WD Passport USB 3.0 Slow transfer rate

[agpbiohazard]

Windows 7 Home premium 64 bit
core i7 2600k
g skill 8GB ddr3 1600mhz
Gigabyte z68x-ud3h-b3 rev 1.0
WD 1 TB 7200 rpm slave drive
Samsung 500gb 7200 rpm primary

WD Passport 1TB external running on USB 3.0, copying files from 500gb 7200rpm primary to external 1tb passport. 50.9 GBs, 222 items (fairly large items). Sustained transfer speed of 19.8-19.9 MBps.

Peaked at over 88 MBps when it first started transferring and quickly dropped to 19.8 MBps.

What's the deal?

 

[nukemaster]

Are you using the USB ports on the front of the case or the back.

I know it sounds like a bad question, but you are using the blue ones(right above the audio plugs) with the new usb 3 style cable right(drive should come with a super short cable.)? The drive will run on a USB3 port with USB2 cable, but without the USB3 speeds

 

[agpbiohazard]

I am running the device on the on-board USB ports in the back of the case, the blue ones (USB 3.0).
I am also using the USB 3.0 cable provided with the hard drive. It is backwards compatible to USB 2.0, but it is capable of USB 3.0.

 

[nukemaster]

Can you please run a drive benchmark to see what the raw speed of the drive/interface is.

Scroll past the PRO version to the free yet older one.

http://www.hdtune.com/download.html

 

[agpbiohazard]

Will do so now and report once completed.

 

[nukemaster]

ok.

 

[agpbiohazard]

Well, looks like I can't follow up on this issue because something else is up.

I was having issues with this drive earlier on these USB 3.0 ports, my PC would completely lock up and freeze. I tried uninstalling-reinstalling all kinds of versions of the Etron usb 3.0 drivers, all to no avail. Finally I reformatted the hard drive and it worked fine for about 30 minutes. Transferred 50 gb onto it at ~20MBps (using USB 3.0). Now event viewer shows Event ID 11: The driver detected a controller error on the disk.

This issue is nonexistent on usb 2.0, only on these usb 3.0s. I have no method of checking other usb 3.0 ports as this is my only computer with them.

Any thoughts?

 

[agpbiohazard]

Also, running HD Tune on my 500 GB primary shows many downwards spikes while my 1tb slave shows a much less drastic variance in speed. What does this mean about my primary? Health monitor from HD Tune shows "OK"

 

[ELMO_2006]

Well, looks like I can't follow up on this issue because something else is up.

I was having issues with this drive earlier on these USB 3.0 ports, my PC would completely lock up and freeze. I tried uninstalling-reinstalling all kinds of versions of the Etron usb 3.0 drivers, all to no avail. Finally I reformatted the hard drive and it worked fine for about 30 minutes. Transferred 50 gb onto it at ~20MBps (using USB 3.0). Now event viewer shows Event ID 11: The driver detected a controller error on the disk.

This issue is nonexistent on usb 2.0, only on these usb 3.0s. I have no method of checking other usb 3.0 ports as this is my only computer with them.

Any thoughts?

Can you please confirm if the HDD policy is set to:

1. Better Performance
2. Enable Write Caching on the device

Right mouse click on HDD > Properties > Hardware > Select the device in the list > Properties > General > Change Settings > Policies > Select Better performance and Select Enable write caching on the device

If not, please do so and you may be required to restart.

Hope this helps. 😉

 

[agpbiohazard]

Hello Elmo,
Thank you for the reply. Shall I do so while it is plugged in the USB 3.0, or keep it in the USB 2.0? Or does this matter

 

[agpbiohazard]

I set the policy to Better performance/enable write caching like you said. Now It does not show up in windows explorer when plugged into usb 3.0. Disk management says the disk must be initialized before used, and then it told me it could not find it. Device manager detects it.

 

[agpbiohazard]

HD Tune shows the Passport as two drives. Both called exactly the same thing, one is 0 MB and one is 1000 GB. It stays around the 22MBps mark for benchmarking it

 

[ELMO_2006]

This is somewhat of a surprise as I have modified the policies on multiple drives spread across multiple systems.

Are you still able to access the drive? If you are I would recommend no longer making changes unless the data has been backed up.

I apologize for the inconvenience.

As for the changes, they should have been performed on the USB3.0 port/interface.

 

[nukemaster]

22megabyte/sec sounds like USB2 speeds(under it to some extent).

I do not tend to use Better performance on externals(but its a personal preference that should not have caused that issue).

What does the drive bench at with USB2.

 

[Todor Mollov]

Problem: Transfer rate of 20-30 MB/s between my WD Passport USB 3 and a monster desktop with SSD.
My solution: Contacted WD support and requested a replacement USB 3 cable.
Result: Speed increased to 60-70 MB/s. Tested with 4 GB TV series files. Initial speed was 110 then going down to 80 and finally lowest speed was 60 MB/s.

 

[Shravan Rajbhar]

it helps..............thank u

Can you please confirm if the HDD policy is set to:

1. Better Performance
2. Enable Write Caching on the device

Right mouse click on HDD > Properties > Hardware > Select the device in the list > Properties > General > Change Settings > Policies > Select Better performance and Select Enable write caching on the device

 

[likethis72]

Windows 7 Home premium 64 bit
core i7 2600k
g skill 8GB ddr3 1600mhz
Gigabyte z68x-ud3h-b3 rev 1.0
WD 1 TB 7200 rpm slave drive
Samsung 500gb 7200 rpm primary

WD Passport 1TB external running on USB 3.0, copying files from 500gb 7200rpm primary to external 1tb passport. 50.9 GBs, 222 items (fairly large items). Sustained transfer speed of 19.8-19.9 MBps.

