USB Drives Transfer Slowly

I have a Windows Vista system. Dual core, pretty much the basic thing. I
have 2 USB harddrives connected. One that is about 2 years old and i brand
new 500 gig. When I try to move files from one drive to the other, it is
very slow. Only 4mb per second. When I move files around on my internal
hard drive, it flies. It never used to be like this. Do I have something
set wrong? Thanks.

Thomas

Thomas;666065 Wrote:
> I have a Windows Vista system. Dual core, pretty much the basic thing.
> have 2 USB harddrives connected. One that is about 2 years old and
> bran
> new 500 gig. When I try to move files from one drive to the other, i
> i
> very slow. Only 4mb per second. When I move files around on my interna
> hard drive, it flies. It never used to be like this. Do I hav
> somethin
> set wrong? Thanks
>
> Thoma

Do you have Service Pack 1 installed

--
koch

On 2008-03-29 17:34:34 +0000, "Thomas" <> said:

> I have a Windows Vista system. Dual core, pretty much the basic thing.
> I have 2 USB harddrives connected. One that is about 2 years old and
> i brand new 500 gig. When I try to move files from one drive to the
> other, it is very slow. Only 4mb per second. When I move files around
> on my internal hard drive, it flies. It never used to be like this.
> Do I have something set wrong? Thanks.
>
> Thomas

Has this only happened on Vista or just recently? Have you defragged
the USB drives too?
--
Byron Hinson
http://www.byronhinson.com

"Byron Hinson" <> wrote in message
news:2008032918074816807-byron@activewincom...
> On 2008-03-29 17:34:34 +0000, "Thomas" <> said:
>
>> I have a Windows Vista system. Dual core, pretty much the basic thing. I
>> have 2 USB harddrives connected. One that is about 2 years old and i
>> brand new 500 gig. When I try to move files from one drive to the other,
>> it is very slow. Only 4mb per second. When I move files around on my
>> internal hard drive, it flies. It never used to be like this. Do I have
>> something set wrong? Thanks.
>>
>> Thomas
>
> Has this only happened on Vista or just recently? Have you defragged the
> USB drives too?
> --
> Byron Hinson
> http://www.byronhinson.com
>
>

When I had XP SP2 I only had the one 250 gig usb drive. I just bought the
500 gig usb drive after I bought a computer with Vista.. It also does it
when I copy a large folder from the USB to the internal hard drive but it's
a little faster. About 10mb per second. They both have been defragged. I
do have about 8 usb devices and Im using two hubs. It's all usb 2.0.
Anyway, it just seems very slow to me. Thanks.

Thomas

Transfers between USB 2.0 devices will be slow. Unless your
machine has multiple Enhanced controllers all USB 2.0 devices
are routed to a single Enhanced Controller and it's USB hub.
I basically use only eSata now, but still have a Pocket USB
drive ( Firelite 80.0 Gigabytes ). The drive only consumes 2 mA
of the Hubs 500mA but a the Bandwidth of the Controller will
show a reservation of 12% for the device. The Firelite usually
can reach a sustained average throughput of 27-Meg-per-Sec.
The only way to be able to use simultaneous USB Drives and
not have the USB controller get saturated is use the drives on
separate USB controllers. I frequently have to add a PCI add
in USB controller to some machines with lots of USB devices.

"Thomas" <> wrote in message
news:QsxHj.11109$...
>
> "Byron Hinson" <> wrote in message
> news:2008032918074816807-byron@activewincom...
>> On 2008-03-29 17:34:34 +0000, "Thomas" <> said:
>>
>>> I have a Windows Vista system. Dual core, pretty much the basic thing.
>>> I have 2 USB harddrives connected. One that is about 2 years old and i
>>> brand new 500 gig. When I try to move files from one drive to the
>>> other, it is very slow. Only 4mb per second. When I move files around
>>> on my internal hard drive, it flies. It never used to be like this. Do
>>> I have something set wrong? Thanks.
>>>
>>> Thomas
>>
>> Has this only happened on Vista or just recently? Have you defragged the
>> USB drives too?
>> --
>> Byron Hinson
>> http://www.byronhinson.com
>>
>>
>
> When I had XP SP2 I only had the one 250 gig usb drive. I just bought the
> 500 gig usb drive after I bought a computer with Vista.. It also does it
> when I copy a large folder from the USB to the internal hard drive but
> it's a little faster. About 10mb per second. They both have been
> defragged. I do have about 8 usb devices and Im using two hubs. It's all
> usb 2.0. Anyway, it just seems very slow to me. Thanks.
>
> Thomas

