Extremely Slow USB Transfers

Windows 11 Pro x64 bit 22621.1635
Windows Defender/Malwarebytes Premium Fully updated

Some reason lately USB transfers have been really really sluggish, and not exactly sure why, i checked all the drivers for updates, restarted system a few times.

Sure the Files are bunch of small ones, but still it used to transfer faster a while back when i updated the folder on the External flash drive in the past, and External drives

Even discontinued use of 2.5gig Ethernet usb adapter thinkin that was the cause, nope still same

Files are stored on WD Black 4TB HDD (Where i keep all my Data Files) as too nervous to store Things like Documents, Pictures, Videos, and a Little Music files on C:\ NvMe M.2 SSD as so worried on writes killing it and not as easy to get to since updating my CpU Cooler to Arctic Freezer 7X. So trying to make M.2 NvMe SSD last as long as possible with limited writes

Am i just at the mercy of the speed of the drive?

Sandisk Dual USB A/C 256GB Flash Drive

*Will Even Take suggestions on General performance tips or Maintenance can do to have my Intel 10700 based system running at its best.

Might be willing to tranfser the Music to a Western Digital Passport and maybe move Documents, Pictures, Music, and VIdeo Folder back to Default, but not 100 percent sure on that yet

As far as USB drive is concerned try checking the Device Manager entry with the drive plugged in and see if write caching is enabled, if not try turning it on and testing the speed, be aware you will need to use the 'safely remove drive' icon in System Tray if caching to avoid potential data loss.
Or try zipping small files into one larger container to copy accross. Unfortunately most flash drives use cheap memory and suffer poor performance, more expensive drives can perform much better, but read reviews on independent sites to avoid expensive lemons.

Modern SSDs in normal use have a lifetime of probably 30 - 50 years theoretically so I would not be overly concerned, a larger drive will have better endurance and also better performance though. You are far more likely to upgrade the drive due to capacity needs long before you encounter issues.
Of course any type of storage can die at any time so regular backups are recommended.

Yes i make sure to backup weekly even right now with current setup

Don't believe Write caching on with the Flash drive currently, though i always use safe eject anyways, i suppose if Write Caching didn't help any, i could try zipping that folder

I went with 500GB NvMe Samsung 970 Evo Plus boot drive as didn't plan on storing too much on it besides Windows when i originally got on Christmas 2021

Guess will try the above suggestions solutions and go from there

Is USB drive formatted NTFS? Reformat it to fix bad sectors.
Did you download your drivers directly from the manufacturer or let windows automatically install them. Update usb controller and chipset drivers. Also looks like a new bios was released a month ago for that board.
Right click on drive in device manager. Properties>Policies tab>select 'better performance'
Make sure that usb 3.0 is enabled in bios
See if speed increases if drive is plugged into one of the usb ports on back of computer.

@glasskuter

I'm running F5 Bios right now, the current bios F6b is a Beta one, was kinda waiting for it to go final version before updating it, but will update it sooner if its a good idea to do

Drive is Formatted Default exFat. But i can reformat the Flash Drive in a moment here

Drivers was direct from Manufactuer & some from WIndows Update, as Gigabyte didn't have any newer Chipset drivers at all on Motherboards support page on last clean install on 9/20/2022--(that was due to a fatal Bluetooth error that i couldn't fix)

Will Definitely check on USB 3.0 if it's enabled in UEFI Bios

Will also try one of the Rear Ports in the Rear of System versus USB 3.0 Hub that i was using to attempt to do this transfer--Moves Flash drive to rear of PC and see how it does there for starters

Have you backed up the data on it? Do so before formatting. Regarding hubs, all hubs are not equal. I always used a powered hub.

Yes this is a Powered Hub, and Data is backed up on 2 Other Western Digital External drives

Hub is a 4 Port Sabrent Model i believe, forget how much i paid for it

Flash Drive Model is
Sandisk Ultra Dual Drive USB Type-C
USB A/Type C for use with Android Phone or Laptop

Was fast previously i thought, but i could've been wrong
anyways slow as can be nowadays

checking usb 3.0 if its enabled in bios asap here Not sure if gonna update to the Beta bios or wait til a Final one as yet

They do degrade over time. Have you tried another flash drive using same port or your external hard drive? Is speed any better using those?
When testing always connect directly to the system. Hubs, no matter their quality, can mess thing up.

I've tried a few other flash drives, but i haven't tried on same port as yet, did try on the hub same port though before, but i can try on same rear port in a few here.

Might even unplug the Hub from rear port, as might be easier plugging in next flash drive in same port between Ethernet wire and First Rear Free USB port that hub is connected to right now

((The current drive in middle of Formatting currently, no idea how long this is gonna take, maybe i should've selected Quick Format lol--oh well be done when it gets done i guess, then can try another back there and see how that goes

Have another 64GB drive somewhere and 2 2TB WD My Passport Drives, 1 Seagate 8TB, and WD My Book 8TB (Backup drive) and Folder size is 26.1GB--might be too big to transfer to flash drive maybe after all

Update: Removed the Hub, Plugged in WD My Passport 2TB drive
40.0MB/s About 9 Minutes remaining says for same folder transfer

Hub Connected with a USB 3.0 Extension cable, a different one than i was originally using when first got this flash drive for Christmas 2022

bikemanI7 said:

Hub Connected with a USB 3.0 Extension cable

Click to expand...

