Why is my USB 3 port so slow ?

MouldyOldDough

I am using a USB 3 Stick and uploading data at between 1MB/s and 7MB/s (It cycles)

Should be MUCH much faster ?

MattMattMattUK

MouldyOldDough said:

I am using a USB 3 Stick and uploading data at between 1MB/s and 7MB/s (It cycles)

Should be MUCH much faster ?

Depends, is the flashdrive from a proper brand or a cheap knockoff claiming to be USB3? Also, what is the nature of the files you are transferring, a few large files, lots of small files? Finally, what is the source for these files, spinning disk, SSD, another flashdrive? 

MouldyOldDough

MattMattMattUK said:

MouldyOldDough said:

I am using a USB 3 Stick and uploading data at between 1MB/s and 7MB/s (It cycles)

Should be MUCH much faster ?

Depends, is the flashdrive from a proper brand or a cheap knockoff claiming to be USB3? Also, what is the nature of the files you are transferring, a few large files, lots of small files? Finally, what is the source for these files, spinning disk, SSD, another flashdrive? 

Source - SSD

Flashdrive a 256Gb SanDisk Ultra

Lots of different sized files

Newcad

Is the port you have it plugged into USB3?

On this laptop I have have both USB2 and USB3 ports.

MouldyOldDough

Newcad said:

Is the port you have it plugged into USB3?

On this laptop I have have both USB2 and USB3 ports.

Yes I only have USB 3 ports 

victor2

You could always run something like CrystalDiskMark to check the performance. It does both sequential and random data transfers at reading and writing.

These were my results:

USB3 stick (Sandisk) in USB3 port

USB2 stick in same USB3 port

No idea why the first write test on the USB2 stick showed 0.00MB/s. I ran the test twice, but maybe the stick doesn't support that method, or it is too slow to measure in MB/s!

MouldyOldDough

victor2 said:

You could always run something like CrystalDiskMark to check the performance. It does both sequential and random data transfers at reading and writing.

These were my results:

USB3 stick (Sandisk) in USB3 port

USB2 stick in same USB3 port

No idea why the first write test on the USB2 stick showed 0.00MB/s. I ran the test twice, but maybe the stick doesn't support that method, or it is too slow to measure in MB/s!

I'll give that a try tomorrow
Thanks 

debitcardmayhem

They all work faster if you disable the a/v when writing.

wongataa

Lots of small files transfer slower than a large file.  If you have a mixture of large and small files you will see the transfer speed vary as it goes from many small files to a big file and back.

B0bbyEwing

How is the speed calculated/advertised then? 

I almost always experience what the OP is saying. USB3 transfers are never that fast for me. 

PHK

A couple of things to point our here:

Make sure the flash drive is genuine. There are a lot of fakes out there that aren't the same capacity and/or slow memory.

Theoretical maximums for USB  and storage devices are quoted in megabits per second whilst transfers are measured in megabytes per second.