Solved Looking for file transfer software OUTSIDE of Windows Explorer

[OvenMaster]

I'm sort of lost here and I don't even know if what I want exists.

I keep my file backups on a spindle of thirty 4.7GB DVD+RW discs, in case I have to grab it if the house catches fire, or my data hard drive blows up, or some similar disaster.

The problem is that whenever I try to read the discs using Windows Explorer in Vista Home Basic, 7 Pro 32-bit or Home 64-bit, file transfer speeds from disc to hard drive drop to as low as 50KB/sec and takes around 3 hours per disc. This is a known bug in the Vista and Win 7 kernel with no fix. When I dual booted XP on this machine, the data transfer of an entire DVD disc would take just ±6 minutes or so. Using Vista or 7, it would take me days to transfer the data. I've already tried other software that operates within Win7 and there is no improvement.

What I'm looking for is hopefully free software that can be burnt to a CD or DVD, start my PC with the disc, take that disc out of the drive, access the optical drives and transfer the data from my DVD backup discs quickly to my choice any of my Win 7 hard drives. I want to totally bypass Windows and Windows Explorer for optical disc -> hard disc file copying.

Any ideas? I'd appreciate them.

 

[fireberd]

Using optical media is archaic. There are better options, such as a USB connected hard drive or a USB flash drive.

In addition, an RW media is the least reliable media for storage. The can act like an old floppy diskette as they can be re-written but RW media has been known to lose format and/or data. For that reason, alone, they should be avoided.

Backing up just user data will save the user data but if the hard drive fails or is corrupted you must manually reinstall everything. With disc "image" software, such as Macrium Reflect, you can make a backup (disc image) of the entire hard drive. Restoring is relatively easy. With a USB storage device there is only one item to keep for emergency, not a whole slew of optical discs.

 

[wasnotwas]

Can I add that although the Macrium saved image is one big file, it can be mounted and individual files dragged/dropped to desktop etc without restoring the whole drive.

 

[OvenMaster]

wasnotwas: I'm presently using Macrium to back up the partition with all the data I want saved, but it's to another hard drive within the same computer. This system has come in handy when I needed to retrieve a file I accidentally overwrote.

fireberd: LOLOLOL
DVD may be "archaic" to some but it is what I prefer and have used for over 10 years with zero data loss, including TrueCrypt/VeraCrypt file containers. Does this mean you don't know of any software that will do what I need?

I regularly back up my boot drive with a Macrium image as well, to another drive in my computer. If the boot drive fails, I can always get a new one and reinstall Windows and my programs. I don't mind that a bit. But all my saved data which is on another drive is irreplaceable. This is why I have a second backup strategy, a portable and easily-grabbable spindle of inexpensive DVD+RW.

 

[fireberd]

I don't know of anything that will speed up data transfer from an optical drive. I've seen, years ago, some software that was supposed to speed up copying data from one hard drive to another. I tried it and it didn't do what it was advertised to do. Stuck with whatever transfer rate the hardware is.

A comment on RW media. I've been working computer forums since 2001 and the biggest gripe/problem with optical media has been RW media. If you have never lost any data you are extremely lucky.

 

[OvenMaster]

Yes, I will admit that as far as discs go I am very lucky. I use only TDK branded DVD+RWs and as a result I have never lost any data since 2004.

Anyway, my problem is solved. I played with a Knoppix Live CD and it does exactly what I need with XP-grade transfer speed. I can access the optical drives and transfer my backup data to any hard drive partition I choose.

 

[margrave]

I bought a 64 GB thumb drive for under $20. That would replace around eight of your DVD disks. And it would be faster and more reliable.

To your original problem ... transfer speed. I had that trouble once. Look in device manager and make sure that the DVD drive is operating in DMA mode, not PIO mode. If it's set to the latter, change it to DMA and reboot. If you cannot change it to DMA because the choice is grayed out, then reboot to BIOS and look for a setting that controls the DVD drive behavior.

 

[OvenMaster]

Both DVD burners are shown in Device Manager as set to "Ultra DMA Mode 6". The transfer speed problem is a known Windows kernel bug that first surfaced in Vista and there has not been a fix. It does not affect all computers, but it does affect my 32-bit Vista Home Basic laptop, my 32-bit Win 7 Pro machine, and a friend's 64-bit Win 7 Home machine.

