Slow USB in Windows 7

[nihil]

Hi, this is to do with Windows 7 64bit SP (fully patched).

It concerns two computers, one is an HP Laptop and the other a desktop I built myself. Both automatically check for, and provide updates when available.

The desktop has an AMD Phenom II x6 1090T 3.2~3.8GHz with 8GB of Corsair DDR3 1333, and 2x 1TB 7200rpm SATA drives.

The laptop has an AMD Athlon II x2 M320 2.1GHz with 3GB of DDR2 RAM. It has a 250GB 7200rpm SATA HDD.

Transferring files and folders from USB2 memory sticks seems slow in comparison to XP Pro SP3, but I have heard that is not an uncommon complaint regarding Windows 7 and Vista on a variety of hardware platforms.

What is puzzling me is that I transfer files from USB 2 memory sticks and get the following results:

Laptop: 3760MB in 480sec = 7.83MB/sec
Desktop: 7270MB in 1920sec = 3.79MB/sec

I have tried both USB sticks on the desktop and the transfer rate seems pretty much the same.

Remote Differential Compression is disabled on both machines.



Any ideas folks?

[Steve R Jones]

When you google your thread title it appears that you have many friends in the same boat

Wouldn't hurt to verify that System Restore isn't enabled on the mem sticks..

Sorry - have to ask - did you install USB drivers from the mobo makers web site?

[nihil]

Hi Steve, and welcome to AO.

The USB driver/management stuff is what came in the box as far as the HP laptop goes.

The desktop (tower) has a Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H/US2H.....the difference is that mine has the all solid capacitors, which I don't see as an influence here?

I have been wondering though; the board and case support USB3 and the sticks are USB2. They are supposed to support earlier USB, but are they treating anything not USB3 as USB 1.1?

If you stick a USB2 into a USB 1.1 port you get a message that it could perform better if you used a USB2 port.............I don't get any message like that though.

Weird?

EDIT:

Sorry, I used the DVD that came with the MoBo, so they are the manufacturer's drivers and management software. No system restore, and the sticks behave the same on the desktop.

[Darksnake]

Check this while the flash drive is plugged in.

When you open the device manager and go through your usb root hubs (right click and properties) then goto the advanced tab. Does it say full speed or high speed?

The other thing to check would be a setting on the flash drive. Open my computer, right click on your drive and click properties. Select your flash drive from the list in the hardware tab, and click the properties button. In the new window, under the policies tab, is it set for performance or quick removal?

edit: my usb stick transfers on my laptop at 5.81MB/sec

[nihil]

Thanks Darksnake,

That got me poking around some more.

If I insert a flash drive it is set for quick removal, as that is the default. It is the same for both the laptop and the desktop. The only exception is an 8GB usb stick that is dedicated to "Readyboost", and I changed the setting to better performance.

The machine has 10 physical USB slots. There are 2 enhanced PCI to USB and 5 Open HCD USB host controllers.

There is one "USB composite device" which will be the adapter for the wireless mouse & keyboard, and 1 "USB mass storage device" which is the stick drive for Readyboost.

That leaves one?.................I stuck a drive in the front port next to the one that I have been using for the downloads, and got a Windows error message that the device was not recognised and defective. If anything, it is a problem with the port, as just inserting an extension hub gets the same message, and they don't normally show unless something is attached to them.

As for the other 7 root hubs (empty) they show 2 @ high speed and 5 at full speed.

Given that I shouldn't get more than 1.5MB/sec on a full speed connection I don't believe that I was downloading at FS.

I guess my next move is to troubleshoot the front USB port that isn't working.

I will keep you all posted.

Incidentally, the drivers are Microsoft, so Win 7 must have installed them.

[metguru]

Readyboost. Haha, I see you've noticed performance changes with it. But not the performance changes Microsoft intended . I'm also surprised that it was automatically enabled with readyboost. Unless you accidentally clicked enable when it was inserted?

I all seriousness though, have you ever used readyboost and noticed an increase in performance?

[bludgeon]

Vista relic, Wincode is wincode, Win7 keeps it, to use flash drives in Win7 you must burn an image on the flash drive first to properly format the device. It's a file system thing, nothing to do with the hardware, imo.

[nihil]

It's a file system thing, nothing to do with the hardware, imo.

Well, I will go for system/software settings, but certainly NOT the file system. After all, they are identical for both machines. Both run Windows 7 and both are reading the same USB stick with the same data.

I can understand why a more powerful machine might not be faster in performing certain tasks, but not significantly slower??????

Have HP got some secret tweak they are not telling us about?

[bludgeon]

Well, I will go for system/software settings, but certainly NOT the file system. After all, they are identical for both machines. Both run Windows 7 and both are reading the same USB stick with the same data.

I can understand why a more powerful machine might not be faster in performing certain tasks, but not significantly slower??????

Have HP got some secret tweak they are not telling us about?

Most "sticks" are FATsomething or other...ime. I could be wrong.

[nihil]

Yes, they are usually FAT32. That still doesn't explain the performance difference I have encountered. I will be building a cheap system later this week.............2 core Amd, ddr2 and Windows 7. I will test that one before I ship it.

You have raised another thing I haven't tried..............

I have an 8GB USB2 formatted in NTFS. I will load the files onto that, and see what I get from the two machines in question