transcend usb 3.0 and host controller problem

ive spent about 2 hours trying to sort this simple job out to no avail so would be appreciated if someone could help,

i bought a transcend usb 3.0 pcie card today followed the instructions installing it then installed the driver from transcend, rebooted the pc and tested with a new samsung 1tb m3 external drive, files move across but what looks like the same speed as usb 2.0.
everything seems ok in device manager there's no yellow flags.

in all programs theres a new program, Usb 3.0 Host Controller utility ive tried running that but get the message usb 3.0 host controller not found, im guessing this is the reason for the slow speed.

Just updated to the 2.1.39.0 driver which is the latest version on the Transcend site (for my TS-PDU3).

Maxheadroom said:

in all programs theres a new program, Usb 3.0 Host Controller utility ive tried running that but get the message usb 3.0 host controller not found, im guessing this is the reason for the slow speed.

After running the downloaded installer to the 2.1.39.0 version of the Transcend driver, running that "USB 3.0 Host Controller Utility" produces the following:



Note that in order for me to be able to run the driver update I had to re-boot (to be sure no programs were using the USB 3.0 adapter). I also had to stop my "Green Button" software which manages the Verbatim drive and spins it down after being idle for 10 minutes, again to guarantee that no programs were actually using the USB 3.0 adapter.

Once that was done, the driver update installation went fine.

everything in driver manager looks the same except my driver reports the version being 3.0.23.0, theres two drivers on that page i installed the one that says 'with SATA power connector' as mine has that connector

a transfer of a 2.4 gb file took 50 seconds at an average speed of 50MB/s
the usb host controller utility is still saying the host controller cant be found

Just to be sure, is your card the TS-PDC3 (4-pin Molex plus SATA power connectors)? Mine is TS-PDU3 (4-pin Molex power connector only).

And you do have the SATA power connector on the card actually connected via power cable to your PSU, right? The card cannot work in USB 3.0 mode without the external PSU power connection.

Don't know what else to suggest, other than to return the card as defective, and get a replacement. I've never used a TS-PDC3, but I've used two TS-PDU3 cards in two machines and both have worked problem-free.

If your Device Manager shows the two Renesas items properly as in my screenshot (one of which is the USB 3.0 Host Controller), and yet their utility program claims "host controller not found", I don't know what to say but to try a replacement card (TS-PDU3 if you have Molex power cable nearby).

Maybe try another vendor's similar card, like StarTech?

Maxheadroom said:

a transfer of a 2.4 gb file took 50 seconds at an average speed of 50MB/s

I just did a 4.9GB/s file copy in 51 seconds. So your rate is 1/2 mine.

But I'm copying from a reasonably fast SATA-II drive to the USB 3.0 drive. Your source drive may be slower than mine, so the whole copy task is slowed down by a slower source drive?

What does HD Tune show when testing out your USB drive by itself? How does it compare to my screenshot?

heres mine

You know, I am suspicious of your Samsung M3 drive as being "the culprit" here.

Aside from the strange bizarre periodic/cyclical performance battering in the middle of that graph that greatly distorted the average (were you running something else in the machine while doing this benchmark test??) the starting and ending graph values doesn't look all that different from an "official benchmark" of the drive done by CDRInfo. Your graph looks like their graph (minus your strange up/down spikes). And your access time is the same as theirs.

It's a 5400rpm drive, with only 8MB cache.

You didn't post a screenshot of Device Manager, but you do have BOTH of the Renesas items (USB 3.0 Root Hub as well as USB 3.0 Host Controller)? And the Host Controller right-click -> properties shows "this device is working properly"? I can't explain why the Renesas Host Controller Utility shows "cannot find" for you.

Do you have access to another USB 3.0 drive you might try? A larger/faster one, just for comparison?

Remember, USB 2.0 is only rated at 480Mb/s. That's what, 50-60MB/s? Your drive is obviously performing much better than that (at least twice USB 2.0, strongly suggesting it cannot truly be running at USB 2.0 speed), despite its unquestionably "relatively low" performance as far as other external USB 3.0 drives. For example, the Samsung HD204UI SATA-II drive which is actually inside my own Verbatim drive (shown in my HD Tune picture) has 32MB cache, vs. 8MB in your drive's case. That makes a difference.