Slow pen drives

[vivek.virgo]

Pen drive data transfer speeds on my PC are in the range of 1 to 4 mbps.
PC specs:
AMD Phenom X4 9650
GA-MA78GM-S2HP
4GB RAM
128GB SSD
HDDs: 1TB & 2TB
os: win7 ultimate 32bit

I know it's a bit old (2009 purchase) but that doesn't explain why only pen drives are affected.
Even a bit of googling couldn't identify the problem though many complain about it.

 

[whitestar_999]

Speed varies on a lot of factors.First of all a usb 2.0 should give you around 6MB/s avg speed for sequential file transfer(aka large 1gb+ kind of files like some iso or HD video).Speed will always be less for small multiple files(like a folder with lots of pics/mp3).Some software running in background may also interfere with copying process reducing speed.The best way to rule out any software related issues is to use live linux & then try using flash drive.If speeds are similar/slow even in live linux then it is flash drive hardware limitation.

 

[patkim]

In addition to above suggestions, also try / check the following

Does it happen at all USB 2.0 ports or a specific port? If specific port then there might be power issue with that port.

Do try out app like CrystalDiskMark and make a comparison of sequential & 512Byte chunk read/write with your other pen drives if any. Be careful you might lose data on your pen drive so back it up first temporarily.

Try formatting the pen drive as NTFS instead of FAT32.

If you have USB 3 port try plugging it into it and make a comparison. You might get a slight improvement in speed there.

Right click the pen drive icon in Windows Explorer and go to Properties > Tools > Error Checking > Check Now > Fix Bad sector errors and see if it reports of fixes anything

In the same Properties go to Hardware > Select your Pen drive go to properties > Policies > Removal Policy and set Better Performance option and see if it makes any difference

When trying to format FAT32 or NTFS fiddle with Allocation Unit Size and see if that makes any difference, if a slightly better performance is obtained at a specific value

 

[Visualmedia]

Pen drive works faster with NTFS file system as compared to FAT32. Your system configurations are good but I think your USB drive is FAT32. So, change the file system of USB drive from FAT32 to NTFS. Hopefully, it works and increases the data transfer speed of pen drive on your PC. Thanks.

 

[SaiyanGoku]

Pen drive works faster with NTFS file system as compared to FAT32. Your system configurations are good but I think your USB drive is FAT32. So, change the file system of USB drive from FAT32 to NTFS. Hopefully, it works and increases the data transfer speed of pen drive on your PC. Thanks.

It won't make a noticeable difference unless the pen drive and ports are both USB 3.0 or higher

 

[Arushi Bansal]

Yes it don't