# [SOLVED] File transfer suddenly drops from 15 MB/s to 0 MB/s



## lool123

Hello, 

On my computer, when i move large files or folders, ranging about 10GB-500GB, between two external HDDs (USB2), the file transfer marches away at the normal speed of about 15MB/s for a little while, and then the speed drops so low it looks as though the file transfer has stopped on windows explorer's file transfer window.

I downloaded a file transfer program called FileCopy (Version 2.11), which has an interface with much more info than windows explorer's, so it was easier to see if any valued actually moved.










50 seconds later (Look at TotalTime):









Notice how it hasn't read or written <100KB in 50 seconds on TotalRead and TotalWrite.

When this happens on Windows Explorer's file transfer, i click cancel, and it starts cancelling, or so it says. It says it's cancelling, and that's it, the file transfer window won't close or go away, and accessing the HDD through My Computer doesn't work. I have to A: Kill explorer.exe, or B: Physically unplug the HDD to be able to access it again and for the file transfer window to close.

For FastCopy it's the same, it won't cancel, but it has a force termination function so the program itself closes, but the destination drive becomes inaccessible.

This has been so for a long time, a year or two really, and the computer was brand new 5 years ago. Today i had Acronis Drive Monitor running, monitoring my internal HDD, and both external HDDs. I could also see here that after i cancelled the file transfer, the destination drive became unmonitorable:









The source drive is a year old, 2TB and full. The destination drive is brand new, 3TB and empty. Both are Western Digital Elements 2.0 (USB2).
My internal HDD is a Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB, and pretty full (1GB left),

Does anyone know what the problem could be? The motherboard? Does the internal HDD work as some kind of buffer or temporary storage while transferring between external hdds?

Edit: Now, after about an hour (Yes, that's about how long it took me to write this post), it looks like the transferring process finally cancelled, because the drive became monitorable and accessible again.


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## JimE

*Re: File transfer suddenly drops from 15 MB/s to 0 MB/s*

Sounds like a faulty drive. In this case, I'd suspect the drive that is dropping from monitoring.

In order for the process to begin to be cancelled, Windows has to communicate with both drives. If one drive is faulty and/or not responding, Windows can't stop the process (thus you having to kill the process).

And yes, the "C:" drive, by default on a standard Windows install, contains the temp folders and can be used to store data being used by the OS.


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## lool123

*Re: File transfer suddenly drops from 15 MB/s to 0 MB/s*

But this has happened numerous times before on a handful other drives, with transfers going either direction, and like i said, the drive that dropped from monitoring is brand new.

Could it be something like the cache getting plugged up? I assume the transfer stream goes through the caches of all the drives;
Source drive -> OS Drive -> Destination Drive

So maybe the cache of the OS drive is borked, or something like that, is that a possibility?

If so, i suppose i could buy a new drive and clone my current C: drive.


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## BIGBEARJEDI

*Re: File transfer suddenly drops from 15 MB/s to 0 MB/s*

We need exact Make/Model of the computer you are attempting to run these tests on please. Also, download Western Digital DLG from their website and run BOTH short and long tests on each of the 3 WD drives. If DLG returns errors on ANY of the 3 drives on either test, that drive has failed and needs to be replaced.

Next, you need to rule out other hardware. Download free Memtest from the link in my signature below and run 8 passes on each and every RAM stick you have in your computer. Depending on size of your RAM stick this could take 12-24 hrs. or more to run these tests on each RAM stick individually. Any stick that Memtest returns errors on that stick has failed and needs to be replaced with a new one. 

These will rule out common failure points in order they are:
1) hard drive(s)
2) RAM memory errors 

Once you've completed this and replaced any faulty drives or RAM sticks; replace faulty components and rerun drive or RAM tests until no errors are returned.

Now you are ready to further test your system. Rerun the large file copy tests. I would start small and work up. Copy 1MB file, 100MB file, 1GB file, 100GB file, 500GB file. Use your existing tools to monitor performance and see if things improve. 

If not, you could still have other hardware damage to your Motherboard. You will need to run additional tests that require more advanced knowledge. I suggest you download the UBCD Linux toolset CD from the link also in my signature. There are over 300 programs on that disk to help you troubleshoot your system. I suggest you run both CPU and BIOS tests to help look at Motherboard health. You can also run PartEd Magic and run the SYSTEM PROFILER and examine closely the health of your individual components on the Motherboard; CPU, GPU, DMA, USB Controller, Video, and Audio. 

If nothing there stands out as a failure; your Motherboard MAY be ok; but it takes expert knowledge to make that determination. You may wish to take your computer into your local Computer Pro at that point if your problem persists and have them make a professional diagnosis with repair estimate. 

