External HD Transfer Question....

[Alty]

Just bought a 320Gb seagate external hard disk after seein it advertised on TV and thought it would be ideal for backing up my files currently on my PC, namely films and music. I have plugged it in and it supports USB2 but when I transfer files I gotta say its bloomin slow and not what I expected at all. It's taking about 5-7 mins to transfer a 700mb file. Does this sound right? Also when I'm transferring files it slows down the rest of my system to a snails pace. I'm new to the whole external hard disk scene but if this is the norm then I am severely disappointed - what experiences are the rest of you guys havin?

 

[Alty]

Just a lil update for you all, I forgot to mention that the hard drive I was transferring files from was an IDE drive and was slowing the whole system down during the process. I then tried transferring files from one of my SATA drives and must say that the whole speed issue was a marked improvement and doesnt lag the system up at all compared to the IDE hard drives. All I do now is back up my IDE hard disks overnight while I'm alseep. I can't wait to jus get rid of IDE altogether believe you me!!