I've seen far too many horror stories over the years about thumb drive data loss or corruption. I do not trust them with irreplaceable data such as my medical info, financial data, 0bamacare documents and income tax returns.

 

[margrave]

So put your stuff in the cloud! With today's high internet speeds, you might find such transfers faster than your DVDs.

But ... am I wasting my breath (or keystrokes)? You seem stuck on DVDs, but it's already been pointed out that they're not getting faster. So take your pick.

 

[OvenMaster]

No cloud, thanks. I like to keep my data private. Unless I upload everything in VeraCrypt containers...

Look, if I could find a USB thumb drive that was big enough AND affordable AND as reliable in the long term as my DVD+RWs, I'd grab it. I'm still looking.

I'm not "stuck" on DVD. I simply prefer them as the best overall compromise of size, cost, reliability and portability. The only (admittedly big) downside is speed. At 4x it takes ±20 minutes to burn and verify one 4.7GB disc.

The original topic was "how do I get my data off the DVD+RWs I already have and use without Windows?". It wasn't "What do people think the best data storage method or media is?" or "What's the most reliable USB thumb drive?" Those are subjects for other threads which I should start, because Google is acting like nothing but a giant TV commercial in this regard.

 

[margrave]

Your DVD transfer rates are anomalously low. If you can fix it, fine. If not, take the DVDs to another computer. One whose DVD drive is working properly.

 

[OvenMaster]

That's the weird thing. NONE of the computers in my house are fast when reading DVDs when using Explorer in Vista or Win 7. That's why I tried the Knoppix disc. When I had a dual-boot setup with Win 7 and XP Home, XP was fast, fast, fast. Both my DVD drives are less than six months old. [shrugs]

I want to apologize to you and to Fireberd for my seeming stupidity. I haven't felt well lately, I've had a very short temper and haven't thought very clearly lately, either. I have a problem and the solutions offered just don't work. I know everyone here means well and really do want to help. It might say "Seven Guru" under my name but I'll tell you, even at my age, many days I feel pretty damn stupid and outclassed, outmanned, and outgunned by most everyone else here.

So.

I'm waiting on a 128GB Lexar USB 3.0 flash drive that should arrive next week. I really hope that the USB 3.0 speed promise holds up.

 

[margrave]

I recently bought a USB 3.0 flash drive. It's very fast ... when plugged into a USB 3.0 port.

I have 3.0 at work. But at home the USB ports are 2.0 ... slow. So I bought a USB 3.0 expansion card for that.

Anyway, I hope your computer has USB 3.0 ports.

 

[OvenMaster]

My present build has four USB 3.0 ports... two on the front, two on the back. My previous mobo had none. So, fingers crossed.

 

[OvenMaster]

Okay, update. Well, Pyrrhic victory, perhaps.

I got a new Lexar S55 128GB 3.0 flash drive yesterday.

Connecting it to the USB 3.0 ports on the front or rear of my computer is a pain. I get the Windows sound when Explorer recognizes a USB device, but does not show up in Windows Explorer and no drive letter is assigned. Device Manager says no USB driver is loaded. I have to manually enable/install the USB 3.0 Mass Storage Driver every time I plug in the drive. Write speeds are good - anywhere up to 60MB/sec - so long as the drive does not suddenly go missing or the driver self-uninstalls.

It turns out that my mobo is saddled with the widely-condemned Etron EJ168 USB 3.0 host controller. Newest drivers are two years old and are installed, as are the latest AMD chipset drivers for my board.

When I connect the drive to my one remaining open USB 2.0 port, the drive is always immediately recognized. I get write speeds of 12-40MB/sec, which is admittedly much better than DVD+RW's 4x rate of ±6 MB/sec. USB 2.0 transfer speeds from flash drive to Desktop are acceptably fast at up to 30MB/sec, which is what I was trying to improve over DVD+RW's lousy <6MB/sec.

So now I either need to get a USB extension cord to reach from the rear of my PC to my desk, or see if I can't find a black 5.25" USB 2.0 front panel to connect to the unused headers on my mobo.