Lastly, if you have access to another PC, preferably a desktop, or you can borrow one from a friend, repeat all tests above with your 2 external WD usb drives on that other computer. Do you get the same results, or does the problem abate or get slightly better? If the problem abates, that's a strong indication that it's not a problem with your drives, but with your Motherboard hardware. This could be worth the time; I would estimate 1-2 weeks with many late nights to do this; but with a possible Motherboard replacement in your near future of $175-$400 or more, it might be good to know whether that's really needed. The Computer Pro can assist you with this arduous task, but you've got to pay him and be willing to let go of 2 of the 3 drives you are currently using to get to the bottom of it. 

Post back and let us know how the tests went.

Best,
BIGBEARJEDI


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## lool123

*Re: File transfer suddenly drops from 15 MB/s to 0 MB/s*

Hello, 

I too suspected the RAM at first, so I've run memtest+ once on the system already, i believe with all passes. I've also tried the various BIOS tools for troubleshooting to no avail.

The computer is self built, and here are the specs
CPU: Intel Core I7 950
Mainboard: Gigabyte X58A-UD3R
Memory: 6x 2GB Corsair XMS3
Hard Drive: 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black
Video: Nvidia GTX 650Ti
CD Rom: Sony Optiarc DVD±RW burner AD-7260S
Power Supply: Corsair TX750W
OS: Windows 7 Professional

I believe i tried transferring files like this on different computers, but i don't remember the result, i believe it went well, but i will give it another try, though on a laptop.
I'll also give Western Digital DLG a swing.


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## lool123

*Re: File transfer suddenly drops from 15 MB/s to 0 MB/s*

Hello again, 

Just giving an update so my thread doesn't die:

WD DLG gave my internal drive a pass on both tests.

I also had a BSOD earlier this week while transferring some files over the network from a different computer to this computer's internal drive, no external drives connected.

At this point i start to wonder if one of the RAM sticks have gone bad. Does anyone else share the same suspicion?

Alas, i haven't run the WD DLG test on any of the external drives (yet), but all my experience tells me they're not the problem.

I haven't tried transferring between any of the drives using a different computer yet either, will do that this weekend just to turn my being 95% sure the drives aren't the problem into 99.99% certain the drives aren't the problem.

I have also ordered a new WD Caviar Black 1TB HDD that i will clone my old internal drive onto and use this to confirm whether the HDD is the problem or not. If it's not the problem, it wouldn't have been wasted money either, i am going to build another rig soon enough anyway.

Things are moving slow here, i am at work from i get up in the morning till i go to sleep again in the evening.


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## lool123

*Re: File transfer suddenly drops from 15 MB/s to 0 MB/s*

I had some time to spare today, and so i decided to try transferring some files between my internal HDD (The 'old' one, haven't received the new one i ordered yet) to the empty 3TB external HDD.

I had the same problems here too. The file transfer starts, goes along nicely for a while, and then it starts taking longer between reading and writing, before just about completely freezing. It's because of how it acts that i suspected the cache being borked if that's possible.
The transfer sort of has some congestions occasionally inbetween normal read/write times, and the congestions only get longer and longer, untill the transfer has practically frozen.

Tomorrow i'm going to try transferring between the same two external hdds i used when i started this thread using a different computer.
I'm also going to try doing these transfers on the same computer i used when i started the thread, just removing RAM sticks one by one to see if they're the problem.
I'll also get my new internal hdd tomorrow and i'm going to clone my old internal hdd to the new internal hdd. I've never cloned a disc before, does anyone have any recommendations for a cloning software?


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## BIGBEARJEDI

*Re: File transfer suddenly drops from 15 MB/s to 0 MB/s*

Both your tests are a good idea. Swapping out components is even more reliable than running diagnostics on them. 

As far as cloning software, there are lots to choose from. In my years of experience none of them work 100% perfectly. I'll give you the 3 best: (1) *Macrium Reflect* (Windows); free download version; (2) *Clonezilla* (ISO Linux; available on UBCD linux toolset cd available for free download in my signature below; and (3) *Acronis TrueImage* (Windows); available for free download on WD website. 

*Macrium* is the best tool I've found and it's like 97% functional. The only problem I have with it is that Windows Live Mail store cannot be restored via the clone restore; it's a bug in their program (at least in Windows Vista--all else came back perfectly!) and it's very easy to use. :wink:

*Clonezilla*; part of the ISO Linux toolset of UBCD is an expert-level cloning program and is maybe around 85%. It has issues when you mix brands of hard drives and when you clone on a drive that's on an HP computer and if you try to clone restore it may work; but if you repeat the test with the same hard drive (say a WD drive) on a Dell or a Gateway it won't always work reliably. And it's quite difficult to use; even for experts like me. 

