Windows 10: Slow USB transfer speed

My USB transfer speed has been very slow recently, I'm talking speeds of 1.3Mb/s all the way down to KB/s!! And it's always treading in KB/s which is really not normal cause I have USB 3.1 and I don't know what to do anymore...I have tried everything from updating to my drivers to restarting in safe mode, to disabling auto tuning, to using so many YouTube videos. Also the skwo transfer speed was still the same in safe mode!! And that normally worked for most people in previous posts...please can someone give me a solution that'll actually cause I've tried every recommendation in previous posts

:)

 

Slow transfer speeds to USB on Windows 10

Hi Richard,

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

I'm Hahn and I'm here to help you with your concern.

It sounds like you've managed to resolve the slow transfer speed issue by performing a full format on the problematic USB drive, which took quite some time but ultimately restored the drive's functionality. That's great to hear!

A full format essentially wipes the drive completely and rewrites the file system structures, which can fix underlying issues related to the drive's performance. If others are experiencing slow transfer speeds specifically with one USB drive, attempting a full format might indeed be a helpful step to consider.

For anyone encountering similar problems with slow transfer speeds on a specific USB drive, your experience could provide a useful troubleshooting tip. Thanks for sharing your solution!

Your Sincerely

| Microsoft Community Support Specialist

 

USB Transfer speed very slow on windows 10

Try with this

Method 1

Change Hardware Settings for Better Performance

The hardware settings require the external hard drive to remove from your machine safely, so safely disconnect your drive from the computer after finishing all the steps.

Step 1. Open Windows File Explorer and locate your external hard drive. Right-click the external drive icon and choose "Properties" from the drop-down menu.

Step 2. Choose "Hardware" tab, which will display the list of all disks mounted on the particular computer. Select the desired disk you want to improve its transfer performance and click "Properties" at the bottom of the window.

Step 3. In the device properties window select "Change settings".

Step 4. A disk window will pop up. Click the "Policies" tab and select "Optimize for performance".

Step 5. Be alert. You must disconnect the device safely. Right-click the tray icon and click "Safely remove USB Mass Storage Device".

Method 2

Turn off Auto-Tuning Feature in Windows 10

Don't let the auto-tuning feature retards the file transfer speed in Windows 10. You can only disable the feature by five steps.

Step 1. Press Windows key + X and select Command Prompt(Admin).

Step 2. Type "netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled" and press Enter.

Step 3. Now try to transfer the files and check the data transfer speed.

Step 4. Again go to Command Prompt(Admin) and type "netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=normal" and press Enter. This will turn on the Auto-tuning again.

Method 3

Check and Repair System Errors

Corrupted Windows 10 file system could disable, interrupt or slow down the file transfer speed, so let's use the System Maintenance Troubleshooter to repair the wrong files.

Step 1. Open Control Panel and click on the Troubleshooting icon.

Step 2. Select View all in the top left corner.

Step 3. Run System Maintenance Troubleshooter.

Method 4

Turn Off RDC

RDC or Remote Differential Compression has a similar goal but it utilizes alternative ways to help you synchronize large chunks of data. It compresses the data during the network sync, but it can also be a drawback. That’s why we suggest disabling it. If the
problem isn’t solved, you can always re-enable it and move onwards through the list.

Here’s how to turn off RDC:

Step 1. In the Windows Search bar, type Turn Windows and open Turn Windows features on or off.

Step 2. Scroll down and uncheck the “Remote Differential Compression API support” box.

Step 3. Confirm changes.

Method 5

Disable Drive Indexing

In order to speed up the access to files stored on the local storage, Windows offers Drive Indexing. When enabled, this feature will index all files and substantially reduce the waiting time when you search for them in File Explorer. This is a great feature
if you have dozens of similar files which and helps you distinguish them and access them quicker than usual.

However, even though it should work when PC is idle, it sometimes doesn’t. And you can imagine how it can slow the data transfer if starts indexing files while the copying is still at hand.

For that reason, we suggest disabling it. At least temporarily. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1. Open This PC or File Explorer.

Step 2. Right-click on the partition you want to relieve of indexing and open Properties.

Step 3. Uncheck the “Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties” box and restart your PC.

Method 6

Disable your antivirus

In a similar manner, as Drive Indexing can slow down copying, an antivirus might, as well. Of course, instead of indexing, it’s real-time engine might scan them for malware presence. Besides slowing down the transfer, it can also affect the whole system and
hog on the resources. Which adds up to an already heavy burden. That’s the reason why you should disable it until all files are transferred. Obviously, you would want to enable it afterward.

Here’s how to disable Windows Defender:

Step 1. Open Windows Defender Action Center from the notification area.

Step 2. Choose Virus & threat protection.

Step 3. Under the Virus & threat protection settings, click Manage settings.

Step 4. Toggle off Real-time protection.

 

Slow data transfer speed.

Hi,

One of the possible reason that this issue occurs is due to the driver compatibility after Windows upgrade. For us to isolate the issue, we’ll need the following details:

• What type of data transfer speed are you referring to? Is it internet connection speed or file transfer speed?
• If you are referring to file transfer speed, are you using USB drive or Bluetooth to process file transfer? or,
• If you are referring to internet connection speed, are you using Ethernet cable or Wi-Fi?
• Can you tell us any troubleshooting you've done so far?

We'll be waiting for your response.