USB speed and possible issues?

[thefollans]

Hey all,

What would cause transferring files from my Surface Pro 3 to a USB 3.0 flash drive to transfer extremely slow? I was trying to transfer about 12gig and it was going to take about 3 days!!!

Also when I plug my USB 3.0 multi card reader into the USB port the empty drives are recognised but not th derive that has a card in it (either CF Card or SDHC card).Any ideas?Is there someway I can make sure my USB Port is not faulty?

Cheers!

 

[GreyFox7]

When you transferred the files to the USB 3.0 flash drive were other devices also plugged in? Like the multicard reader? are the files large or small... many small files will take longer... as directory entries have to be made... but not that long.

A faulty device on a bus can affect everything on the bus. one bad apple...

 

[jnjroach]

Also, the USB Port on the SP3 (and most Ultrabooks/Tablets) is underpowered...using a Flash Drive that is formatted exFAT or NTFS works well for me and powered external drives....I use a Y Cable for single port external drives and plug the other side into the Power Brick.

 

[bluegrass]

I've had it happen to me on desktops because it makes an estimate first and then after a little bit the 3 days might turn into an hour or two. Try giving it a few minutes to see if it will correct its 3 day estimate.

 

[megatronium]

Also, the USB Port on the SP3 (and most Ultrabooks/Tablets) is underpowered...using a Flash Drive that is formatted exFAT or NTFS works well for me and powered external drives....I use a Y Cable for single port external drives and plug the other side into the Power Brick.

idk. On my Seagate 2TB external slim speeds are 100mbps and it is not powered.

 

[hughlle]

I use a SanDisk something or other 32gb drive straight into the USB port and can copy gigabytes in seconds. Not to be patronizing, but i assume you've used the same device on another computer and the speeds are as they should, and its only the sp3 that presents an issue? I just copied a 4gb TV series off the memory stick to my shuttle via USB 2.0 and that only took about 10 minutes. What are you trying to copy?

 

[thefollans]

I have just transferred 23gb to a Kogan 64gb flash drive.

From the Surface Pro 3 to the flash drive (with nothing else plugged in) - 40mins (yes, the 3 day estimate finally went down )

From the flash Drive to a MacBook Pro (same files) - 6 minutes.

I have tried uninstalling an re installing the USB drivers on the Surface Pro 3 but that has not done anything (in fact it just made bluetooth not work until I repeated the steps).

Any advice on how I can get the SP3 USB up to speed would be great as I will be doing a lot of this between the two machines.

BTW - I am copying Nikon RAW files that I import to the SP3 and cull through (on the road) and then copy over to the MacBook Pro in the studio to edit.

 

[GreyFox7]

Try it on a device that doesn't have Mac fingerprints on it. when you stick it in a Mac it marks the drive like a bear in the woods.

For comparison could you indicate file size(s)

What's the model and rated write speed of the flash drive? I looked up Kogan but might have the wrong model, it wont do 6 minutes.

 

[grumpy]

From the Surface Pro 3 to the flash drive (with nothing else plugged in) - 40mins (yes, the 3 day estimate finally went down )

From the flash Drive to a MacBook Pro (same files) - 6 minutes.

Well that explains it. Read and write speeds can be dramatically different (with the read speed being faster). Copying to the drive from the SP3 was considerably slower since your drive likely has poor write performance. It is unlikely that there is anything wrong with your SP3's USB port. It is unlikely that there is anything wrong with your SP3's USB port.

 

[thefollans]

Ok checked out Kogan's site and they are rated at 60mbps read and 30mbps write... so makes sense it it is twice as slow to write the files. If I want them to be mac and PC compatible I need them to be Fat32 right?

Maybe I was just expecting too much? I will try again with some more files and get a more accurate bench mark.

 

[xbliss]

I am noticing this off late. My copying between 2 USB 3 HDDs (connected Wirecutter recommended powered USB hub) was fast at 60-80 M but when copy OUT from SP3 SSD to these HDDs was slow. I wonder why!

Update:
Is this realistic - External Disc Performance on the Surface Pro 3