"R. McCarty" <PcEngWork-NoSpam_@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:...
> Transfers between USB 2.0 devices will be slow. Unless your
> machine has multiple Enhanced controllers all USB 2.0 devices
> are routed to a single Enhanced Controller and it's USB hub.
> I basically use only eSata now, but still have a Pocket USB
> drive ( Firelite 80.0 Gigabytes ). The drive only consumes 2 mA
> of the Hubs 500mA but a the Bandwidth of the Controller will
> show a reservation of 12% for the device. The Firelite usually
> can reach a sustained average throughput of 27-Meg-per-Sec.
> The only way to be able to use simultaneous USB Drives and
> not have the USB controller get saturated is use the drives on
> separate USB controllers. I frequently have to add a PCI add
> in USB controller to some machines with lots of USB devices.
>
> "Thomas" <> wrote in message
> news:QsxHj.11109$...
>>
>> "Byron Hinson" <> wrote in message
>> news:2008032918074816807-byron@activewincom...
>>> On 2008-03-29 17:34:34 +0000, "Thomas" <> said:
>>>
>>>> I have a Windows Vista system. Dual core, pretty much the basic thing.
>>>> I have 2 USB harddrives connected. One that is about 2 years old and i
>>>> brand new 500 gig. When I try to move files from one drive to the
>>>> other, it is very slow. Only 4mb per second. When I move files around
>>>> on my internal hard drive, it flies. It never used to be like this.
>>>> Do I have something set wrong? Thanks.
>>>>
>>>> Thomas
>>>
>>> Has this only happened on Vista or just recently? Have you defragged the
>>> USB drives too?
>>> --
>>> Byron Hinson
>>> http://www.byronhinson.com
>>>
>>>
>>
>> When I had XP SP2 I only had the one 250 gig usb drive. I just bought the
>> 500 gig usb drive after I bought a computer with Vista.. It also does it
>> when I copy a large folder from the USB to the internal hard drive but
>> it's a little faster. About 10mb per second. They both have been
>> defragged. I do have about 8 usb devices and Im using two hubs. It's
>> all usb 2.0. Anyway, it just seems very slow to me. Thanks.
>>
>> Thomas
>
>
Instead of using my hubs, are you saying it would perform much better if I
went out and bought a 2.0 pci card that has many usb ports on it? Thanks.

Thomas

Have you upgraded to SP1? I noticed a big performance improvement in file
transfer in most all cases when I did so.

