Slow USB Transfer Rate on Desktop but not Laptop - Both Windows 7

Hey there,

Been having this problem for a while and I have been searching and searching and cannot find a solution. I know there are very simliar threads but like I said I cannot find a solution.

I own a custom built desktop with the following :

i7-940 cpu
intel dx58so motherboard
8gb of ram
nvidia gts250
Thermaltake TRX-750M Power supply 750W

if any more information is needed on the build let me know.

I recently noticed the transfer rate really slow, at an average about 1.5MB/s.

I have tried enabling Better Performance option but what happens is that it starts really fast and then goes down to about 1.5MB/s anyways and usually just freezes or stops.

I also have a laptop, its an Acer Aspire AS5745DG-6681. Specifications are:

Intel Core i5-480M, 15.6" HD (1366x768) LED-backlit, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, Blu-ray Combo Drive, NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M 1GB, Wireless N, HDMI, Webcam, 9-cell, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

I updated the RAM to 8GB on the laptop.

Using the same external hard drive, I can get rates at an average of 30MB/s and better performance is also disabled on the laptop.

I Don't know what the difference is they both have Windows 7 64 bit, just the laptop is Home Premium and my desktop is Windows 7 Enterprise.

Anyone have any ideas that can shoot me in the right direction?

Thank you

PS. Forgot to mention I recently reformated and did a fresh install of windows 7 and see if it would solve the problem but it didnt.

And also tried booting in safe mode to see if the rate would increase but it stays the same.

Thanks

Anyone?

On your desktop:

Get Resource monitor set up prior to the copy/transfer/job process:

Click on Task Manager, then the PERFORMANCE tab (at top), then Resource Monitor (tile at bottom). Click on the disk tab (top) and the slide the disk I/O mini-window border up or down to get a decent-sized view.

Then, start the copy/transfer process and then go back to the disk RM window. Pick a copy process that will take some time (a few minutes if possible). See what type of millisecond response you are getting for the USB device (I assume PM will report it as it would a regular hard drive). Also, note the byte count (average) that shows (read or write) so we can see how big a transfer is being done at a time. We need both pieces of data to figure out what's going on.

Thanks. I'll try that when I get home from work

Okay, I copied a file that took roughly 3-4 minutes to copy. It was a 175 MB avi file.

In the beginning the numbers I get are:

Read (B/sec) - 1,152
Write (B/sec) - 1,323,008
Total (B/sec) - 1,324,160
I/O Priority is normal
Response Time is 42

Near the end of the transfer the numbers are:

Read (B/sec) - 0
Write (B/sec) - 1,525,988
Total (B/sec) - 1,525,988
I/O Priority is normal
Response Time is 43

Hope this helps

You could try using TeraCopy it is a Windows Copy Replacement and works very efficient, highly recommend it.

TeraCopy

Tried Teracopy and it was the same thing. 1.5 MB/s

Run Check Disk by going to right clicking Command Prompt from Accessories and select "Run as Administrator" and in the Command Prompt Window type in "chkdsk", or alternatively follow this Tutorial.

Now after it fixes everything run a System File Checker Scan:

If that doesn't help, try downloading Malwarebytes to check for Viruses and Malware.

djtiko said:

Okay, I copied a file that took roughly 3-4 minutes to copy. It was a 175 MB avi file.

In the beginning the numbers I get are:

Read (B/sec) - 1,152
Write (B/sec) - 1,323,008
Total (B/sec) - 1,324,160
I/O Priority is normal
Response Time is 42

Near the end of the transfer the numbers are:

Read (B/sec) - 0
Write (B/sec) - 1,525,988


Total (B/sec) - 1,525,988
I/O Priority is normal
Response Time is 43

Hope this helps

Click to expand...

I assume we're copying a hard disk file to the usb drive.

It almost seems like usb 1.0 performance. Are you sure it's a usb 2.0 port?

Run it again. We need both the input hard drive and output USB performance stats. You should be able to see EACH file listed on the disk I/O PM screen.

It could be your hard drive performance slowing this down.

The performance numbers you provided look like they're from the usb output file.

What are your caching options set for that usb drive? Is it set for "quick removal" or performance?

I would do a diagnostic on the desktop HD. See if it shows a lot of retries. Your HD may be on the way out.

Also try plugging the external drive into a different USB port on the desktop.

JimLewandowski said:

djtiko said:

Okay, I copied a file that took roughly 3-4 minutes to copy. It was a 175 MB avi file.