Peaked at over 88 MBps when it first started transferring and quickly dropped to 19.8 MBps.

What's the deal?

 

[likethis72]

I had the same problem but I fixed it. First you need to download an app called WD FIRMWARE UPDATER then install it on your pc and plug your hard drive then click update when it's done shutdown your pc without unplugging the wd drive when it's off unplugge it and restart your pc and plug it in and it should work.

 

[iPOSEiDON]

I have the same exact problem, i am using a WD My passport p/n: WDBACY5000ABK-01 ,it strats the file transfers with 47-53mb/s then drops to 27-31mb/s. I have tried the WD firmware updater, but the results are the same,tried also the Better Performance option,since it was set for quick removal, again no differance.my average speeds on hdtune were 27.5mb/s. any idea guys ? thanks allot !

 

[jambango]

I'm having a very similar problem trying to copy 1.05 tb worth of films and tv series from one wd my passport ultra 2tb to another. Usb 3 slot, cable and drive but only hitting 17.4 mb/s and taking 15 hours lol. I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to this kind of thing so any help would be amazing.

 

[SuperAdithya]

Hey folks I also have a blue WD MY passport ultra 1tb. But I dont have USb 3.0 port. So for improving speeds, I enabled the write caching options, and voila! Write Speed was 37-40 MB/s. Wow. Actually at the first 4 seconds of copying, the speed goes don from 92MBps!!! Its pretty strange why it doesnt work for ya, even if you have enabled the write caching and you have usb 3.0 port. lol.

 

[SuperAdithya]

I'm having a very similar problem trying to copy 1.05 tb worth of films and tv series from one wd my passport ultra 2tb to another. Usb 3 slot, cable and drive but only hitting 17.4 mb/s and taking 15 hours lol. I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to this kind of thing so any help would be amazing.

Well, your hdd DATA read speed also lays an important role in copying files. If your hdd is old, or it's read speed is very poor, or disk has bad sectors, or your disk is fragmented, the copy to other drie spped will be slower, because the dta is to be read first before writing it onto other drive. Run a maintenance tool, defagment your drives (both your hdd from which you are copying and your WD My passport) (Best tool for defragmenting+optimization: Smart Defrag 4 from IOBit,), and then try to copy again.

Cheers & Regards,
Adithya.

 

[johneh77]

Well, looks like I can't follow up on this issue because something else is up.

I was having issues with this drive earlier on these USB 3.0 ports, my PC would completely lock up and freeze. I tried uninstalling-reinstalling all kinds of versions of the Etron usb 3.0 drivers, all to no avail. Finally I reformatted the hard drive and it worked fine for about 30 minutes. Transferred 50 gb onto it at ~20MBps (using USB 3.0). Now event viewer shows Event ID 11: The driver detected a controller error on the disk.

This issue is nonexistent on usb 2.0, only on these usb 3.0s. I have no method of checking other usb 3.0 ports as this is my only computer with them.

Any thoughts?

Can you please confirm if the HDD policy is set to:

1. Better Performance
2. Enable Write Caching on the device

Right mouse click on HDD > Properties > Hardware > Select the device in the list > Properties > General > Change Settings > Policies > Select Better performance and Select Enable write caching on the device

If not, please do so and you may be required to restart.

Hope this helps. 😉

Wow what a difference thought their was a problem with my hard drive when it went from 5 mbps to 700kbps now I get 30mbps!

 

[Lelainedp]

ok.

Hi guys

Wow looks like a few great solutions here so I must be talking to the top problem solvers.

I have a WD2 Elements 2TB hard drive.
It was working fine up to a few days ago.
When i plug it in:
1. It takes forever to open
2. I can open my folders, but when i drag a movie over to watch it doesnt start.

Im using :Windows 8.1 , 64bit Operating system with USB 3.0

Please any HELP??? I have scanned with my anti virus.

 

[LexenX]

Well, looks like I can't follow up on this issue because something else is up.

I was having issues with this drive earlier on these USB 3.0 ports, my PC would completely lock up and freeze. I tried uninstalling-reinstalling all kinds of versions of the Etron usb 3.0 drivers, all to no avail. Finally I reformatted the hard drive and it worked fine for about 30 minutes. Transferred 50 gb onto it at ~20MBps (using USB 3.0). Now event viewer shows Event ID 11: The driver detected a controller error on the disk.

This issue is nonexistent on usb 2.0, only on these usb 3.0s. I have no method of checking other usb 3.0 ports as this is my only computer with them.

Any thoughts?

Can you please confirm if the HDD policy is set to:

1. Better Performance
2. Enable Write Caching on the device

Right mouse click on HDD > Properties > Hardware > Select the device in the list > Properties > General > Change Settings > Policies > Select Better performance and Select Enable write caching on the device

If not, please do so and you may be required to restart.

Hope this helps. 😉

I did this and got a short burst of gb transfer rate and then it drops all the way down to 0 before it slowly climbs to 30mb/s... is that a correct behavior of the drive?
Was copying a video file to the drive, while i copied out the video file from the drive to the laptop it was at a constant 180mb/s range.