Slow transfer image from thumb USB drive

Up until recently I notice the transfer image time has changed when I dump a image from my usb thumb drive. I mainly work with compaq and hp small form factor desktops, 2.4-3.0g range. I have 2 images that I use for work, one image is a 1.4g win2k and an xp image that is 2.3g. The win2k would take 2 mins and xp 4min to transfer, now its taking 7 mins for the win2k and 12min for the xp. Can some one tell me why is this? I've been trying to figure this out for a while now and cannot find any answers. Nothing has changed, the hardware is still the same. Originally I thought it could be the thumb drive, but when I try a different usb drive I get the same results. Does anyone know what would cause the transfer rate to slow down?

By the way I am using acronis 8.

 

Was the other USB flashdrive you tried the exact same model as the one you've been using?
If not, then the comparision doesn't mean anything since different flashdrives have different transfer rates.

Are these the rates when restoring from the TI CD?
Or are you just copying the image off the flashdrive to another place while in Windows?

 

My first usb flash drive was a A-data oriental Elite with a transfer rate up 18mb, my 2nd usb is a patriot xporter, suppose to have high transfer rate. I am restoring the image off the flash drive over to HD. Its a quicker way to rebuild my machines.

 

Does anyone have any thoughts about this?

 

Are you using your computer's front or back USB ports?

Do you have any USB devices plugged in now that weren't before. You could try unplugging all USB devices so only the flashdrive is plugged in (if you have a USB keyboard or mouse, leave those plugged in).

Are you using the lastest build of TI 8?

Assuming you have TI 8 installed in Windows, if you do a Validation of the backup image on the flashdrive from Windows, how long does it take? Can you validate your XP 2.3GB image in 4 minutes or less?

You say that nothing has changed, but something must have changed. I only say this because you are getting different results, not to say that you did something wrong. Normally, given the exact same circumstances, a program and computer setup will perform in the exact same manner every time.

 

I don't have anything else plugged into except for the usb where the image is.
My images seem to take a few mins longer then before. I am not doing anything differently. I did put the image on my co workers usb and tested his usb and it dumped the imaged win2k image over to the HD in 2 mins. We are using the same images on different usb drives. What would cause a usb that was fast before to slow down?

 

Hmm, it's a well known fact that flash memory is "only" good for 100,000 write cycles. However, unless both your thumb drives were approaching this figure, it's unlikely that this is the problem.

Regards

Menorcaman

 

I am no where near that figure, any other thoughts? Could it be the hard drive on the pc? But that still wouldn't explain why the image off my co-workers dumped faster.

 

I doubt it's the HD since they are so much faster.

Google for a flash drive speed tester and measure the actual rate for the drive. It is known that the manufacturer's claims are often optomistic. This would also see if anything has changed on the original.

Can you do a restore on one of the earlier "fast" machines to see if there has been something changed on the motherboards/BIOS.

 

I could not find any flash drive speed tester, all reviews came up if you use that search string, do you know of any? I can't re image any other machines once they are on the domain.

 

Try HD Tach 3.0 from Simpli Software.

Edit: Added screenshots of HD Tach "Quick Bench" results for 2 of my thumb drives for you to compare with.

Regards

Menorcaman

 

Avg read speed for both usb are 20.3mb and 27.3mb.

 

Those numbers are pretty good.

Try this, it has sometimes been suggested as a fix for slow restores. Be careful of the spelling!

Please boot your computer from the Acronis True Image rescue disc and press F11 key when the selection screen advising you to select either "Full", "Safe" or "Boot into Windows" option appears. After you get the "Linux kernel command line" prompt, please modify it in the following way:

quiet acpi=off noapic

click on the OK button then and choose "Full Version". That should allow you to use Acronis True Image in some special cases.

 

What is this suppose to do? I just dumping the image again, I am getting the same results, a typical 2 mins image starts at 9 min.

 

ACPI is Advanced Configuration and Power Interface
and APIC is Advanced Programmable Interrrupt Controller.

Apparently on some motherboards they can interfere with the proper operation of TI in the rescue mode which is Linux, not Windows. I've never had to use it but others have.

 

Nothing changed same problem.

 

Something odd here. If those figures are true then they are extraordinary!!

A HD Tach reading for my Samsung Spinrite 250GB USB hard drive is 23.6MB/s. I've just run SiSoftware Sandra on my Udisk PDU02 thumbdrive for comparison and that comes out at 14MB/s. As you can see from the screenshot, Sandra's highest reference reading for a flash drive is 18MB/s.

Regards

Menorcaman

 

Check this out

 

Those figures you quoted are indeed extraordinary then. Only thing I can think of is that your thumbdrives have some form of internal cache and/or are confusing the hell out of HD Tach.

 

Any more thoughts?

 

I think the speeds are correct. Most newer USB flashdrives are a lot faster than the older ones.

I get 21.6MB/sec transfer rate in Vista from my Crucial 1GB Gizmo!overdrive flashdrive (this was on a 700MB file copy).

 

I've been trying to solve this problem for month, I am stuck.

 

In that case, me thinks it's time I invested in a newer/faster USB flash drive.

 

It is only a thought but have you tried defragging your thumb drives and starting over?

Regards

Menorcaman

 

Can you defrag a thumb drive?