Same problem here, I barely use flash drive before. But recently, I need transfer files to Redhat linux. Transfer 500M to linux box took 20 seconds. It took 20 minutes to copy them to Win 7 computer.
Slow transfer speeds to USB 2.0 flash drive
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Anonymous
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
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
58 answers
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Anonymous
2012-01-25T15:29:52+00:00 -
Anonymous
2012-01-31T16:23:09+00:00 Hello,
Because this thread is older, please repost this as a new question. Include any troubleshooting steps you have attempted, along with any detailed system information that might be helpful.
Microsoft Answers:
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Anonymous
2012-04-11T19:00:03+00:00 I have searched support and answers, but don't see any other place for this problem (search tool the right way?)
I am having the same problem with Windows 7 Ultimate edition.
I have reported this problem 3 times over the past couple years. (search does not find them).
My Win 7 ultimate copies at 3-4mb sec to USB sticks If I boot Linux Mint from DVD on the same machine, using the same sticks and copy the same files it goes at 30-40gb sec. Speed while I had a Win XP partition was fine too.
Something in Win 7 is broken in this regard. Its so bad, that I actually keep a Linux Mint DVD in the drive, and reboot, when I need to copy a lot of data to a USB stick (I have two DVD drives).
USB hard drives, although slower than Linux or Windows XP, seem OK.
Someday somebody at Microsoft should just try this. I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate (just re-installed it with all the updates last week and I still have the same problem).
You can download a Linux mint bootable DVD to try it yourself. Just copy a couple thousand good sized files to any USB stick -- from Win 7, then from Mint.
When you get out of the box Win 7 (w/updates) running 80% or better of the speed of Mint -- then P L E A S E post how you did it.
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Anonymous
2012-06-18T19:21:42+00:00 I experienced the same problems as discussed above viz. extremely slower pace of file transfer to USB flash/pen drives in hp ProBook laptop running Windows 7 which often caused the system to hang due to which either the process had to be ended from the Windows task manager or the USB drive had to be plugged out forcibly as "Safely Remove Hardware" would not work. Even using the task manager to stop the "hanged" process of file transfer to/from USB pen drive would cause the Windows Explorer to crash/stop working. HOWEVER WHENEVER I CONNECTED EXTERNAL MOBILE HARD DISK DRIVES OR OTHER USB DEVICES SUCH AS NIKON COOLPIX CAMERA OR IPHONE TO THE SAME USB PORT, THEY WOULD JUST WORK FINE. In other words the problem was with USB flash/pen drives only which but worked just fine in other machines running Windows XP or other OS.
THE ABOVE MENTIONED SOLUTION OF "Optimizing for performance" through Device Manager which in case of Windows 7 is to select "Better performance" instead of "Quick removal" SEEMED TO HAVE WORKED INITIALLY IN MY CASE BUT THE SAME PROBLEM RETURNED WHEN I PLUGGED IN THE USB DRIVE A FEW DAYS LATER.
Would like to add two important things- (1) The option for "optimizing" the USB flash drives appears in the Disk Drives folder of Device Manager only if the drive is plugged in. (2) Every new USB flash/pen drive needs to be individually "optimized" using the same procedure as explained by ArcAiN6.
MICROSOFT MUST ADDRESS THIS ISSUE IMMEDIATELY.
-SGQ-1B/US/GTK/190612. Edited on 22-June-12
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Anonymous
2012-09-14T08:16:49+00:00 I have been through a similar process - I'm also running Windows 7, with a machine that is less than a year old (8gb RAM so it shouldn't be a capacity issue) and have tried optimising my USB drives. I didn't have this problem with smaller USB flash drives (less than 8gb capacity), but speed dropped dramatically when I bought a 32gb drive. Thinking that it might just be this particular faulty drive, I have since bought a Toshiba 64gb Hi-speed USB 2.0 (which even says on the packet Windows 7 supported) and have the same problem. I'm trying to back up a 2gb file and I'm only getting a transfer rate of 4.6kb per sec - at this rate it would take over 24 hours!
Come on Microsoft - a PC user should just be able to plug and copy without any technical knowledge at all!