*Acronis TrueImage*; I've haven't done testing on this, but several of my colleagues here find it very easy to use and highly reliable--I can't give you a percentage but it seems to vary from 80%-100%. Acronis has licensed their software for use by the main 2 hard drive companies today; WD and Seagate. The only hitch in the giddy-up is that you have to use at least 1 of the 2 drives the brand you download the TrueImage software from. For you, since you are using a WD drive; you can download TrueImage and use the cloning software for free since 1 of the 2 drives you are cloning (doesn't matter source or target) is a WD. The 2nd drive can be any other brand. Several people in my local computer club use it and swear by it. There are enough recommendations available to tell you about; but I don't guarantee it's performance since I haven't personally tested it. :smile:

I can tell you that cloning an non-boot drive to a non-boot drive is relatively simple. _The toughest task that cloning software can accomplish is cloning a Windows Boot Drive (C: drive) to another hard drive and have it work the 1st time, and every time._ Macrium and Clonezilla do the best job I've seen yet. Acronis is recommended, so you'll just have to try it out and see how it works for you if the other 2 don't work for you.:smile:

Hope that proves useful.:thumb: 

Best,
BBJ


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## lool123

*Re: File transfer suddenly drops from 15 MB/s to 0 MB/s*

Thank you for your advice, i'll give Macronis a shot.
It's the C: drive i'm cloning, and i don't have windows live mail store either, though for precaution's sake i'm transferring as much as i can off the drive first.

Also, what would the difference be between cloning the drive using a cloning software, and just copy-pasting all the old drive's content onto the new drive?
I've done the copy-pasting once before, and i didn't experience any problems then; It was on a laptop, from a WD Blue HDD to a Kingston SSD, the HDD was internal, and the SSD was connected via USB2 as an external. I copy-pasted everything on the internal HDD onto the SSD, and then took out the HDD, and put the SSD into the laptop as the new internal and everything worked.


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## spunk.funk

*Re: File transfer suddenly drops from 15 MB/s to 0 MB/s*

You can copy and paste files from an internal drive to an external, but you cannot copy and paste the Windows OS when booted into Windows, or Programs as these both would need to be reinstalled, or the drive would need to be cloned.


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## BIGBEARJEDI

*Re: File transfer suddenly drops from 15 MB/s to 0 MB/s*



lool123 said:


> Thank you for your advice, i'll give Macronis a shot.
> It's the C: drive i'm cloning, and i don't have windows live mail store either, though for precaution's sake i'm transferring as much as i can off the drive first.
> _>>>>This is probably a typo; but it's either "*MACRIUM REFLECT*", or "*ACRONIS TRUEIMAGE*". "Macronis" is a conjunction of the 2 names. No big deal, just want you to be aware cause Google may not find "MACRONIS"!! :wink:<<<bbj>>>_
> 
> Also, what would the difference be between cloning the drive using a cloning software, and just copy-pasting all the old drive's content onto the new drive?
> I've done the copy-pasting once before, and i didn't experience any problems then; It was on a laptop, from a WD Blue HDD to a Kingston SSD, the HDD was internal, and the SSD was connected via USB2 as an external. I copy-pasted everything on the internal HDD onto the SSD, and then took out the HDD, and put the SSD into the laptop as the new internal and everything worked.


_>>>As Spunk notes in the next Post, copying-pasting of data works, but not the Windows OS. You may have gotten lucky with Windows recognizing most or even all of the drivers, :angel: but this rarely works if ever.:frown: Only Cloning software I described can do both data copying and OS-registry level copying along with partition, MBR, MFT, stuff.<<<bbj>>>_


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## lool123

*Re: File transfer suddenly drops from 15 MB/s to 0 MB/s*

Hehe, yes, i meant Macrium.

Anyway, i tried transferring between the two drives using a different computer, and it went without a hitch, so the drives are cleared.

Then i went for the RAM, i took out 3 sticks and left 3 in. I then tried transferring 100GB and then 160GB (All different files), and it went smoothly without problems both times.
A different think i remembered was that i had problems with some games acting out, specifically Assassin's Creed 3, so i played this game a bit too before taking the sticks out, and replicated the problem (Parts of the screen image becomes "corrupted", minimap icons disappear and are replaced with a black box, etc.), so i played the game once more after having removed 3 of the RAM sticks, and i didn't get that problem either.
Those two in addition to the BSOD i got earlier practically screamed "RAM problem", i was just too focused on the computer's file transfers going properly, as i'd never come across a problem like that before.

So i didn't get to use the new internal drive. I'll either clone it and replace the old drive anyway, as the old drive is a WD Caviar Black 1TB version 2 (WD1002FAEX) and the new drive is WD Caviar Black 1TB version 3 (WD1003FZEX). So i suppose it's better... Somehow...
Or i'll just save it for when i build my new rig.

Anyway, thank you all for all your help and advice. Since this is corsair RAM i apparently have 120 months of warranty (AKA Limited Lifetime Warranty), so i'll be sending all 3 back. Since the 3 i took out now aren't from the same pack (I had bought 2 packs of 3x2GB with some time between, so half the RAM sticks are even different versions), i still need to determine which one stick has the problem, and send those 3 belonging sticks back.

I suppose that with this it's thread solved! Thank you all again.


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## BIGBEARJEDI

Sure, thing, Lool; glad to help! :grin: Quite interesting that it was in that 2nd bank of RAM.:wink:

Good Luck!
BBJ


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