Very slow writing to USB pendrive

eLPuSHeR · 31st Jul 2006, 04:29 PM

Hello all.

I have an USB pendrive (Mr.Flash U172 - 1GB) and I have found out that it's ANNOYING SLOW when writing to it.

According to technical specifications it can handle 10MB/s-9MB/s reading/writing speeds but not on my machine.

Reading isn't that bad (about 7-8MB/s) but when it writes it does it at crawl speed (no more than 2,1MB/s). Any

clues? I have already changed the disk directive to enable write caching on the removable drive. Connected to a

working USB 2.0 port (almost 20MB/s when using an external usb 2.0 hard-disk). Drive formatted using FAT32 with 4KB

clusters (it doesn't make no difference). My board is an ABIT NF7 v2.0 (nVIDIA nFORCE2 chipset - drivers up to

date). I am using Windows XP SP2 (up to date).

Adrian Wong · 31st Jul 2006, 04:59 PM

Actually, the read and write speeds of any flash memory drive are often quite different. The read speed is always faster than the write speed.

In addition, the actual read and write speed depends on the SIZE of the files you are transferring. Small files will tax the flash controller while large files will tax the flash memory.

So, they may rate the drive with a write speed of 10MB/s but that may only be for large file transfers which allow the flash memory chip to achieve its full potential. When writing small files, you will probably find a much lower write speed.

Write caching won't actually help improve performance. What it does is merely cache all writes to the flash drive so that it appears as if the transfer is done. But what really happens is that the transfer is still continuing in the background.

If you use write caching, you should not remove the flash drive unless you are absolutely sure the transfers are over, by checking the activity LED or by using Windows XP's Safely Remove Hardware utility.

eLPuSHeR · 1st Aug 2006, 04:58 PM

Thank you for the tips and info. Much appreciated.

Adrian Wong · 1st Aug 2006, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eLPuSHeR

Thank you for the tips and info. Much appreciated.

No problem!

31st Jul 2006, 04:29 PM	#1 (permalink)
eLPuSHeR Warming up Join Date: 7 Sep 2004 Posts: 89 Reputation: 18 Rep Power: 0	Very slow writing to USB pendrive Hello all. I have an USB pendrive (Mr.Flash U172 - 1GB) and I have found out that it's ANNOYING SLOW when writing to it. According to technical specifications it can handle 10MB/s-9MB/s reading/writing speeds but not on my machine. Reading isn't that bad (about 7-8MB/s) but when it writes it does it at crawl speed (no more than 2,1MB/s). Any clues? I have already changed the disk directive to enable write caching on the removable drive. Connected to a working USB 2.0 port (almost 20MB/s when using an external usb 2.0 hard-disk). Drive formatted using FAT32 with 4KB clusters (it doesn't make no difference). My board is an ABIT NF7 v2.0 (nVIDIA nFORCE2 chipset - drivers up to date). I am using Windows XP SP2 (up to date). __________________ AMD Sempron 3000+ ABIT NF7 2.0 (nForce2 Ultra 400) 1GB 266Mhz DDR SDRAM WinXP Prof. SP2 ATi Radeon X800GTO AGP (256MB) SoundBlaster Audigy 2 SE

31st Jul 2006, 04:59 PM	#2 (permalink)
Adrian Wong Da Boss Join Date: 10 Oct 2002 Location: In front of my ASUS F8V notebook! Posts: 30,382 Reputation: 3147 Rep Power: 68	Actually, the read and write speeds of any flash memory drive are often quite different. The read speed is always faster than the write speed. In addition, the actual read and write speed depends on the SIZE of the files you are transferring. Small files will tax the flash controller while large files will tax the flash memory. So, they may rate the drive with a write speed of 10MB/s but that may only be for large file transfers which allow the flash memory chip to achieve its full potential. When writing small files, you will probably find a much lower write speed. Write caching won't actually help improve performance. What it does is merely cache all writes to the flash drive so that it appears as if the transfer is done. But what really happens is that the transfer is still continuing in the background. If you use write caching, you should not remove the flash drive unless you are absolutely sure the transfers are over, by checking the activity LED or by using Windows XP's Safely Remove Hardware utility. __________________ Dr. Adrian Wong Tech ARP \| Blog @ Tech ARP \| The Free Trade Zone DYKT : The only offshore account I have is at the sand bank? We need PROGRAMMERS and TECHNICAL WRITERS! Contact us if you are a hot shot programmer or technical writer! My items for sale : 50x SD Card \| Memory Stick PRO \| Cyclone Energy Saver \| Seiko SS watch \| Tiger/Carlsberg beer jugs \| Travel Speakers \| Motorola V600 \| Nokia N90 SOLD! \| New Lowepro Mini Trekker AW Other items for sale @ the FTZ : Zalman CNPS9500 LED @ $20 \| Zalman CNPS7700 Cu @ $20 \| Zalman CNPS7000 Cu @ $20 \| Swarovski bracelet watches \| Dell 17" LCD \| Hi-Fi speakers \| English DIVX movies \| HP LaserJet toners! \| Office chairs

1st Aug 2006, 04:58 PM	#3 (permalink)
eLPuSHeR Warming up Join Date: 7 Sep 2004 Posts: 89 Reputation: 18 Rep Power: 0	Thank you for the tips and info. Much appreciated. __________________ AMD Sempron 3000+ ABIT NF7 2.0 (nForce2 Ultra 400) 1GB 266Mhz DDR SDRAM WinXP Prof. SP2 ATi Radeon X800GTO AGP (256MB) SoundBlaster Audigy 2 SE

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