--
Regards, BobF.
"Thomas" <> wrote in message
news:dNxHj.11110$...
>
> "R. McCarty" <PcEngWork-NoSpam_@mindspring.com> wrote in message
> news:...
>> Transfers between USB 2.0 devices will be slow. Unless your
>> machine has multiple Enhanced controllers all USB 2.0 devices
>> are routed to a single Enhanced Controller and it's USB hub.
>> I basically use only eSata now, but still have a Pocket USB
>> drive ( Firelite 80.0 Gigabytes ). The drive only consumes 2 mA
>> of the Hubs 500mA but a the Bandwidth of the Controller will
>> show a reservation of 12% for the device. The Firelite usually
>> can reach a sustained average throughput of 27-Meg-per-Sec.
>> The only way to be able to use simultaneous USB Drives and
>> not have the USB controller get saturated is use the drives on
>> separate USB controllers. I frequently have to add a PCI add
>> in USB controller to some machines with lots of USB devices.
>>
>> "Thomas" <> wrote in message
>> news:QsxHj.11109$...
>>>
>>> "Byron Hinson" <> wrote in message
>>> news:2008032918074816807-byron@activewincom...
>>>> On 2008-03-29 17:34:34 +0000, "Thomas" <> said:
>>>>
>>>>> I have a Windows Vista system. Dual core, pretty much the basic
>>>>> thing. I have 2 USB harddrives connected. One that is about 2 years
>>>>> old and i brand new 500 gig. When I try to move files from one drive
>>>>> to the other, it is very slow. Only 4mb per second. When I move
>>>>> files around on my internal hard drive, it flies. It never used to be
>>>>> like this. Do I have something set wrong? Thanks.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thomas
>>>>
>>>> Has this only happened on Vista or just recently? Have you defragged
>>>> the USB drives too?
>>>> --
>>>> Byron Hinson
>>>> http://www.byronhinson.com
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> When I had XP SP2 I only had the one 250 gig usb drive. I just bought
>>> the 500 gig usb drive after I bought a computer with Vista.. It also
>>> does it when I copy a large folder from the USB to the internal hard
>>> drive but it's a little faster. About 10mb per second. They both have
>>> been defragged. I do have about 8 usb devices and Im using two hubs.
>>> It's all usb 2.0. Anyway, it just seems very slow to me. Thanks.
>>>
>>> Thomas
>>
>>
> Instead of using my hubs, are you saying it would perform much better if I
> went out and bought a 2.0 pci card that has many usb ports on it? Thanks.
>
> Thomas

Every Controller has a Root Hub. Theoretically a USB channel can
support up to 127 devices. In practice the 500mA current limit and
the bandwidth would be consumed way before that many devices
are interconnected. USB is convenient but not that fast. A newer
version of USB (3.0) is coming that will address the speed issue.

The only way to tell whether a separate controller card would be a
benefit is to check the current Power/Bandwidth consumption on
your existing setup.

"Thomas" <> wrote in message
news:dNxHj.11110$...
>
> "R. McCarty" <PcEngWork-NoSpam_@mindspring.com> wrote in message
> news:...
>> Transfers between USB 2.0 devices will be slow. Unless your
>> machine has multiple Enhanced controllers all USB 2.0 devices
>> are routed to a single Enhanced Controller and it's USB hub.
>> I basically use only eSata now, but still have a Pocket USB
>> drive ( Firelite 80.0 Gigabytes ). The drive only consumes 2 mA
>> of the Hubs 500mA but a the Bandwidth of the Controller will
>> show a reservation of 12% for the device. The Firelite usually
>> can reach a sustained average throughput of 27-Meg-per-Sec.
>> The only way to be able to use simultaneous USB Drives and
>> not have the USB controller get saturated is use the drives on
>> separate USB controllers. I frequently have to add a PCI add
>> in USB controller to some machines with lots of USB devices.
>>
>> "Thomas" <> wrote in message
>> news:QsxHj.11109$...
>>>
>>> "Byron Hinson" <> wrote in message
>>> news:2008032918074816807-byron@activewincom...
>>>> On 2008-03-29 17:34:34 +0000, "Thomas" <> said:
>>>>
>>>>> I have a Windows Vista system. Dual core, pretty much the basic
>>>>> thing. I have 2 USB harddrives connected. One that is about 2 years
>>>>> old and i brand new 500 gig. When I try to move files from one drive
>>>>> to the other, it is very slow. Only 4mb per second. When I move
>>>>> files around on my internal hard drive, it flies. It never used to be
>>>>> like this. Do I have something set wrong? Thanks.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thomas
>>>>
>>>> Has this only happened on Vista or just recently? Have you defragged
>>>> the USB drives too?
>>>> --
>>>> Byron Hinson
>>>> http://www.byronhinson.com
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> When I had XP SP2 I only had the one 250 gig usb drive. I just bought
>>> the 500 gig usb drive after I bought a computer with Vista.. It also
>>> does it when I copy a large folder from the USB to the internal hard
>>> drive but it's a little faster. About 10mb per second. They both have
>>> been defragged. I do have about 8 usb devices and Im using two hubs.
>>> It's all usb 2.0. Anyway, it just seems very slow to me. Thanks.
>>>
>>> Thomas
>>
>>
> Instead of using my hubs, are you saying it would perform much better if I
> went out and bought a 2.0 pci card that has many usb ports on it? Thanks.
>
> Thomas

