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Why is USB always so PAINFULLY SLOW?

1K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  JackCY 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi guys.

So for the longest time, probably since my Vista/XP days, i've always felt USB transfers in windows to be ridiculously slow.

I've just bought myself an Asus Zenfone 6 (latest flagship phone) and i'm transferring a few number of files to the device via USB 3.0 (blue)

6GB transfer (of 40 so far) has taken over an hour, on usb 3.0.

This is absolutely ridiculous.

Why are USB file transfers always so unbelievably slow? Especially with new USB standards? My internet connection is multitudes faster!

Whats the point in newer usb standards when speed barely changes at all?? (Yet our file transfers continue to increase in size?) is there a way to improve it?
 
#2 ·
I bet it's because you have something screwed up. I copied my 14.6GB music library from phone to PC HDD in 20 minutes. USB 3.0 too. Could be faster but you can see the picture.
 
#3 ·
Dont see what - windows 10 is stock (was fresh install last week)

Phone is new only since wednesday.

Get the same result using either a motherboard USB (back of rig) or case mounted one. Still stupidly slow.
 
#4 ·
[...]

I've just bought myself an Asus Zenfone 6 (latest flagship phone) and i'm transferring a few number of files to the device via USB 3.0 (blue)

6GB transfer (of 40 so far) has taken over an hour, on usb 3.0.

[...]

The phone seems to be USB 2.0 according to the specifications I could find online. It's only the connector that's Type C, but it's not really USB 3.0 or USB 3.1, it's really a USB 2.0 connection.
 
#5 ·
Shouldn't i still be getting better transfer rates than i'm currently having though?
 
#6 · (Edited)
I found it to be faster if you move an entire folder instead of a bunch of files. It jumps from file to file coping a little of each instead of finishing one and moving on to another.

The internal storage or SD card you are moving the files too also slows it down.
 
#8 ·
It's never a constant transfer rate, you're forgetting that. Also, do you copy from phones internal storage or SD Card?
 
#10 ·
Internal storage. If i transfer to the SD card i usually just end up taking it out and putting it into an adaptor for USB, i get slightly better speeds this way.

I still think it's quite shocking how poor USB is when it's this inconsistent and hasn't really improved alot over the years. I'm sure alot of it can be configuration/windows issues but considering most use it, you'd have expected things to have changed alot over the last decade.

Yes, I think you are right. When I try to calculate what should happen if it's really USB 2.0, my results are that it should just be a few minutes to transfer six gigabyte.

My guess for USB 2.0 would be something around 25 megabyte/sec transfer speeds. I'm then calculating this amount of seconds for six gigabytes:

6 * 2^30 / (25 * 2^20)
= 246 seconds

or this amount of minutes:

6 * 2^30 / (25 * 2^20) / 60
= 4 minutes
Lol this is about how long it takes for me to transfer similar sized files over Ethernet - which is BLINDINGLY FAST compared to USB.

(I often link my laptop to my desktop via Ethernet to sync very large files (50gb+) and i'm done within 20 minutes or so)

Still, with how "mainstream" USB is i'd have expected better results.
 
#9 ·
Hi guys.



So for the longest time, probably since my Vista/XP days, i've always felt USB transfers in windows to be ridiculously slow.



I've just bought myself an Asus Zenfone 6 (latest flagship phone) and i'm transferring a few number of files to the device via USB 3.0 (blue)



6GB transfer (of 40 so far) has taken over an hour, on usb 3.0.



This is absolutely ridiculous.



Why are USB file transfers always so unbelievably slow? Especially with new USB standards? My internet connection is multitudes faster!



Whats the point in newer usb standards when speed barely changes at all?? (Yet our file transfers continue to increase in size?) is there a way to improve it?
Even with USB 3.1 the file transfer rates are limited to the conversion from a read on one device to a write on the next.

The transfer performance gains a cross the generations has increased somewhat, but nothing really to brag about.

I resorted to transferring the content on the SD card of my old S7 to my new OnePlus pro 7 via Bluetooth.

And anytime I'm dropping movies on my phone I use Bluetooth from my PC to my phone. Faster than USB... But not by much when looking at 40+ gigs of media transfer

Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk
 
#12 ·
Because both devices have to support USB 3.0 or better and many don't, just because you connect USB 2.0 to 3.0 doesn't mean it will run at 3.0 speeds. Also both devices have to be capable of reaching the max USB speeds.
The rest is you are using a poor software to transfer the data. I have no problem getting max speeds over USB 3.0 with compatible devices and a good copy program.

Many modern devices are still only USB 2.0. You're better off taking that SD card out and using a USB 3.0 reader at which point you would need a very fast Ethernet to match those speeds. Hell even the regular 100Mb/s ethernet majority uses has only 8-10MB/s while USB2.0 can do around 20MB/s. Or god forbid slow WiFi.
 
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