I bought the USB Flash drive Cruzer 128 GB in July 2013. It seems that it is an USB 2.0 product.
Today, I plugged the Cruzer into my HP Probook 4540s laptop’s USB 3.0 port (Win7 SP1), and was copying several files totalling about 100 GB.
The copying took about six hours. The speed of file transfer appears very slow.
How to get better file copy speed please?
What were you using copy the files? If xcopy sometimes the /J option helps.
Another possibility is your AV was checking what was being written to the drive.
Thanks for your reply.
Ever since I moved from XP to Win7 (a few years ago), I switched from Windows’ built-in copy-paste function to a small freeware called TeraCopy ( http://codesector.com/teracopy ). Although I am comfortable with Win7, I found the new search / file copy features in Win7 to be inferior to the XP way.
I can probably rule out AV checking. I use Microsoft Security Essentials, and my experience has been positive.
I keep my backups in multiple media / devices. So, before file copy into the USB Flash drive Cruzer, I did an identical copy-paste into my Western Digital external hard disk 1 TB, which took around two hours. That was one-third the time for the copy to the Cruzer.
Also, I have copied files into an earlier SanDisk Flash drive 64 GB. Naturally, the copied volume was about half of the copy into the new Cruzer 128 GB. But, the copy happened significantly faster.
So, wondering whether about 6 hours for a 100 GB copy operation is ok or not.
“Although I am comfortable with Win7, I found the new search / file copy features in Win7 to be inferior to the XP way.”
Me too.
“I use Microsoft Security Essentials, and my experience has been positive.”
Me too.
“I can probably rule out AV checking.”
I wouldn’t.
“I keep my backups in multiple media / devices”
Good man!! I’m impressed.
“So, wondering whether about 6 hours for a 100 GB copy operation is ok or not.”
Without having one to test with I don’t know. Check it’s properties and see if it’'s set for Performance or Quick Removal
Hi Ed :
Thanks for your good words!
I checked the properties of the Cruzer, and could not find the choice between “Performance” and “Quick Removal”.
I am inserting a link ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/abanerji/9545012522/ ) of the properties window screenshot. Could you please tell me in which tab I can find this choice.
Regards,
Ananda
Click on the Hardware tab.
Highlight the name of the SanDisk driver.
At the bottom of the window click on the Properties button.
A new window will open, Device Properties.
Clcik on the Policies tab.
When you formated the drive to be NTFS did you need to? And did you do a Quick format or a full format?
Thanks for your guidance. I am learning.
The screenshot of the Policies tab is here http://www.flickr.com/photos/abanerji/9548917538/
It is the default “Quick removal”.
As to NTFS format, I had probably read somewhere years ago that pendrives work faster if these are NTFS. All my pendrives (including the previous SanDisk 64 GB) are NTFS. And, the copy speed is better in all those.
Also, I have always done quick format … old advice from a technical guy.
Any advice please?
“It is the default "Quick removal”.
The default is not intented for 128GB drives with 100GB uploads.
“As to NTFS format, I had probably read somewhere years ago that pendrives work faster if these are NTFS”
Certainly you know that not everything you read on the Internet is correct. Think about it, if that were true don’t you think flash drive manufacturers would manufacturer their drives with it so they would run faster? The drives start as FAT32 super floppy format for a reason. No MBR, no partition table, no logging of IO, no backup FAT.
There are 3 ways to format a flash drive to NTFS; quick format, full format, cnvrt format. I have seen where the full format is faster than a cnvrt format. Whether faster than a quick format I don’t know, but a cnvrt doesn’t take long.
Thanks again. Whether or not I am able to speed up the copy process in future, it has been a significant learning experience 
I will conclude this interaction now. One last screenshot of the format options provided by Windows http://www.flickr.com/photos/abanerji/9554268686/
I realise now that there is only a “Quick format” option, and neither “Full format” nor “Cnvrt” choices. I was not aware of “Cnvrt”, but was surprised to see only the “Quick format” available.
Thanks again for your time. Best,
" it has been a significant learning experience"
And it’s not over yet.
In your screen shot you will see an option near the bottom of the window titled “Quick Format” that is checked. Guess what type of format you get when you uncheck that option. 
As for the CNVRT option I meant CONVERT. Sorry.
From a Command Prompt window enter: HELP CONVERT
And to actually convert a drive you would enter: CONVERT driveletter: /FS:NTFS
" it has been a significant learning experience"
And it’s not over yet.
In your screen shot you will see an option near the bottom of the window titled “Quick Format” that is checked. Guess what type of format you get when you uncheck that option.
As for the CNVRT option I meant CONVERT. Sorry.
To convert a drive, in a Command Prompt window you would enter: CONVERT driveletter: /FS:NTFS
For more info enter HELP CONVERT
Ok, I unchecked the “Quick Format” option ( www.flickr.com/photos/abanerji/9558750233/ ). I presume that if I click Start now, it would be a full format.
If I remember correct, XP probably showed both “Quick Format” and “Full Format” as choices explicitly provided. Was the Format window layout tweaked a bit in Win7 (or maybe Vista)?
Thanks for the link on CONVERT. Will explore later, at a hopefully less busy time.
By the way, Aumha used to be one of my favourite knowledge site years ago, especially on the occasional security issues faced by me. It seems that their forum is closed now.
Best,
Ananda
I had also queried SanDisk Support, who advised me to run the “ATTO Disk Benchmark” test and forward them the results ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/abanerji/9587599961/ ).
They have now advised : “… I would like to inform you that as per the ATTO screenshot that you provided to me in your last email, it is concluded that flashdrive is defective and needs to be replaced …”. Any opinion please?
Also, just wondering since my Flash drive is USB 2.0, does it work slower if I plug it into USB 3.0 port of my laptop?
Thanks,
"They have now advised : “… I would like to inform you that as per the ATTO screenshot that you provided to me in your last email, it is concluded that flashdrive is defective and needs to be replaced …”. Any opinion please?"
Wow!! Nice.
"my Flash drive is USB 2.0, does it work slower if I plug it into USB 3.0 port of my laptop?"
No.
Thanks again.
I think now I will go through the RMA procedure with SanDisk.
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