Impossibly slow file copy for small files – Windows 7

Five_Star · 21 Sep 2009 at 18:47

As a web developer I deal with lots of small files, site graphics & icons, css files, etc. I also knew all about Vista and its appallingly slow file copy performance which Microsoft had the gall to claim was a “realistic improvement over Windows XP”. Its all well a good being able to copy an entire blu-ray movie about my machine in seconds, but copying a site onto a USB stick takes nearly half an hour!!!

It seems alas that Windows 7 also suffers the same affliction

Is there anything that can be done about it??

Fanatic · 21 Sep 2009 at 18:59

Zip it then copy it... maybe.

rctneil · 21 Sep 2009 at 19:13

yeh, the OP could zip it and then copy it. But why should he?

Windows should be able to copy small files a bit faster than that!

14 minutes for 14 mb is ridiculous!

Five_Star · 21 Sep 2009 at 19:26

It's just finished, 37 minutes to copy 14.4 MB (3,308 files) to a flash drive

Corsair 4GB survivor too

Fanatic · 21 Sep 2009 at 19:26

Got Vista SP1? Didn't that improve file transfer?

Also, could be the USB stick? Try and find a faster one maybe.

Five_Star · 21 Sep 2009 at 19:35

Fanatic said:
Got Vista SP1? Didn't that improve file transfer

I'm running Windows 7

Its a rant more than anything, I've read the technical white papers that Mark Russinovich has written about the so called "improvements" to the file copy algorithm in Vista and Windows 7 but this level of performance sucks big time.

Sure its nice when I can copy a single 4GB database file backup to the same pen stick in just over one minute

progress eh :rolleyes:

Fanatic · 21 Sep 2009 at 19:37

Five_Star said:
I'm running Windows 7

Ah yeah, didn't read that bit

I was reading about cluster sizes, or allocation unit sizes. Maybe you could try formatting the USB with different sizes, see if it any are faster. I am just guessing here by the way

bledd · 21 Sep 2009 at 21:59

always zip before transferring a LOT of files to any media/location..

and disable AV too, will speed everything up

also, disable defender real-time scanning

n1kunj · 21 Sep 2009 at 22:14

I'm pretty sure this is a USB stick limitation, not a Windows issue. Any OS would end up having the same problem copying lots of little files to a USB stick.

Dano · 21 Sep 2009 at 22:15

n1kunj said:
I'm pretty sure this is a USB stick limitation, not a Windows issue. Any OS would end up having the same problem copying lots of little files to a USB stick.

Indeed, USB sticks are always slow when copying lots of files in my experience.

Frapple · 21 Sep 2009 at 22:23

Data sticks should go at around 25-30mb/s now 28kb/s!

Definitely something wrong - have you tried a different data stick?

Dano · 21 Sep 2009 at 22:25

Frapple said:
Data sticks should go at around 25-30mb/s now 28kb/s!

Definitely something wrong - have you tried a different data stick?

Zip it into a single file and it will, it's the multiple files that slow it down.

Five_Star · 21 Sep 2009 at 22:52

My other machine at work has the same issue, transfering a large site (3000+ files) 100MB to a eSATA 500GB disk takes about 15 minutes.

Same disk, but a 4.4GB DVD backup, 2 minutes

AbsenceJam · 22 Sep 2009 at 00:12

The problem is the USB stick, the very best ones can write at 20MB/s for large files. Most are slower than that, and for small files write speeds are horrendous.
Grab ATTO and you'll see this firsthand.

bledd · 22 Sep 2009 at 09:40

windows 2000 for some reason can copy quicker