Why is 7 so slow while copying large files between part

[ben07]

Everything is so slow e.g. opening of FireFox, opening of Excel, opening of Task Manager etc...while I'm copying 750GB of data from one partition to another partition......why? I'm running Windows 7 x64 7100 on a seperate partiton and I have a Q6600, 4GB ram and 5 X 1 TB WD Black edition drives...Task Manager is showing 33 running processors, 3 - 5 % CPU usage and 1.35GB of ram usage.....is this a Windows 7 bug?

p/s Windows 7 is super fast when I'm not copying/transferring large files between partitions!

 

[Uber Philf]

Nope, i dont have any problems like this..

Enzo.

 

[ben07]

Nope, i dont have any problems like this..

Enzo.

Hmmmmm, I don't have such problem while running XP Pro SP3

What could be? I even disabled AntiVir while copying/transferring......

 

[Uber Philf]

uhmm.. im out of ideas mate.. all i can say is maybe a format?

Enzo.

 

[ben07]

uhmm.. im out of ideas mate.. all i can say is maybe a format?

Enzo.

I can not afford to format the partition which has Windows 7, cause I will have to re transfer nearly 900 GB of files, unless there is a way not to redo the 900 GB transfer, here is my setup:

Drive 1 Partition C - XP SP3 (40GB), Partition D (900GB)
Drive 2 Partition C - Windows 7 (40GB), Partition E (900GB)
Drive 3, 4, 5 - all in single partition (930GB)

Western Digital's Tool wouldn't let me just format the C partition alone, if I delete or format C in drive 2, all partitions would be lost!

 

[Uber Philf]

hmmm, thats a tight setup your running there.. tried running sfc/scannnow?

Enzo.

 

[ten]

I notice Windows 7 is pretty slow when moving things around hard drives myself. Compared to XP anyways. So it may just be a normal thing you're experiencing.

 

[DarkXeno]

Im going to take a guess that you had XP running on the machine first then installed Win7 as a second OS on the same drive. When you installed 7 you didn't let it format the drive. So windows 7 is trying to use the old XP drive format. With each new version of Windows they update how it formats and writes the FAT table to the drive. Windows 7 could be slow when copying large files due to its writing to the drive in the older XP drive table format, it maybe a small bug the only way to tell is if you reinstalled Windows 7 letting the install format the drive and then test again.

 

[patrickt]

When you consider none of my hard drives are over 500GB I obviously have never tried to move 900GB of data between drives or partitions. I do occasionally move 9GB and it takes four or five minutes. I've never had an OS on my computer that would move 9GB faster.

 

[ten]

Im going to take a guess that you had XP running on the machine first then installed Win7 as a second OS on the same drive. When you installed 7 you didn't let it format the drive. So windows 7 is trying to use the old XP drive format. With each new version of Windows they update how it formats and writes the FAT table to the drive. Windows 7 could be slow when copying large files due to its writing to the drive in the older XP drive table format, it maybe a small bug the only way to tell is if you reinstalled Windows 7 letting the install format the drive and then test again.

Where did you get this information? The only difference I am aware of is that MS updated NTFS to version 3.1 when XP came.

 

[DarkXeno]

Where did you get this information? The only difference I am aware of is that MS updated NTFS to version 3.1 when XP came.

When windows XP first came out it had a hard drive size limit of 127g Windows service pack 2 fixed this issue. So these are small additions onto the OS most people don't think about. I don't know if your XP install went from SP1 - SP2 - SP3. or if you had an XP disk with SP3 built in. Microsoft would've updated the format command to uptain the lager disk FAT tables. Im thinking they may have updated it again in Win 7 in ways that we dont know yet.
I am at work and can not look at the Win 7 format command over the XP one here at work. The format command show up as version 5.1.26 on a XP SP3 machine. Hopefully someone will come and post a version number of Win 7.
The other question I shouldve asked is this Win 7 x86 or x64.

 

[Barman58]

One thing you could have a look at is "Remote Differential Compression" this is an attempt to cut down on bandwidth when transferring over network links.

It should not affect drive to drive transfers, but some users have reported that switching this off has improved matters with transfer of large files.

It may be controlled via the "Turn Windows Features On & Off" dialog. in Control Panel - Programs & Features.

You may want to un-check the option and see if you get any improvement - if not then you can simply go back and re-enable it

 

[ten]

That 5.1.2600 string is the operating system version I would presume. XP is Windows NT v5.1 build 2600. Windows 7 shows format.com as 6.1.7127.0. Again, Windows NT v6.1 build 7127.
The version comes after that and shows 0 which doesn't make a lot of sense. In XP it shows as 5.1.2600.5512 so I would presume that format.com is version 5512.

If you open Windows 7 format.com in a text editor you get this...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<!-- Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation -->
<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">
<assemblyIdentity
version="5.1.0.0"
processorArchitecture="x86"
name="Microsoft.Windows.FileSystem.Format"
type="win32"
/>
<description>Disk Format Utility</description>

So a lower version?

When I have some time, I'll format a spare drive with both and see if there's any speed difference while moving/copying files that I can measure.

 

[Amadesus]

Background intelligent transfer service was my problem.

Changed to Manual/Stopped.
Win 7 slow, moving and copying files, all fixed.

 

[karlsnooks]

I recommend looking into using a built-in program in Win7 which you might call super Xcopy, namely ROBOCOPY.

go to a command prompt and type robocopy /? to get more info.

 

[seavixen32]

"The other question I shouldve asked is this Win 7 x86 or x64"

To determine which version of Windows you have, press the Windows+Pause key combo and look under System for System Type; it'll state whether you have the 32-Bit or 64-Bit version.

 

[karlsnooks]

ten,

We are curious so that we don't have to ask whether you have x64 or x86 and so that we can better help you.

Now be helpful and fil out your system specs and here is how;
Update your SevenForums System Specs
User CP (3rd item in the top menu bar) |
Your Profile | Edit System Spec (left-hand column)

To gather info, use SIW or Speccy or System Info

Add the word laptop or desktop or netbook to the
“system manufacturer” block, for example,
Toshiba Satellite L305D notebook.

Provide full windows version info, for example:
MS Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit

Use the “Other Info” block for Optical Reader,
Mouse, touchpad, wifi adapter, speakers, monitor, etc

Scroll down and click on the SAVE CHANGES button