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Why is the USB disk so slow now?
Friday, 15 August, 2008
I've just bought an external hard disk (Seagate) and it works fine when connected to the PC. However, when I connect it to my USB hub it goes painfully slow. For example, a typical backup used to take around 30 minutes and now takes more than two hours.
Any ideas?
Wolf Salz, , Australia
 Let me take a guess - you've also got an old device using the same hub. Right?
That's one of the things about using USB2 hubs - in most cases they fall back to USB1 speeds whenever you connect a USB1 device to them. Disconnect all other devices to see which one it is.
Or of course it's also possible that the hub is an older USB1 hub. Remember that USB1 is much slower than USB2.
The other danger with running that drive from a hub is that it may not get enough power, so perhaps it's better to run it from the PC anyway.
Paul Zucker
 Reader solutions
Chris WhitePosted: 21/08/2008 re: Why is the USB disk so slow now? It is losing memory...or, maybe it cannot remember...
No.Seriously, I agree with Mr Paul Zucker on this one. If your external hard drive - Seagate - is a portable ie pocket sized one, then it probably does not plug into the mains as well. So it draws whatever power required through its USB connection.
Though, if the Seagate is a large external one, then it has a seperate power cable that plugs into the mains. Then, this tells me that, if still slow, then it is more than likely the slowdown in data transfer rate is directly related to your USB Hub.
Hi Ho Silver, "Gone In 60 Seconds"..... andrew peter collinsPosted: 20/08/2008 re: Why is the USB disk so slow now? Hi Wolf. Take Pauls advice but i would add one thing in general. Make sure any gear you buy is "Phantom Powered" in other words if you buy a new hub, scanner or printer for example, make sure it has its own 240 volt power supply. All my hardware is phantom powered including the USB2 hub. I've never been fond of asking a USB port to power anything. I only use those ports as a connection between my computer and the hardware. The power comes from the transformers plugged into my power boards which are, of course plugged into the mains. The exception is my USB memory stick and my Bluetooth tranceiver because they really use bugger all power. Hope i helped, Andy. :) :) :) |