"Bob F." <> wrote in message
news:...
> Have you upgraded to SP1? I noticed a big performance improvement in file
> transfer in most all cases when I did so.
>
> --
> Regards, BobF.
> "Thomas" <> wrote in message
> news:dNxHj.11110$...
>>
>> "R. McCarty" <PcEngWork-NoSpam_@mindspring.com> wrote in message
>> news:...
>>> Transfers between USB 2.0 devices will be slow. Unless your
>>> machine has multiple Enhanced controllers all USB 2.0 devices
>>> are routed to a single Enhanced Controller and it's USB hub.
>>> I basically use only eSata now, but still have a Pocket USB
>>> drive ( Firelite 80.0 Gigabytes ). The drive only consumes 2 mA
>>> of the Hubs 500mA but a the Bandwidth of the Controller will
>>> show a reservation of 12% for the device. The Firelite usually
>>> can reach a sustained average throughput of 27-Meg-per-Sec.
>>> The only way to be able to use simultaneous USB Drives and
>>> not have the USB controller get saturated is use the drives on
>>> separate USB controllers. I frequently have to add a PCI add
>>> in USB controller to some machines with lots of USB devices.
>>>
>>> "Thomas" <> wrote in message
>>> news:QsxHj.11109$...
>>>>
>>>> "Byron Hinson" <> wrote in message
>>>> news:2008032918074816807-byron@activewincom...
>>>>> On 2008-03-29 17:34:34 +0000, "Thomas" <> said:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I have a Windows Vista system. Dual core, pretty much the basic
>>>>>> thing. I have 2 USB harddrives connected. One that is about 2 years
>>>>>> old and i brand new 500 gig. When I try to move files from one drive
>>>>>> to the other, it is very slow. Only 4mb per second. When I move
>>>>>> files around on my internal hard drive, it flies. It never used to
>>>>>> be like this. Do I have something set wrong? Thanks.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thomas
>>>>>
>>>>> Has this only happened on Vista or just recently? Have you defragged
>>>>> the USB drives too?
>>>>> --
>>>>> Byron Hinson
>>>>> http://www.byronhinson.com
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> When I had XP SP2 I only had the one 250 gig usb drive. I just bought
>>>> the 500 gig usb drive after I bought a computer with Vista.. It also
>>>> does it when I copy a large folder from the USB to the internal hard
>>>> drive but it's a little faster. About 10mb per second. They both have
>>>> been defragged. I do have about 8 usb devices and Im using two hubs.
>>>> It's all usb 2.0. Anyway, it just seems very slow to me. Thanks.
>>>>
>>>> Thomas
>>>
>>>
>> Instead of using my hubs, are you saying it would perform much better if
>> I went out and bought a 2.0 pci card that has many usb ports on it?
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Thomas
>

I did not even know there was an update. I thought my computer was set to
do them but it missed this one. Im downloading it now and I will let you
know how it goes. Thanks.

Thomas

"Thomas" <> wrote in message
news:u1vHj.8800$...
>I have a Windows Vista system. Dual core, pretty much the basic thing. I
>have 2 USB harddrives connected. One that is about 2 years old and i brand
>new 500 gig. When I try to move files from one drive to the other, it is
>very slow. Only 4mb per second. When I move files around on my internal
>hard drive, it flies. It never used to be like this. Do I have something
>set wrong? Thanks.
>
> Thomas

I have installed SP1 and it has helped some. Still not quite as fast as one
would expect but much better. Thanks.

Thomas