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.

    20MB/s transfer via USB 2.0 to an external HDD slow?

    Discussion in 'Linux Compatibility and Software' started by useroflaptops, Feb 21, 2010.

  1. useroflaptops

    useroflaptops Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    60
    Messages:
    538
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    my transfer rate in linux is around 20MB/s for files using USB 2.0. this seems pretty slow. Is there a problem? What is your transfer speed?
     
    useroflaptops, Feb 21, 2010
    #1
  2. ronnieb

    ronnieb Representing the Canucks

    Reputations:
    613
    Messages:
    1,869
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Sounds pretty average to me
     
    ronnieb, Feb 21, 2010
    #2
  3. Greg

    Greg Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    7,857
    Messages:
    16,212
    Likes Received:
    58
    Trophy Points:
    466
    Well if you're copying files at 20MB/s that tells me you are definitely running at USB 2.0 speeds.

    Transfer speed depends on a few things. How fast your hard drive is, are you using a USB memory key or USB hard drive, how fast is that key or drive, are you transferring a bunch of little files or one big one?
     
    Greg, Feb 21, 2010
    #3
  4. useroflaptops

    useroflaptops Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    60
    Messages:
    538
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    It is a USB SATA harddrive. I thought the max was like 50 something MB/s for USB 2.0, so Im kinda half the speed rite now.
     
    useroflaptops, Feb 21, 2010
    #4
  5. Greg

    Greg Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    7,857
    Messages:
    16,212
    Likes Received:
    58
    Trophy Points:
    466
    USB can hit 60MB/s, but with protocol overhead you're looking at 40MB/s actual bandwidth tops (except under rare circumstances).

    Plus you have no idea how fast the USB controller is on that hard drive enclosure. It might top out at 20MB/s.
     
    Greg, Feb 21, 2010
    #5
  6. useroflaptops

    useroflaptops Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    60
    Messages:
    538
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Yea, true, it could be the HDD enclosure electronics, however the wierd thing also, is file transfer speeds actually drop off over long time of transfer. It usualyl starts off at 30MB/s (sometimes) and then over time it goes to 20MB/s.
     
    useroflaptops, Feb 21, 2010
    #6
  7. TANWare

    TANWare Just This Side of Senile, I think. Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    2,548
    Messages:
    9,585
    Likes Received:
    4,997
    Trophy Points:
    431
    I Have a U81a and even on windows all I see is 20 MB/s. Now with my P7805-u I'll see 30 MB/s with the same drive.............
     
    TANWare, Feb 21, 2010
    #7
  8. downloads

    downloads No, Dee Dee, no! Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    7,729
    Messages:
    8,722
    Likes Received:
    2,230
    Trophy Points:
    331
    I have two different HDDs on different USB controllers and both average 22MB/s in HDTune read test, so I'm afraid it is normal.
    If you need better speeds it's either eSATA or USB 3.0
     
    downloads, Feb 21, 2010
    #8