Extremely slow transfer speed to external hard drive

Autobahn

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I have been using a USB 2.0 Seagate 250GB external hard drive for a number of years and it's been working fine.

My laptop has USB 3.0 ports.

The last couple of weeks it's got really slow (less than a MBs) when transferring a video file.

I checked the hard drive for errors - none were found.
USB drivers are up to date Driver Booster 3 says.
Is there some settings I could try to speed things up?

As far as I know I've not changed anything so I don't know why it's suddenly got so slow.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 update 1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 15R special edition
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-3210M CPU @ 2.50GHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Avast
If you right click the drive in Device Manager and look through the Properties you may see an option to either treat the drive as removable or permanent. Removable supposedly you can unplug without ejecting. But it is slow. Permanent supposedly enables write caching. Likely it was set to permanent before.

If nothing seems apropos you can try the old trick of deleting the drivers and rebooting. Plug and play will install the same drivers that were there but will do it "right" somehow. I have seen a lot of problems disappear just by doing this on a particular device. That is why support does it. Anecdotal success rate seems to me around 50%.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.0 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba Satelite C55D-A Laptop
    CPU
    AMD EI 1200
    Memory
    4 gb DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Raedon 340 MB dedicated Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Built in
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    640 GB (spinner) Sata II
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Touch pad
Under 'Universal Serial Bus Controllers' there are so many to choose from I don't which one is which? ScreenHunter_06 Sep. 18 19.14.jpg
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 update 1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 15R special edition
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-3210M CPU @ 2.50GHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Avast
You mentioned USB 3.0 so I would try the one that has USB 3.0 in the description. It is no big deal to delete them all. When you restart plug and play will reload them all. But I would try the one that says USB 3.0 by itself first to be cautious.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.0 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba Satelite C55D-A Laptop
    CPU
    AMD EI 1200
    Memory
    4 gb DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Raedon 340 MB dedicated Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Built in
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    640 GB (spinner) Sata II
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Touch pad
I've not done anything yet and today I tranferred some video files.
The transfer started well but slowed down and nearly came to a stop.
It was as if all RAM had been used and the transfer just about came to a stop.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 update 1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 15R special edition
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-3210M CPU @ 2.50GHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Avast
Hi, please follow the below instructions to speed up your external hard drive

• Just connect your hard drive and do right click on it.
• Select Properties and go to the Hardware Tab.
• After this, click on Properties under Hardware Tab.
• After this, Device Properties Windows will appear.
• Go to General Tab and click on change setting option, a disk Window will pop up.
• Click on Policies Tab and select Optimize for performance option.

Hope it works for you!! Thank You.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Gigabyte
    CPU
    I 5
    Motherboard
    AMH
    Memory
    DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS
    Browser
    Firefox 21
    Antivirus
    MSE
I followed your instructions and I will update you when I next transfer a video file.

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 update 1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 15R special edition
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-3210M CPU @ 2.50GHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Avast
You can also try unplugging you router for a minute or two and then plugging it back in. See if that helps.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
Hi, please follow the below instructions to speed up your external hard drive

• Just connect your hard drive and do right click on it.
• Select Properties and go to the Hardware Tab.
• After this, click on Properties under Hardware Tab.
• After this, Device Properties Windows will appear.
• Go to General Tab and click on change setting option, a disk Window will pop up.
• Click on Policies Tab and select Optimize for performance option.

Hope it works for you!! Thank You.
I followed your instructions, but its still the same, if not worse. I have now formatted the hard drive. It's still the same! I don't get it.

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 update 1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 15R special edition
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-3210M CPU @ 2.50GHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Avast
I wonder if it could be the video files, something that is slowing the transfer?

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 update 1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 15R special edition
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-3210M CPU @ 2.50GHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Avast
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