Question Slow transfer speed between External SATA 3.0 HD and External SSD 3.1 HD ?

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doraimom

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Oct 28, 2009
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Similar questions exist here, but I think it's worth a new thread.
Even though file transfer speeds can vary and depend on multiple things, I believe it's reasonable to expect certain general mean speeds.
In the USB 3.0 scenario, I would be expecting, from a quick google, as real-life speeds, something from 40MB/s up, being 100-ish MB/s not unreasonable, as others have mentioned.
However, in my scenario, transfering files between a SATA 3.0 external HD to a SSD 3.1 external disk I'm reading 5MB/s in the Windows 11 file explorer popup window.
That certainly seems unreasonable. After more than 15 hours I didn't get to 10% yet of a 1TB file transfer.
Since the files are being transferred, it's kind of hard to tell the seller the HD is defective.
What could be the problem here? Is there a way to improve that rate? Or is it normal to have 5MB/s here?
Is this enough to say it's not working properly?
I'm using a laptop with an i7 8th generation processor and I have 32GB of RAM.
So, it's far from a weak device.
 
Several unknowns here.

What are the exact models of your external HDD and SSD (or, if enclosures, what enclosures)?
Are they UASP compatible?
Did you plug into USB 3 ports, or accidentally plug into USB 2?
Is the SSD genuine or an Aliexpress special?
Does the HDD transfer faster to an internal SSD? And likewise, internal SSD to external SSD?

A bog standard 2.5” portable HDD should routinely achieve 90-100MB/s sustained read.
 
The information I was able to get from the HDs were:
hds.png

The laptop is:

X1 Extreme 1st Gen (Type 20MF, 20MG) Laptop (ThinkPad) - Type 20MF​

So, Two USB 3.1 Gen 1

The Seagate is the data source, USB 3.0 .
The direct destination is the SSD disk USB 3.1

I canceled the file transfer and checked things.
First thing I noticed was that the SSD disk is formated in exFAT.
The Seagate is NTFS.
So, how much can that affect the performance?

I'm going to format it as NTFS now and check how the speed will change.
Same speed as before. 5MB/s. It doesn't seem to be reasonable, since people are reporting ++40MB/s for USB 3.0 in many forums.

Are the info above enough to offer an opinion?
 
It would be helpful to break things down a little.

Move a large file from the external HDD (the Seagate) to your Thinkpad’s C: drive. Let us know what speed you’re getting.
Now move the large file from c: drive to the external SSD and tell us what the speed is.

I have a sneaking suspicion that ‘VendorCo ProductCode USB Device’ is not what you think it is :)
 
NedSmelly said:
It would be helpful to break things down a little.

Move a large file from the external HDD (the Seagate) to your Thinkpad’s C: drive. Let us know what speed you’re getting.
Now move the large file from c: drive to the external SSD and tell us what the speed is.

I have a sneaking suspicion that ‘VendorCo ProductCode USB Device’ is not what you think it is :)
Click to expand...
I just copied a 400MB file from the Seagate 3.0 to my desktop and it came pretty fast at the speed of 100MB/s.
When I copied the same file from C: to the external SSD disk it went at the speed of 7MB/s!!!

P.S.: The ‘VendorCo ProductCode USB Device’ is the device that disappears when I disconnect the driver, so I don't think I'm wrong about it being the SSD HD.
 
Last edited:
doraimom said:
I just copied a 400MB file from the Seagate 3.0 to my desktop and it came pretty fast at the speed of 100MB/s.
When I copied the same file from C: to the external SSD disk it went at the speed of 7MB/s!!!
Click to expand...
Sounds like your ‘external SSD’ is faulty. Where did you buy it from? Perhaps it’s a counterfeit device.
 
Return it. If they won’t take it back, I’d seriously consider a PayPal chargeback. Very high chance that it’s a fake SSD that someone has soldered a hacked SD card into. Especially at AU$45 for a claimed 2TB.

Go to a reputable retailer when buying components. Preferably bricks-and-mortar. Even Amazon is a gamble. I assume you’re in Australia (going by the quoted price in your post)? Go to Scorptec, PC Case Gear, PLE, Centrecom… or literally walk into Officeworks or JB Hifi. Anything is better than eBay or Amazon for something like this.
 
NedSmelly said:
Return it. If they won’t take it back, I’d seriously consider a PayPal chargeback. Very high chance that it’s a fake SSD that someone has soldered a hacked SD card into. Especially at AU$45 for a claimed 2TB.

Go to a reputable retailer when buying components. Preferably bricks-and-mortar. Even Amazon is a gamble. I assume you’re in Australia (going by the quoted price in your post)? Go to Scorptec, PC Case Gear, PLE, Centrecom… or literally walk into Officeworks or JB Hifi. Anything is better than eBay or Amazon for something like this.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the broad list of suppliers. Yes, I'm in Australia. Cheers
 
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