12-20-2008, 08:38 AM

Hello,

I just set up 1T seagate external USB drive. I'm trying to copy 223 gB of data over to it. I dragged and dropped the folder on to the new drive. However it says it will take over 30 hours to copy. The drive has a red light that indicates when its writing. The red light will flash for about five seconds, and then go dormant for a few minutes, then flash for five seconds again. In other words, it seem to be writing the files VERY intermittently. I don't have any other applications running so I'm not sure why it's behaving this way.

Any advice?

-radicalkat

12-20-2008, 09:13 AM

It is going to take a long time to copy 200GB+ of data via USB. Nothing unusual.

12-20-2008, 09:15 AM

Thanks for the response.

The drive is slow even for individual files of sizes around 500Mb. It starts out copying fine. It says "less than a minute." Then the hard drive stops for a couple of minutes. Eventually it starts copying again, but just for 1 to 5 seconds. Then it stops again. This continues until it's done. A file that it said would take less than a minute, ends up taking more like five minutes.

-radicalkat

12-20-2008, 09:32 AM

That is too long.
It should be able to transfer a 500MB file in under a minute.
Try a different cable if you've got one.
If not, at least try un-connecting and reconnecting the cable.

12-20-2008, 10:59 AM

Thanks for the feedback. I tried using a new cable. Same problem. I rebooted, ejected and reconnected the drive, turned off time machine, turned off my anivirus software. Nothing seems to stop this intermittent behavior!

Any other suggestions?

-Adam

12-20-2008, 11:17 AM

What kind of Mac are you using the drive with? Are you sure it supports USB 2.0? If you're using a hub, are you sure the hub supports USB 2.0?

Does the drive support Firewire? If so you could try using that instead...

12-20-2008, 11:26 AM

I have an intel iMac purchased last June. So, it's definately USB2. The enclosure supports only USB2 which I thought would be plenty fast. And it is very fast when it's actually transferring data. The problem is that it only transfers data for 1-5 seconds at a time and then takes a break for a couple of minutes in between! I'm not sure why it's transferring in such short bursts with such long delays in between!

-Adam

12-20-2008, 11:59 AM

are they big files or loads of tiny files that are transfering

what other USB devices are attached to the same bus

12-20-2008, 12:02 PM

They are individual media files between 200 and 500 MB that I have tried transferring in groups and individually. Same problem. I have also tried to transfer large groups of small files (word and powerpoint docs). Same thing.

12-20-2008, 01:40 PM

Any hubs or other devices connected?

12-20-2008, 01:55 PM

I have the follwing devices connected

USB printer
Wireless Router


I have a 500mb firewire 800 drive connected, but it's not turned on. I tried turning it on and doing file transfers. That drive behaves normally. The drive writes until the file is done transferring. Not the intermittent writing the USB drive does.

-Adam

12-20-2008, 03:55 PM

USB even USB2 is not so hot on Macs and is oh so slow. Suggest Firewire as Aptmunich suggests.

12-20-2008, 07:54 PM

Originally Posted by radicalkat

The drive is slow ... It starts out copying fine. It says "less than a minute." ... Then it stops again ... A file that it said would take less than a minute, ends up taking more like five minutes.

If it were me, I'd be asking for a replacement external hard drive or a refund. Reading again through the OP and responses, I'd say there's a problem with the write mechanism or the USB controller in the enclosure. As it's still near-new, you should get a free replacement.

12-21-2008, 10:33 AM

I'm going to take it to the store where I bought it. THey said they could check it out and give me a replacement if necessary. I'll report back with the final results in a couple of days.

-Adam