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Thread ID: 110597 2010-06-24 08:14:00 Data transfer. Cicero (40) Press F1
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1113110 2010-06-24 08:14:00 I want to transfer 300 gig from 1 external H/D to another,at present I have moved 10 gig which took 3 hrs,is there a quicker way than dragging and dropping? Cicero (40)
1113111 2010-06-24 08:19:00 I can clone 1 x 200 Gig drive to another in about 1 hour but these are internal drives. You are likely stuffed by USB transfer speeds. Sweep (90)
1113112 2010-06-24 08:28:00 Did something similar in the weekend -- My WHS, thought its about time I did another backup of its data (been a while). 430GB :sleep:sleep:sleep. Took a "few" hours. wainuitech (129)
1113113 2010-06-24 08:46:00 Yeah if they are using USB the transfer rate will be terrible for that amount of data, nothing to do with dragging and dropping.

In either case though I do not recommend using Windows for copying that much data or high amounts of files. I personally have given up trusting the built-in filecopy functions of Windows a long time ago.

I use "SuperCopier" supercopier.sfxteam.org

It is especially useful in situations where you have tens of thousands of folders\files, because Windows almost always chokes somewhere on a file because it's read only, or there is a permissions problem, or the file is corrupted etc etc.

And when you are halfway through with multiple subfolders it becomes a nightmare trying to work out what folders have been copied and which ones haven't.

And with Windows up until Vista there is no retry function (and even then, it doesn't work if the network connection is dropped)

SuperCopier on the other hand compares the entire folder structure and can skip all files\folders already copied, as well as providing a retry function which actually works every time.
Agent_24 (57)
1113114 2010-06-24 09:08:00 Unless one or both of your drives are plugged into USB 1.1 ports then that's not a normal or expected amount of transfer speed in any scenario. Firstly check that they are running off USB 2.0 ports, and you could try robocopy from a command prompt. Try "robocopy /?" for details. jackM (14814)
1113115 2010-06-24 09:31:00 ...moved 10 gig which took 3 hrs...
I think JackM's on the money here - that sounds like a 1.1 usb port (standard for full speed USB is 12MBits/sec). Over USB 1.1, the fastest you could expect 10GiB to transfer is 1.896 hours (1:54); real-world speeds will be slower.

Edit: Just to clarify, USB 2.0 is known as 'high speed', and has a max transfer rate of 480MBits/sec. Real-world speeds will be a bit slower, but still a whole lot better than the 12MBits/sec that 1.1 provides.

Try using different ports for the drives.
Erayd (23)
1113116 2010-06-24 12:05:00 I want to transfer 300 gig from 1 external H/D to another,at present I have moved 10 gig which took 3 hrs,is there a quicker way than dragging and dropping?

I don't find that too surprising.
I have 2 separate SATA-2s and it could take 3hr or so. I have about mostly digital images off a dSLR. I sync them when I redid Windows 7. Mine was 100GB.

If you are copying a easy - 1 large 3GB file (for example). 2 internal drives could provide 90MB/sec. I have always read that eSATA is the same speed as internal - that's bollocks with my tests.

USB2 and eSATA both provide 30MB/sec.
Thou if you have many smaller files eSATA might be faster (as similarly Firewire over USB2).

I cannot remember USB1.1. I think USB2 or eSATA took maybe 5-10mins but USB1.1 on my older laptop was going to take 90 minutes.

Faster? Go internal.


For me, eSATA was a waste. We don't backup freq., just once then it's just a top up with the syncback. For that minor speed I rather use USB2, save my money or just go internal.
Nomad (952)
1113117 2010-06-24 13:34:00 Download robocopy (unless you have Vista or 7 in which case it is built in to Windows) Deimos (5715)
1113118 2010-06-24 13:37:00 No eSATA port? When I first got my external HDD, I used eSATA or Firewire (cant remember) to let it build the initial backup and then switched to USB2 since the cable was a lot longer and convenient. beeswax34 (63)
1113119 2010-06-24 19:37:00 Not sure how to interpret that lot.

Will SuperCopier"solve problem?

I have USB 2 all round,the only thing that might be wrong is I am using a hub,and funny things can happen with that ,can't they?

I tried to drag 2 folders at once,that completely wasted 3 hrs.!

Do I take it the rule is one at a time?

Thanks lads.
Cicero (40)
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