Slow USB3 Memory stick

Discussion in 'General Hardware' started by dk_lightning, Jul 30, 2015.

  1. dk_lightning

    dk_lightning Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    1,573
    Likes Received:
    95
    GPU:
    RTX 4070Ti
    I just got me an 8GB Kingston DataTraveler and holy hell is it slow.

    Copying a 2gb file over to it is going at 3-5mb a sec

    Whats going on there? I doubt its the stick but my PC.

    Whats going on here?
     
  2. Cartman372

    Cartman372 Maha Guru

    Messages:
    1,469
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    EVGA 1660Ti
    Have you tried a different USB port or a different header entirely?
     
  3. dk_lightning

    dk_lightning Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    1,573
    Likes Received:
    95
    GPU:
    RTX 4070Ti
    Yes, It is the same speed in any USB 3 port.

    I have tried the 2 Intel ports at the back and the 2 AS Media ports, and the 2 Intel ports on the front panel.

    I have even tried using Asrock's USB Fast program. No change.
     
  4. Cartman372

    Cartman372 Maha Guru

    Messages:
    1,469
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    EVGA 1660Ti
    Do any other USB 3.0 flash drives work at their correct speed on your PC?

    I'm guessing it could be a problem with this flash drive.
     

  5. dk_lightning

    dk_lightning Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    1,573
    Likes Received:
    95
    GPU:
    RTX 4070Ti
    I do not have any others.

    I will try this drive out on another PC at some point tomorrow if I remember
     
  6. thatguy91

    thatguy91 Guest

    The speed of a flash drive is usually a restriction of the USB drive itself, not the interface. If this wasn't the case, then all USB 3.0 devices would get up to 30 MB/s. Some USB 3.0 drives (probably more so the older drives) take one of these USB drives that only gets say, 12 MB/s and puts it on a USB 3.0 interface. Due to the bi-directional nature of USB 3.0, you may end up with say, 17 MB/s, but that is still well below the capabilities of USB 2.0!

    However, at 3 MB/s the above is unlikely to be the case, at least the main reason for the slow speed.

    What is the drive formatted in? USB flash drives should only really be formatted in FAT32 or exFAT, absolutely and definitely not NTFS. Anyone recommending NTFS for flash drives is an idiot ;). The allocation unit size is also best set at 32 KB for FAT32 and exFAT on flash drives. Unfortunately Microsoft still adjusts this automatically, and you can have a flash drive set at lower sizes than this. The specs for USB flash drives I believe are always done with 32 KB allocation unit on FAT32 or exFAT in mind.

    This 32 KB is defined by the SD Association.
    https://www.sdcard.org/about_sda/index.html

    You could start by formatting it with this:
    https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/eula_windows/index.html

    Especially if the partition on the drive is out of alignment or what not.
     
  7. Cartman372

    Cartman372 Maha Guru

    Messages:
    1,469
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    EVGA 1660Ti
    So you say anyone that uses NTFS on a flash drive is idiot, yet you don't actually say why...

    Guess I'm an idiot then.

    What a useful post...

    There's no way NTFS formatting is reducing his speed to 3MB/s.
     
  8. dk_lightning

    dk_lightning Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    1,573
    Likes Received:
    95
    GPU:
    RTX 4070Ti
    I saw a SanDisk Ultra 32Gb USB 3 stick in ASDA tonight for £11 and thought, well thats cheap!

    Anyway, Got it home aaannndd its slow as hell. Same speed as the Kingston 8Gb actually.

    So its got to be an issue with my PC. But the question is what?
     
  9. kens30

    kens30 Maha Guru

    Messages:
    1,225
    Likes Received:
    93
    GPU:
    RTX 3070 GAMING OC
    I don't think you have an issue at all i also own a kingston datatraveler 16gb and getting max write speeds around 5mbps using single file connected to the intel usb 3.0 port.
    I also own a Sandisk and their speeds are disappointing too.

    I wanted to buy another stick so i thought i would not cheap out this time and bought a Corsair Flash Voyager 16gb and the write speed is amazing, i single file write speed of constant 50mbps.
     
  10. dk_lightning

    dk_lightning Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    1,573
    Likes Received:
    95
    GPU:
    RTX 4070Ti
    I have been having a play about.

    Using the Asmedia USB3 ports I can get a nice read speed of 90Mb or so. The write is alittle slow still but does start off at 30 ish but soon drops to around 5.

    The intel USB3 ports are all slow as hell. I get around 25mb read and 5mb write.

    That is using the new Sandisk 32Gb I picked up today. The Kingston 8Gb is slow in any port.

    I might try an install of Win7 and see if these slow speeds are a driver/OS issue.
     

Share This Page