Slow USB 2.0 External HDD

[Strike Swiftly]

I have a WD Elements External HDD 120GB. It is writing at an incredibly slow speed..... 950 kb/s. I am attempting to transfer 80gb off the hdd onto a new hdd i just purchased and its gonna take forever and a day.

I have plugged the hdd into about a dozen various computers with the same issue. When it is plugged into the usb, the message "this device can run faster when plugged into a usb 2.0" is displayed. all pc's are quite new and i have tried it at various locations so they cant all have the same problems with drivers etc. i have put it down to a faulty HDD or somehting similar.

Any advice? Will reformatting fix it?

 

[Forzaport]

2 things i can think of:

1. Make double sure your computer has USB 2.0 - check the driver to make sure, or just to update it anyway to be doubly sure

2. The HDD may be FAT32 formatted which takes forever for data to move across. Re-formatting it to NTFS will make it work much faster.

 

[Strike Swiftly]

cool. once i have moved everything over.... it takes ages... ill give the format thing a check

 

[old_clint]

I have a WD Elements External HDD 120GB. It is writing at an incredibly slow speed..... 950 kb/s. I am attempting to transfer 80gb off the hdd onto a new hdd i just purchased and its gonna take forever and a day.

I have plugged the hdd into about a dozen various computers with the same issue. When it is plugged into the usb, the message "this device can run faster when plugged into a usb 2.0" is displayed. all pc's are quite new and i have tried it at various locations so they cant all have the same problems with drivers etc. i have put it down to a faulty HDD or somehting similar.

Any advice? Will reformatting fix it?

I'm assuming that the degraded pefromance is a recent thing. Could be that the drive has inadvertently been re-connected with a non-USB 2.0 certified cable or that your power supply is on the way out. The "this device can run faster........." message is probably just windows-speak for "there's something going on here which I don't understand".

 

[Strike Swiftly]

the hdd has a single usb cable setup, not the dual. it is currently using the original cable, however i have tried others. so i have eliminated that possibility. the hdd doesnt have a power supply as such, as it slaves off the pc's power unit.

an example, not my pic though. not using a macbook

 

[old_clint]

Hmmm. Maybe the caddy electronics are fritzed or fritzing, these things don't last forever (and as portables cop a few knocks which they're not designed for). I'd pull the 2.5" drive, get an 3.5" drive adaptor and install it in my PC.

Before doing this wouldn't hurt to run HD Tune:
http://www.hdtune.com/

 

[mighty mick]

the hdd has a single usb cable setup, not the dual. it is currently using the original cable, however i have tried others. so i have eliminated that possibility. the hdd doesnt have a power supply as such, as it slaves off the pc's power unit.

an example, not my pic though. not using a macbook

these are the cheaper wd hd, better portable hard drives will have a cable with two usb connecters on it one for the power supply and one to transfer data. thats why its telling you it can run faster, never heard of this issue but it explain the error message. my jvc everio does the same

 

[Gman]

these are the cheaper wd hd, better portable hard drives will have a cable with two usb connecters on it one for the power supply and one to transfer data. thats why its telling you it can run faster, never heard of this issue but it explain the error message. my jvc everio does the same

I'd say the bold line above is why...having that extra usb connector to draw power makes a huge difference

 

[mighty mick]

the 640 gb wd with ac power is a good buy $147

we have a nifty verbatim 250gb portable also for around $100, (no power)

 

[Strike Swiftly]

thanks for the replies. could i buy a dual ended to mini usb cable and plug it into the hdd? would that work?

 

[mighty mick]

thanks for the replies. could i buy a dual ended to mini usb cable and plug it into the hdd? would that work?

found this so you must be able to get them somewhere

http://www.pccables.com/cgi-bin/orders6.cgi?action=Showitem&partno=70651&rsite=f.70651

 

[richskee]

You made a mistake getting a HDD with 2.0 USB, Sounds like you need 'firewire' ive been using it for 2 years now and it's at least tripple the speed of 2.0

 

[old_clint]

Theoretically USB 2.0 is faster, but these days eSATA is the way to go. A lot of the better boards now have such connectivity.
http://www.overclock.net/hard-drives-storage/324994-what-s-faster-esata-vs-firewire.html

 

[Strike Swiftly]

the item has been confirmed faulty. I have organised with the store for an exchange. i purchased a 500gb powered drive to store the info from my faulty portable. it took like 20 hours plus to tranfer 80gb. ridiculously slow. i gave up on formatting it 10 hours into that too.

anyways a good result. should have the new unit next week. thanks for your help guys.