Crazy Slow Transfers to External HD

Joined
Nov 3, 2007
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Hello everyone!

I have recently got a new iMac 2.4ghz system. I am finally upgrading from and old PC. I had a Freeagent 320GB 2.0usb 7200rpm external HD that I used for storage on the PC. I have about 120GB of data that I wanted to save and use.

When I just plugged in the drive to my new iMac.... I can read, copy & use the data. I couldn't erase. I figured because it was in widows format still.

So I decided to transfer ALL the data from the Freeagent Drive onto the iMac. Format the drive.... clean up the files that I didn't need and transfer it back to the Freeagent drive.

Now this is where I dont understand.

The transfer from Freeagent to iMac took about 1.5 to 2 hrs. (120 gb)
The transfer BACK iMac to Freeagent is taking/stating 18hrs?? (55gb)

Is this normal?? Did I do something wrong?? Or did I set it up incorrectly.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 

Del


Joined
Dec 24, 2006
Messages
901
Reaction score
15
Points
18
Location
N. Ireland
Your Mac's Specs
Mac Pro 2xQuad core 2.8GHZ
Have you inadvertently connected the external drive to a USB 1 hub rather than direct to a USB 2 port?
 
Joined
Apr 29, 2006
Messages
4,576
Reaction score
378
Points
83
Location
St. Somewhere
Your Mac's Specs
Mac Studio, M1 Max, 32 GB RAM, 2 TB SSD
Also, I bet that the drive is formatted for FAT32. I have discovered through trial and error that Mac OS X takes FOREVER to write large files to a FAT32 volume, but can do it in the blink of an eye if you reformat the same volume for Mac native HFS+. I have proven this on both Zip disks and USB memory sticks.

I am not sure if this is Apple's not-so-subtle way of ensuring you use their Mac format vs. FAT32 (which is a horrible file system anyway) or whether Apple just has a really lousy FAT32 driver.

No matter what it is, try again with the volume formatted for HFS+ and I bet you see a HUGE difference.
 
OP
E
Joined
Nov 3, 2007
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Nope I have figured it out oddly enough.
After the initial 18hr transfer, i searched the system profiler to see what was going on with my usb ports and transfers.
It was stated that my FreeAgent drive had a transfer rate of 12mb/sec.
Now i thought that this was wrong, and considering it was plugged directly into my iMac, it shouldn't be this way.
I've transfered things in the past and i swear that this was a fast drive, and the spec even showed that it was supposed to be.

Anyway, I decided to try a different usb port on the back of my iMac and checked the profile again. This time it stated 480mb/sec.

Odd??? so long story short.... I transfered another 120gb to the drive in 1.5hrs.

But why the two different speed on two different ports??? the specs on the iMac say that they are ALL usb 2.0.

Any ideas??
 
M

MacHeadCase

Guest
That's pretty weird stuff. What you tried is great because it's obvious now that this problem is hardware related for sure. What I would do is either drop into the nearest Apple Store or give Apple Care a call and ask about this.

You could try popping in Apple's Hardware Test (it is on your Restore disk that came with your iMac) in your optical drive, restarting holding down the D key and when prompted asking for the extended test. It ought to check for all the hardware components in your iMac but I have no idea if it would be accurate enough to tell you in the report one of your USB ports is damaged or something: but for sure it will check the ports.

Maybe for the kind of problem you are experiencing you would need a more sophisticated diagnostic tool that only a techie can have, though.

Good luck! Anyway let us know what you did and what you find out. This is quite intriguing. :)
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top