Moving files on drive X to drive X takes too long

[teckneeculler]

W7 Ult 64 bit.

6TB USB 3 external HDD. (used 4TB, spare 2TB - round figures)
When I move files on this drive, it frequently takes as long as copying them would.
Doesn't file moving in one HDD just involve changing the file address?
In which case it should be virtually instantaneous.

Shouldn't it?

 

[Paul Black]

Hi teckneeculler,

Doesn't file moving in one HDD just involve changing the file address?
In which case it should be virtually instantaneous.

When was the last time you defragmented the drive?

 

[billmcct]

Doesn't file moving in one HDD just involve changing the file address?
In which case it should be virtually instantaneous.

Yes if on the same partition unless you don't have full ownership. Transferring between partition is the same as transferring from disk to disk. Moving files in the same partition only rewrites the MFT.

 

[mrjimphelps]

+1 for what both Paul and Bill said.

 

[teckneeculler]

Paul Black: Last time I defragmented? Never. The drive is less than 12 months old, has only one partition, and is used only for storage. It rarely has any genuine file movement, other than adding files daily. However, I can easily defrag it.


Billmcct: I wouldn't have thought ownership was an issue. I bought it, plugged it in, created one partition, gave it a drive letter to permanently identify it, and that was it.

 

[Alejandro85]

How many files are we talking about?
Move a file within a logical drive is, as you said, nearly instantaneous, as it's a metadata-only operation. But, if the number of files to move is substantial, that tiny operation may have to be repeated a significant number of times. To put into some concrete numbers, move 1 file is lightning-fast, move 500000 files will take a looooong time, no matter their size.

Another guess is that, if you're still using an antivirus, that the thing is scanning the whole pack before moving, thus forcing reading the whole actual data instead of being a directory operation. I don't know if that's the case, or even if antiviruses really do that, but it's one more thing to consider.

Yet another guess, if you're using Explorer to perform the move, and have some addin installed, that may also be the cause of the slowness. Trying with another program would discard this as a root cause.

Yes if on the same partition unless you don't have full ownership.

How does ownership even affect file move? Permissions will be checked, but ownership isn't going to come into consideration, neither for the origin nor the destination. The only thing required is read-write permission on the source files and write permission on the target folder.

 

[teckneeculler]

How many files are we talking about? One. At a time, that is.

A typical case is when I move a 2GB file from folder X to folder Y. (On the same, single-partition HDD)

And it takes say, 30 secs to move it. IMHO, that's way too long for a re-addressing process. The file could be copied in that time.

Virus check slowing it down? Maybe. I use Malwarebytes full, latest version. I can try turning it off, it IS a real 'granny' at times.

Other than that, I dunno. The only other factor is it's a USB drive. But USB 3 in a USB 3 certified enclosure. And I have an i5 quad-core processor with 16GB ram.

Anyway, I defragged it, using O&O Pro 21 (which, BTW, is excellent software). It was 5% fragged, but that's not excessive, IMHO.

Another of my regular HDDs turned out to be 63% fragged (OMG) but I wouldn't have guessed that, going by its always speedy performance.

Maybe I should test read-write the USB drive with diagnostic software. What's best?

 

[Alejandro85]

One file at a time shouldn't take 30 seconds, not even on the slowest of drives.
Is the drive in use by something else?
Disk damage could cause slowdowns, a full chkdsk may help identify or discard the cause.