 2.1GHz Dual core.  With two hard drive bays, I installed XP pro on one and 7 Ultimate x64 on the other.

    The 7 had rates ranging from 466Kb /s to 8 Mb /s  (up to 25 Mb /s when transferring to 2nd hard drive).

    The XP ranged from 5Mb /s to 20+Mb /s (up to 40Mb /s when transferring to 2nd hard drive).

    After searching online, I see this is a common issue with Vista / 7.

    Any reason why this is?  Or suggestions to increase the USB transfer?

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  5. Anonymous
    2010-07-14T03:10:26+00:00

    Since I don't have any other reports of that issue, it's most likely due to the drivers.

    Cody C

    Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

    Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

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