The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Portable Hard Drive rate is too slow

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by townfries, Sep 21, 2010.

  1. townfries

    townfries Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    177
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I just received my Iomega eGo portable drive today. I tried to copy a 16GB folder to my external but the transfer rate is only 999KB/sec... Even my USB stick transfers faster. My laptop's hard drive is 7200 rpm so it shouldn't be my laptop's fault. Any help would be great :)
     
    townfries, Sep 21, 2010
    #1
  2. newsposter

    newsposter Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    801
    Messages:
    3,881
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    are you sure that the drive is plugged into a USB v2 port?

    How are the cache options set up for the drive (when connected)?
     
    newsposter, Sep 21, 2010
    #2
  3. townfries

    townfries Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    177
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    ah, I was using a USB hub, that's why. I plugged it directly into my laptop now I'm getting 16-22MB/sec. Is that good? Thanks for your help
    :D
     
    townfries, Sep 21, 2010
    #3
  4. Phil

    Phil Retired

    Reputations:
    4,415
    Messages:
    17,036
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    455
    It's normal.
     
    Phil, Sep 21, 2010
    #4
  5. bennyg

    bennyg Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    1,567
    Messages:
    2,370
    Likes Received:
    2,375
    Trophy Points:
    181
    ... a bit poor IMO.

    My yumcha $25aud housing with a 5400rpm HDD in it still manages a steady 30MB/s. Significantly less than that is not acceptable for a complete branded product.

    Another thought, are you using a piggyback USB cable - power limit of one USB port only may be limiting in some way :confused:
     
    bennyg, Sep 22, 2010
    #4
  6. Phil

    Phil Retired

    Reputations:
    4,415
    Messages:
    17,036
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    455
    The speed you get will depend a lot on the kind of files your transferring. It doesn't say much about the speed of the drive.

    If you want to know something about the speed run HDTune or CDM.
     
    Phil, Sep 22, 2010
    #4
  7. tilleroftheearth

    tilleroftheearth Wisdom listens quietly...

    Reputations:
    5,398
    Messages:
    12,692
    Likes Received:
    2,717
    Trophy Points:
    631
    Phil, even running HDTune or CDM from a usb 2.0 enclosure will still only show the limits of the connection (not the drives potential).
     
    tilleroftheearth, Sep 22, 2010
    #5
  8. Phil

    Phil Retired

    Reputations:
    4,415
    Messages:
    17,036
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    455
    Yes of course but it will give them the real story of what the drive is capable of on USB.

    Stating 'my drive did 22MB/sec' or 30MB/sec doesn't say much.
     
    Phil, Sep 22, 2010
    #6
  9. tilleroftheearth

    tilleroftheearth Wisdom listens quietly...

    Reputations:
    5,398
    Messages:
    12,692
    Likes Received:
    2,717
    Trophy Points:
    631
    Phil, I know.

    Just want the OP to understand that distinction too. ;)
     
    tilleroftheearth, Sep 22, 2010
    #7
  10. Phil

    Phil Retired

    Reputations:
    4,415
    Messages:
    17,036
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    455
    Ok got ya.
     
    Phil, Sep 22, 2010
    #8
  11. kent1146

    kent1146 Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    2,354
    Messages:
    4,449
    Likes Received:
    476
    Trophy Points:
    151
    +1 to Phil.

    Read/writing large sequential files (e.g. 4GB of data in a single video file) will easily get you in the 30MB/s range, which is the limit of USB 2.0.

    But if you're writing a bunch of small files (e.g. 4GB of data spread out over 10,000 files) you can expect that transfer rate to drop by quite a bit.
     
    kent1146, Sep 22, 2010
    #9
  12. townfries

    townfries Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    177
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Thanks for the replies guys. I used both USB power plugs so that shouldn't be the problem. And I was transferring about 350 50MB video files. But I also copied pictures and documents and I still got similar speeds. So I ran HDtune and these are my results:

    HD Tune: ST9500325AS Benchmark

    Transfer Rate Minimum : 22.3 MB/sec
    Transfer Rate Maximum : 26.9 MB/sec
    Transfer Rate Average : 25.8 MB/sec
    Access Time : 25.4 ms
    Burst Rate : 19.9 MB/sec
    CPU Usage : -1.0%
     
    townfries, Sep 22, 2010
    #10