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.

    Why are my transfers so slow? USB to SSD

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by Sandlotje, Dec 2, 2010.

  1. Sandlotje

    Sandlotje Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    22
    Messages:
    32
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    So my specs are kickin' with the 128GB SSD, 4GB RAM, Core i7-620M all packed into the x201 notebook. So here I am trying to transfer just under 10GB of data from a USB flash drive to the SSD. Logically my expectations are high because there are no moving parts. Of course many of us know that USB 2.0 has a theoretical maximum transfer speed of 480 Mbits/s which in turn equates to 60 MB/s. I'm aware that there are bottlenecks in the system (the chipset, even the flash drive itself). However 20MB/ second still seems pretty slow. Any thoughts? When I got the laptop, I performed a fresh install and have installed very few programs on it (not even antivirus!), so I highly doubt it's due to software constraints. The USB drive I'm using is the 16GB DiskGO Edge.
     
    Sandlotje, Dec 2, 2010
    #1
  2. oct

    oct Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    116
    Messages:
    402
    Likes Received:
    15
    Trophy Points:
    31
    From my experience the bottleneck would be your flash drive. 20MB/sec is not bad at all imho.

    It also it depends on what kind of data you're transferring, a lot of small files or just a few big files... the latter will be faster.
     
    oct, Dec 3, 2010
    #2
  3. Nandarou

    Nandarou Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    72
    Messages:
    75
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Practical maximum speed of USB 2.0 is near 30 MB/s.

    But your flash drive tech spec (from link):
    Read : 15MB/s
    Write Speed: 8MB/s

    Most of cheap flash drive is very clumpsy in speed matters. Today not so many truly hi-speed flash drives and they pricey.

    For more speed you need external hdd, flash drive with highest speed. Also read about esata, usb 3.0.
     
    Nandarou, Dec 3, 2010
    #3
  4. NeeGo

    NeeGo Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    36
    Messages:
    116
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Have you tried enabling your write caching?

    To enable write caching, right click one of your drive letters, select “Properties”, select the “Hardware” tab, select your external USB drive, select the “Properties” tab, and ensure the “Optimize for performance” is selected.

    Not sure how much of a difference this would help though.
     
    NeeGo, Dec 3, 2010
    #4
  5. Sandlotje

    Sandlotje Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    22
    Messages:
    32
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Thank you both. That's exactly what I was looking for. I was pretty sure it was on the flash drives end, but wasn't positive. Don't even remind me of USB 3.0. I'm upset that I just got this laptop ~4-5 months ago and 3.0 decides to come out now. Ugh. I'd look into replacing the USB ports on the lappy, but that's pointless without changing the chipset as well, and I am clueless as to what that would even require (without replacing the whole motherboard). Lol.... Thanx again guys! :)
     
    Sandlotje, Dec 3, 2010
    #5
  6. Sandlotje

    Sandlotje Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    22
    Messages:
    32
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Wow, that's new. I've never heard of that before. I just enabled it, so I'll see if it makes a difference. Just curious, what happens if I do not "eject" it?
     
    Sandlotje, Dec 3, 2010
    #6
  7. namaiki

    namaiki "basically rocks" Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    3,905
    Messages:
    6,116
    Likes Received:
    89
    Trophy Points:
    216
    You could try get an expresscard for usb 3.0 or eSATA.


    Possible data corruption on your USB drive. Please don't do it.
     
    namaiki, Dec 3, 2010
    #7
  8. Nandarou

    Nandarou Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    72
    Messages:
    75
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    on ebay you can find compact expresscard 34 and 54 for esata-sata and usb 3.0.

    1) expresscard 54 esata and sata - AKE
    2) expresscard 54 2 x esata - AKE
    3) expresscard 34 usb 3.0 1 port - several manufactures. various prices
    4) expresscard 54 2 x usb 3.0 - AKE


     
    Nandarou, Dec 3, 2010
    #8