That adds even more chance speeds could be affected.. Hubs, extension cables, and adapters are handy little gadjets but all are troubles waiting to happen.

Yeah well probably the drive quality or size of the folder, and hub usage why that flash drive slow.

Think will just update the folder on the Externals and call it solved, no matter what i do, isn't gonna speed up the flash drive i don't think

But will check USB 3.0 setting in UEFI soon as possible here

Determine if its wise to update to the Beta Bios even though i don't have a RTX 3060 card, just a Geforce 1660 Super right now, and guess call it as system as good as it's gonna be i suppose

((may do a clean install possibly next month if time permits, and just leave Documents, Pictures, Music, and Video folders as Default)), and maybe Create folder on 4TB to save big downloads for Game Add Ons, and maybe save a little writes to M.2 that way)

If anyone has any other tips i can be aware of in Windows 11 or Bios Settings in General for CPU or such, much appreciate. if i do decide to upgrade the UEFI in the future, should i use Artic Freezer 7X Performance Fan Curve or Standard? Mine is Rev 1.0 as didn't see a 3.0 on the box for the cooler

Shop after upgraded the Cooler didn't add in any CPU Turbo Power restrictions, just had Turbo Power Limit Auto (which i believe is the default setting)

try using teracopy, with that I solved the slowness of my USB

I'll look into Teracopy, did a clean install of Windows 11 Pro day before yesterday, much faster to the External drives themselves.

WD My Passport 2TB
Transfer Rate was a steady 117MB/s for the One Folder to the Drive--that was connected to the USB Hub with shorter extension cable

Seagate 8TB doing a manual data file transfer currently
Steady 35.4MB/s it shows in File Explorer little window


Though the Sandisk Dual Flash drive A/C type 256GB is still slow for some reason, but overall happy with system think now, and working as best its gonna i do believe

I've done a bit of testing on this USB transfer speed topic.

Confirmed results listed below are for the same large data files to the same external USB disks from a PC running Win11 22624.1610 and a PC running Win7 as updated as it can be. The Win11 PC is an i5 10th gen, while the Win7 PC is an i5 8th gen. Both have 16Gb of RAM and USB3.0 ports. No hubs were hurt in these tests

Essentially, the Win7 machine is persistently about 23% faster than the Win11 machine. This was tested 15 times with the results always within a few percent of the mean time. Since both machines have the (reportedly) optimal USB drivers, I can only speculate that Win11 has yet to hone the copy algorithm for controlling the RAM buffers used in the copy process to the state achieved in Win7.

Other hypotheses are welcome, but preferably of a constructive nature.

bikemanI7 said:

Files are stored on WD Black 4TB HDD (Where i keep all my Data Files) as too nervous to store Things like Documents, Pictures, Videos, and a Little Music files on C:\ NvMe M.2 SSD as so worried on writes killing it and not as easy to get to since updating my CpU Cooler to Arctic Freezer 7X. So trying to make M.2 NvMe SSD last as long as possible with limited writes

Click to expand...

I think you are too overly concerned. These drives are going to last a very long time. I've been using SSD's since 2008 and I've yet to have one hit it's end of life. But that drive from 2008, is also only 80GB....so at this point, it's too damn small to be useful for anything and it's been replaced. My opinion and experience in this matter is that for performance, interface, or capacity reasons you will replace your SSD/NVMe before you hit it's max write potential.

Yeah i do become overly concerned with alot of things, and for a long time i treated it as fragile and didn't even consider storing any files but Windows on it.

After my recent clean install
Did keep Library Folder Documents, Downloads, Music (nothing stored there as yet) Pictures, and VIdeos as default for first time in 7 years. Previously after each clean install i'd manually change the locations of all the Library folders immediately after clean install

I tend to panic and worry alot always been an issue of mine lol

Before Windows 11 Pro x64bit Clean Install Drive Writes was at 31.2TB Written,
Now 31.8TB Written (so didn't go up too much like i was very nervous about

suffer from alot of Anxiety as well, so alot of things i get very nervous on

bikemanI7 said:

I tend to panic and worry alot always been an issue of mine lol

Click to expand...

Yeah, I have a diagnosed case of OCD and take medication for it.

For SSD's and NVMe's, i figure if you spend the money on them, and they provide such great performance, i's a good idea to get some use out of it. i think in almost all cases, people will get 10-15 years out of any consumer grade drive. I'm thinking that 15 years from now, my 2TB NVMe won't be the cat's pajamas anymore.

All I don't know if it matters, I am Running Microsoft Defender for Individuals app that came with my Office 365 Install

It appears i can delete the PC App and Android Phone from it, and uninstall the app without affecting Default WIndows Defender, don't know if that would improve my USB Transfer speeds or not

Update:

Is this Drive CounterFit as noticed it has no serial number anywhere on it

Waiting on Invoice before i reply to Western Digital/Sandisk Support to see if i'll qualify for Warranty Replacement--if Family Member whom bought the drive as Gift for Birthday, will even get the Invoice sent...for now i wait

its not old tread. this usb stick are new on amazon. they have good speed sometimes.
I dont know why they are so slow. its usb 3.1 and usb 3.0.
try it on a laprop and a good phone with usb-C port.
Hope i get this link working here :
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XC1WGQR?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
Not for sale just to see where you can t buy this bad slow speed module s.
it sometimers go up in speed but not much.