In the beginning the numbers I get are:

Read (B/sec) - 1,152
Write (B/sec) - 1,323,008
Total (B/sec) - 1,324,160
I/O Priority is normal
Response Time is 42

Near the end of the transfer the numbers are:

Read (B/sec) - 0
Write (B/sec) - 1,525,988


Total (B/sec) - 1,525,988
I/O Priority is normal
Response Time is 43

Hope this helps

Click to expand...

I assume we're copying a hard disk file to the usb drive.

It almost seems like usb 1.0 performance. Are you sure it's a usb 2.0 port?

Run it again. We need both the input hard drive and output USB performance stats. You should be able to see EACH file listed on the disk I/O PM screen.

It could be your hard drive performance slowing this down.

The performance numbers you provided look like they're from the usb output file.

What are your caching options set for that usb drive? Is it set for "quick removal" or performance?

Click to expand...

I am sure the ports Im using are USB 2.0 Ports.. I have a Antec Nine Hundred Two case, according to specs they are USB 2.0 Ports. I also I have my caching options set to quick removal. Like I said above when I said it to performance, it starts really fast at about 100 MB/s then slowly climbs down to 1MB/s.

Im going to post Stats from both hard drive and USB in a couple of minutes

Okay so, From my Western Digital Black 1TB drive to my External 40GB drive these are my stats:

WD Black:

Read (B/sec) - 1,502,832
Write (B/sec) - 0
Reponse (ms) - 10

External:

Read (B/sec) - 0
Write (B/sec) - 1,489,875
Response (ms) - 44



I also have a solid State Drive with my operating system on it. Decided to do a transfer and these are my stats:

Kingston 60GB SSD:

Read (B/sec) - 0
Write (B/sec) - 17,274,712
Reponse (ms) - 7


External:

Read (B/sec) - 0
Write (B/sec) - 1,488,603
Response (ms) - 49

Im assuming this is suppose to happen but as time progressed, the write speed decreased so I took the values down again 2 minutes later which are:

Kingston 60GB SSD:

Read (B/sec) - 0
Write (B/sec) - 209,193
Reponse (ms) - 81



External:

Read (B/sec) - 0
Write (B/sec) - 1,487,579
Response (ms) - 44

Hope this information can help. Remember my hard drive is set to quick removal. Also since I tried transferring a file from two different hard drives to the same external and I have the same rate I think we can rule out that my hard drive isnt dying

Update:

Okay So I tried changing my USB port to one directly built in to the motherboard instead of the one in the case and its better. Avg is about 26 MB/s.

I tried it before but there was no difference but now there is... unless I thought I did try it and I didn't.

Here are the stats with USB connected to motherboard:

Desktop Hard drive:

Read (B/sec) - 29,156,830
Write (B/sec) - 0
Response Time - 15

External Hard Drive:

Read (B/sec) - 0
Write (B/sec) - 29,019,341
Response Time - 2


So now that I know its the USB ports in the case, any clue how to fix this? Cause I know before it did perform at USB 2.0 Speeds.

Thanks for all the help so far

I'm not a system builder. Maybe one of the custom builders can help you out. 26 MB/s sounds right to me. Both my HP machines get about 24 MB/s sequential read when copying large files over USB 2.0.

solved my problem, just connected the usb cable inside to another port on the motherboard.

thanks

That's weird, but you can't argue with success. Glad you got it fixed.

Okay another update.

Its been a day and now its back to USB 1 Speeds. I dont understand why its doing this.

Any ideas?

Switch to a different USB header and it was fixed for a day and now its back to slow speeds again:S

For your USB hubs??? do you have the option checked to say "tell me if my USB speed is NOT up to maximum" or something like that.

where would I find an option like that? lol

The Intel dx58so motherboard has a specific USB feature not commonly found, and I would seriously suspect this facility could be somehow not quite doing what it ought to be.

"USB Port Disable - Enables individual USB ports to be enabled or disabled as needed. This feature provides added protection of data by preventing malicious removal or insertion of data through USB ports."

Click to expand...

I'm uncertain whether it's BIOS controlled and there are some settings that are being overlooked, or whether the board might require a BIOS update. On the other hand it could be software managed, so you might want to investigate disabling port restrictions entirely unless you specifically need it - and check your chipset drivers are the latest.

A quick flick around Google revealed a couple of posts that indicated these boards apparently work best when the RAM is fitted in the slots which are the furthest away from the processor.