Windows file transfer problem to large USB data sticks - any ideas?

[beanzontoast]

I’ve recently bought two different brands of 128gb USB data sticks to use on my Windows 10 laptop and base unit. Both exhibit the same annoying problem. When I try copying files to the USB, the transfer rate falls to zero after about 1 or 2% and stays there for up to a minute. The transfer restarts eventually, but quickly falls to zero again. This goes on and on. It’s the same on both laptop and base unit.

Copying the same files to smaller USB drives works perfectly smoothly and is quite fast, with no stop-start, whether they are formatted to exFAT or NTFS.

Anyone have any ideas what’s up and whether it can be sorted?

 

[classic33]

How big are the files you're copying across?

 

[Jody]

Go to explorer, right click on the pen drive and click properties.

Does the memory size in there state 128?

Only ask as I've been stung by fake sd cards and usb sticks that are sold to look like high capacity but aren't.

 

[beanzontoast]

How big are the files you're copying across?

Largest is only about 700mb. Most are a few mb each. On the smaller drives, they copy across at a fairly constant speed. The larger drives just don’t want to know.

 

[beanzontoast]

Go to explorer, right click on the pen drive and click properties.

Does the memory size in there state 128?

Only ask as I've been stung by fake sd cards and usb sticks that are sold to look like high capacity but aren't.

They are legit. The ‘bytes’ are showing as 128 billion. The actual working capacity is something like 116gb free when empty.

 

[beanzontoast]

Two different machines, two different makes of drive, same result. Why do the large capacity drives stall while the smaller capacity ones have no issue? It has me stumped.

I’m wondering if there’s a setting in Windows 10 that I need to change?

 

[ColinJ]

You could try enabling write caching on the USB drive? (Drive properties/policies.) Just make sure you click 'safely remove'*** before you unplug the drive because the file might still be getting written after you think it is finished.

*** That might actually be 'eject'?

 

[beanzontoast]

You could try enabling write caching on the USB drive? (Drive properties/policies.) Just make sure you click 'safely remove'*** before you unplug the drive because the file might still be getting written after you think it is finished.

*** That might actually be 'eject'?

I did try this Colin, but the “better performance” it spoke of seemed to manifest as an initially higher transfer rate followed by the rate crashing to zero as before.

*edit* - though I think I might only have selected the ‘Better Performance’ setting and not ticked the ‘write caching’ below it. Will investigate and report back.

 

[Arrowfoot]

I’ve recently bought two different brands of 128gb USB data sticks to use on my Windows 10 laptop and base unit. Both exhibit the same annoying problem. When I try copying files to the USB, the transfer rate falls to zero after about 1 or 2% and stays there for up to a minute. The transfer restarts eventually, but quickly falls to zero again. This goes on and on. It’s the same on both laptop and base unit.

Copying the same files to smaller USB drives works perfectly smoothly and is quite fast, with no stop-start, whether they are formatted to exFAT or NTFS.

Anyone have any ideas what’s up and whether it can be sorted?

How old is your PC? Apparently there is an issue with hardware / chip limitation of older sets. Unable to get a straight answer online.

 

[beanzontoast]

So, choosing either ‘quick removal’ or ‘better performance’ makes little difference. I don’t have the “enable caching” option as a separate box below this window, though I see on some tech sites they show one.

The behaviour is truly puzzling. For instance -

I tried copying a folder of small PDF files across - maybe 800 files. It copied 53% of them very quickly, then crashed to zero rate.

I tried copying the same folder across again. Stopped at 3% and the rate crashed to zero.

Tried the same folder again. Got to maybe 30% and stopped, reporting “The drive is not available”

I tried copying something very small - an individual pdf of about 3mb - and it appeared so quickly in the USB drive it was almost instantaneous. I tried copying a second individual pdf (slightly smaller than the first!) and it said “Calculating…” got to about 30% of the transfer, then crashed to zero. Makes no sense.

I’ve tried using USB2 and USB3 sockets.

Interestingly, deleting files is inconsistent in terms of speed as well. Sometimes the deletion happens all at once, sometimes it takes a long time.

 

[beanzontoast]

How old is your PC? Apparently there is an issue with hardware / chip limitation of older sets. Unable to get a straight answer online.

Maybe both 9 years old? The laptop’s an i3, the desktop an i5. Both have SSDs and 8gb memory. The desktop loads Windows in 12 seconds flat so it’s not struggling. I use both for video composing/rendering as well as Photoshop, so they’re are pretty capable machines.

I wonder what kind of issue could be stopping file transfer? I’ve never had a problem doing full backups of data via USB to external hard drives of 2 and 3tb capacity. Files fly across at a steady rate. Can’t think why a 128gb USB drive should cause a problem. Baffling.

 

[Arrowfoot]

Maybe both 9 years old? The laptop’s an i3, the desktop an i5. Both have SSDs and 8gb memory. The desktop loads Windows in 12 seconds flat so it’s not struggling. I use both for video composing/rendering as well as Photoshop, so they’re are pretty capable machines.

I wonder what kind of issue could be stopping file transfer? I’ve never had a problem doing full backups of data via USB to external hard drives of 2 and 3tb capacity. Files fly across at a steady rate. Can’t think why a 128gb USB drive should cause a problem. Baffling.

Is possible to use someone's newer PC/laptop is see what the outcome is using the same data size?

 

[beanzontoast]

Should add, I’ve tried formatting the USB to exFAT as well as NTFS - the transfer issue is present on both.

 

[beanzontoast]

Is possible to use someone's newer PC/laptop is see what the outcome is using the same data size?

Good idea - my son-in-law has a beast of a gaming pc and also a more modern laptop. I will be seeing him at the weekend so I’ll take the files in question on another working (16gb) USB stick, get him to put them onto his desktop, then try transferring them to the 128gb stick. I’ll be happy if the problem is replicated, as it will mean my pc and laptop are ok.

 

[beanzontoast]

I did wonder at one stage whether having several things connected by USB to my pc might be causing an issue - webcam, microphone, wired keyboard, external hard drive. Maybe something to do with power, or the USB bus? But the pc still has USB ports to spare, and the laptop has nothing at all connected to it via USB apart from the data stick, and the problem is identical on both. So - scratch that as an explanation?