Solved Slow USB3 transfers to Memory Stick

pewe

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I have 4 USB3 ports on my laptop.

I also have 2 Kingston USB3 memory sticks.

If I transfer files to an external USB hard drive the rate is pretty respectable at approx 55 - 65 Mb/s

However when I transfer to the memory sticks it starts at between 40 - 50 Mb/s then after a couple of seconds drops to between 5 - 10 Mb/s.

Anyone any ideas why this happens.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8 Pro - 64Bit
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer 8930
    Memory
    6GB
    Hard Drives
    WD 300GB, WD 500GB
It depends on the exact model those sticks are, how large the files are, what else you are doing in the background. Too many variables.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Mint 17.2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba Satellite C850D-st3nx1
    CPU
    AMD E1-1200 APU with Radeon (tm) HD Graphics 1.40 GHZ
    Memory
    12GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon™ HD 7310 Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    Crucial M500 240GB SSD
    Mouse
    Logitech M525
    Internet Speed
    45/6 - ATT U-Verse
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    None needed. It is Linux.
    Other Info
    Arris NVG589 Gateway; Router - Cisco RV320; Switch - Netgear GS108 8-Port Switch & Trendnet TEG-S50g 5-Port Switch; Access Points - Engenius ECB350, Trendnet TEW-638APB; NAS - Lenovo ix2-4; Printer - Brother HL-2280DW; Air Print Server - Lantronix XPrintServer

    A/V UPS - Tripp-Lite Smart 1500LCD 1500 Va/900 W.
It depends on the exact model those sticks are, how large the files are, what else you are doing in the background. Too many variables.

The files being transferred to the sticks are the same files as are transferred to the hard drive.
Nothing else is running in the background,
The transfers are done consecutively.

The only variable is the speed at which they transfer.

Regarding the model of the sticks, I am not sure why that is relevant. I understand that different sticks will have different transfer rates - but what is happening here is that the transfer rate starts well then drops to about 1/10th of the speed during the transfer.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8 Pro - 64Bit
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer 8930
    Memory
    6GB
    Hard Drives
    WD 300GB, WD 500GB
I sometimes have issues with this.. but it seriously depends on what you are copying..

If i copy a 3-5gig movie.. it seems to copy somewhat fast..

If I copy 200 music files.. it's slower.. and even slower with a ton of pictures..

it also could be the way your computer handles the memory while transferring.. the buffers might be getting too full and it slows down etc.. all kinds of ridiculous variables like broe23 said!

Look, the brand is relevant, I've learned this by purchasing the cheap ones and then getting some ones that everybody said on amazon were fast.. and guess what? the brand on amazon that they said were fast seem to do better than the other "cheap" brands I bought..

blah blah..

the point is, if you haven't fiddled with settings in windows yet, you probably have dirt or cheap components in your usb or even motherboard or chipset drivers that are causing problems..

even heat can slow down the transfer..

and when is the last time you formatted that usb stick??

here is my case in point, here is my transfer right now on usb 3 ... Random "brand" cause its not important right??

and I can't test your files cause I dont know what files you are transferring.. did you ever think to try Crystal Disk test on your USB drives? or a benchmarking program?

(and i'm not even happy with this stick speed.. i think it should be 50mb transfer.. but it didnt drop.. it stayed there.. but its only 1 large file dude..

usbtransfer.JPG



**edit**

Oh and also ofcourse transferring to external hard drive is going to be faster than a usb stick for many reasons but 1 being the controller/chipset is better..
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo g750
    CPU
    i5
    Motherboard
    Some Chinese Crap..
    Memory
    8
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia 755
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
Kingston USB3 memory sticks may have a USB3 spec interface but the speed of the memory itself is slow. That is very relevant.
I have some myself, you have to look it up for the particular model it is.

Speed looks typical for their low cost jobbies (mine are rated at 10 MB/s writing). Much slower than a USB Hard Drive.

The initial higher speed indication is not accurate, essentially a fantasy number.
 

My Computer

Thanks for the feedback guys - much appreciated.

The problem I am having with getting my head around what has happened is that

- when I first bought the drives (3 weeks ago) I was getting average write speeds in excess of 35Mb/s average over a 500mb file.
- suddenly yesterday I noticed the average was down to less than 10. So I watched the transfer and saw an initial high speed (over 40) which dropped quickly to less than 4.

So my puzzlement is not with the speed of the drives in respect of the manufacturers standard, but more about what is different now compared to when I first got them at which point they were fast, and now - although they are still fast for the initial data transferred, but then slow to almost a crawl.

Here is an example of what I am experiencing - results of running to speed test programs.

speedoutntfsreboot.png

And this example shows 2 tests (The first is shown as dotted red (read) and green (write) with the second in solid line colour.
 

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Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8 Pro - 64Bit
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer 8930
    Memory
    6GB
    Hard Drives
    WD 300GB, WD 500GB
Mine are rated 40 MB/s Read, 10 MB/s write.
Original FAT32 formatting.
Plugged into USB 3 port. Seems sensible to me, Green read, Red write obviously:

Capture32.PNG
 

My Computer

Strange - after a windows update and re-boot I get this

flashbenchntfs3.png
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8 Pro - 64Bit
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer 8930
    Memory
    6GB
    Hard Drives
    WD 300GB, WD 500GB

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo g750
    CPU
    i5
    Motherboard
    Some Chinese Crap..
    Memory
    8
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia 755
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
The tests I did were under the following conditions. The only device connected to the USB 3 hub was the USB Key. Known correctly installed Drivers.
Each USB Key drive result is repeatable, reproducible and consistent.

If anything else is connected to the same USB 3 hub then you will get variable results, that is not the way to conduct meaningful tests.
The test shows that larger files are quicker to read/write than smaller files. This is well known characteristic of such drives.
 

My Computer

Perhaps your virus scanner is reading the files and slowing things try. Try it without virus software running.
I have large movie collection, I have tell my virus software ignore the "movie folder" so it doesn't slow down things when I stream my movies.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HTPC: Custom built
    CPU
    intel i5-2400
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte GA-Z68MX-DS2H
    Memory
    16GB Corsair DDR3-1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    on-board HD3000
    Sound Card
    On-board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 32" LED
    Hard Drives
    eight HGTS Deskstar NAS, 3TB
    seven WD Red NAS, 3TB
    one Seagate ES.2, 1TB
    one 64GB SSD
    PSU
    Corsair 750W
    Case
    Li-Lian case with SuperMicro hotswap backplane
    Cooling
    Case 4 6" fans, stock CPU cooler
    Other Info
    Two 3-Ware (LSI) model 9650SE-8LPML RAID cards.
Thanks for all the comments guys.

I had e-mailed the supplier about the problem on Monday, and yesterday in the post arrived a replacement for one of the Sticks to try (no warning, it just turned up).
I tried it last night and it was transferring the same files as I tried before - but this time at an average of 50Mb/s.

I tried it several times last night and quite a few times this morning with consistent results.
I e-mailed him this morning, and although he doesn't understand the problem or its cause, he is sending me a replacement for the second drive and told me to bin the 'faulty' ones.

So providing that performs as well, and that they continue to perform - I am happy.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8 Pro - 64Bit
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer 8930
    Memory
    6GB
    Hard Drives
    WD 300GB, WD 500GB
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