Author Topic: Question about slow USB 2 transfer speeds.  (Read 10391 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline mrwoof

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Join Date: Apr 2016
  • Posts: 99
  • Location: Dublin
  • Karma: 1
    • View Profile
Question about slow USB 2 transfer speeds.
« on: August 28, 2020, 10:45:13 am »
Question about USB 2 transfer speeds. Device i3/4Gb   W7.
Copying a video file (720p Mp4 -935Mb ) from the laptop to a Micro SD card via adapter to a USB 2 port.
Speed settled at 8 MB/second. Speed seems slow for USB 2 .
Have attached  image with SD spec. Why is it so slow?

Offline Boggin

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Join Date: Jul 2014
  • Posts: 10182
  • Location: UK
  • Karma: 122
    • View Profile
Re: Question about slow USB 2 transfer speeds.
« Reply #1 on: August 28, 2020, 01:51:22 pm »
There are some tips in this article for speeding up USB transfer speed - https://www.easeus.com/resource/fix-slow-usb-transfer-speed.html

Offline mrwoof

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Join Date: Apr 2016
  • Posts: 99
  • Location: Dublin
  • Karma: 1
    • View Profile
Re: Question about slow USB 2 transfer speeds.
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2020, 03:35:08 am »
What speeds should I expect ?

Offline Boggin

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Join Date: Jul 2014
  • Posts: 10182
  • Location: UK
  • Karma: 122
    • View Profile
Re: Question about slow USB 2 transfer speeds.
« Reply #3 on: August 29, 2020, 03:57:51 am »
I think it's up to 35MB for USB 2 - have you tried formatting the USB to NTFS as the article suggests ?

I did come across an article which suggested going into Device Manager - expanding USB Controllers - right clicking on an USB Root HUB and selecting Properties/Advanced would give the data rate, but on both my Win 7 and Win 10 machines, that just said it was working at full or high speed.

If your port is defective then that may report something else.

However, there is a Reset Hub button under Advanced which may improve things.

You may need to do that for each Hub so that you do it for the Hub that is being used,

Offline mrwoof

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Join Date: Apr 2016
  • Posts: 99
  • Location: Dublin
  • Karma: 1
    • View Profile
Re: Question about slow USB 2 transfer speeds.
« Reply #4 on: August 29, 2020, 07:47:22 am »
Hi Boggin
I read the article you referred to.
Conversion made little difference / reset hub & update likewise. Tried different ports, nada.
Then using a USB 3 port, write value rose to 12 Mbs compared to 8+ on V 2.
 Attch USB 2 write speed of 17.5 Mbs.
Have tried various speed tests, however they all give different values when I re run them!
Will submit my data to support at "Platinet"as packaging state "up to 90Mb/s, a Polish outfit.
Question, does the nature of the data, (eg .mp4 .doc etc) affect transfer speed?

Offline Boggin

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Join Date: Jul 2014
  • Posts: 10182
  • Location: UK
  • Karma: 122
    • View Profile
Re: Question about slow USB 2 transfer speeds.
« Reply #5 on: August 29, 2020, 09:25:32 am »
"up to 90Mb/s" doesn't guarantee any minimum speed.

This article gives tables for different types of files being copied - https://www.cmd-ltd.com/advice-centre/usb-chargers-and-power-modules/usb-and-power-module-product-help/data-transfer-rate/

I only use an USB flash drive when I want to keep a Docs folder up to date and copy it onto another machine and it's only a small file.

I use SanDisk Cruzer Edge USBs.

So is the 17.5 speed while in the USB 3.0 port ?
« Last Edit: August 29, 2020, 09:36:53 am by Boggin »

Offline mrwoof

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Join Date: Apr 2016
  • Posts: 99
  • Location: Dublin
  • Karma: 1
    • View Profile
Re: Question about slow USB 2 transfer speeds.
« Reply #6 on: August 30, 2020, 03:30:20 am »
USB 2 write speed of 17.5 Mbs. Good article, however I'm not looking for the theoretical max of 90 Mb/s but 8 Mb/s warrants further investigation!  "Micro-SD memory cards, on the other hand, are each designated a speed class according to their minimum write speed". In my case UHS Class 10-= 30 MBps
thanks for your time.
« Last Edit: August 30, 2020, 03:42:08 am by mrwoof »

Offline Boggin

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Join Date: Jul 2014
  • Posts: 10182
  • Location: UK
  • Karma: 122
    • View Profile
Re: Question about slow USB 2 transfer speeds.
« Reply #7 on: August 30, 2020, 03:43:30 am »
I'm not sure what else to suggest.

Can you go Start - type %temp% and press enter when it comes up.

This is your Temp folder cache and when it get overly populated can have an adverse affect on performance, although I don't know if it would affect USB transfer speeds.

If it is overly populated, press CTRL a to highlight then CTRL d to delete to see if that makes any difference.

Offline Boggin

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Join Date: Jul 2014
  • Posts: 10182
  • Location: UK
  • Karma: 122
    • View Profile
Re: Question about slow USB 2 transfer speeds.
« Reply #8 on: August 31, 2020, 02:48:06 am »
I've downloaded and saved a Win 10 ISO which is approx. 4.141GB in size.

I then copied this onto a NTFS formatted 16GB USB.

The transfer rate was very erratic, ranging from 2. something to just over 9 with a brief 11. something.

Because it was so erratic it was impossible to nail down a speed, so given my max speed, yours may be normal.

While my laptop has the max 8GB DDR3 RAM installed, it's only a cheapish Toshiba with an Intel Celeron B800 1.5 GHz CPU with integral graphics.

Higher spec machines may have varying transfer speeds but I can only go by what this one is producing.

EDIT - on checking, it is an USB 3.0 in an USB 2.0 port.
« Last Edit: August 31, 2020, 02:51:30 am by Boggin »