External Harddrive USB 2.0 - VERY Slow

I wonder if someone can help me on this.

I just got the following brand new:

1. ASUS Z63A laptop with USB 2.0 port.
2. Seagate 7200RPM 3.5" harddrive with External Enclosure.

When I connect the two using USB 2.0 port, and started transfering the files from the Seagate drive to Asus laptop, the speed is very slow. Estimated minutes to complete for 9GB backup files is 70 minutes.

I thought this is too slow. Is there anything I can do to speed it up?

Thanks!

 

Hi pengrus,
It is most probably the controller on the external case. It limits the speed of the disk. Try HDtach and you will probably see the straight line at the top of the graph. Unfortunately.

Cheers,

 

Ivan,

Thanks for your reply. The External Enclosure is USB 2.0. So it should work fine, right? I heard people saying set "Master" vs "slave", does it apply here?

Thanks!

 

no master slave doesn't apply. Usually laptop USB controllers are a bit slow.

My 2 drives (external) work at around 15-20MB/s, but if I connect them to a decent desktop with a good controller they go up to ~30MB/s

So as suggested before. Benchmark it with Hdtach or HDtune

 

What's the name of your External USB 2.0 Enclosure?

 

Yep. My super duper never heard of external case tops at 13MB/sec. My friend's at 33. And it was 10 USD more expensive. Both are USB 2.0. I tried with the same disk - 5400rpm 80GB Seagate.
Stupid controller. For ten bucks. ****.

Cheers,

 

Isnt USB 1.1 12MB/s and USB 2.0 400MB/s transfer rates?? whoaaaaaaaaaa!

 

Maybe a firmware update for the external enclosure is in order?

BTW, drives in external enclosures are usually jumpered as Master or Cable Select.

 

USB2.0 is 480Mb/s, but it's not really capable of sustaining speeds anywhere near that.

If you want fast transfer rates, your best bet is Firewire. Even at only 400Mb/s it sustains a much higher transfer rate. I got ok speeds out of my Gateway's USB ports, but Firewire was much smoother and took less processing overhead.

 

bits not bytes. So it is 480/8 = 60MB/s theoretical.

One more thing about USB drives. If you are transfering a lot of small files it takes forever compared to large files.
And firewire is the better option, even if it the slower 'a'. 'b' (800Mbps) is a whole different animal.

 

pengrus... Do you have the external 3.5" HD connected to an external power supply? Because those large desktop 3.5" HD's suck a ton of power, and your notebook could just barly be powering it up, and It might not be working as fast as it needs to.

 

Jason,

Yes, it was powered separately. So so problem there. They do have another cable with the Enclosure package, and it looks like the firewire cable to me, but two ends are exactly the same looking and size, and I cannot connect it to the IEEE 1394 port on Z63A, so I cannot test the firewire yet.

I know firewire is faster, but this USB 2.0 connection is just way too slow.

 

It's CP Technologies, here is the link:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1184267&CatId=0

 

Yep, you'll need a 6pin to 4pin firewire cable. The 6 pin wires transfer power, but you don't really need that, and most laptops just have a 4pin port(except for Mac's). The 4 pin port is sometimes called an i-Link port, as it's significantly smaller and often found on camcorders(and Sony wanted to use their own name for the port instead of "Firewire").

I'd suggest grabbing one of those cables instead. Best Buy and such will rape you for the cost(probably $25-30 for a 6 foot), so buy it online. Don't get teh cheap $8.00 ones, as some people have compatibility issues...but one for around $15 or so should do fine.

 

Ok, I will get the 4pin firewire cable. It took me a long time to realize that that IS a firewire, but just doesn't work with my 4pin port. Thanks for the tip.

 

i am sure that there are no 3.5" drives that are USB powered. they all do need an AC adapter. only the 2.5" and smaller drives can work off of USB.

 

I byte= 8 bits.

so, 480 bits=480/8=60 Bytes/s and not 60MB/s??

I am so confused!

Google.com! here i come buddy!