Why do USB jump drives slow down

A

Alex Kopyov

n00b
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Jan 23, 2017
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Every single USB jump drive I ever bought, from cheap to premium eventually slowed down to the point of being unusable for large transfers. Most USB 3.0 drives start at ~100+/-50MB/s transfer speeds. As time goes by they work slower and slower. The slow downs are intermittent. Sometimes you get 20MB/s. Sometimes you get 2MB/s. Sometimes replugging it, or using a different port helps. Usually, it does not. Every single remedy I have seen on the web seems to miss the mark. New, same-model drives show high speeds from the same ports. So, it's not me suddenly using slow ports or having outdated drivers. I have finally switched to carrying a portable SSD which does not seem to have this problem (at least for the several months I had it). But it's too big to carry on a keychain, so it would be nice to know if there is a fix for deteriorating USB jump drives.
 
I'm guessing it's because the flash memory on the USB drives you've been using is slow (or just a really terrible controller). Once you fill up the write buffer, you get a slow down while the buffer waits for the write to the slower flash memory.

Yes, you can use an SSD like you have. If you buy a "premium" USB drive, look for the transfer rates on them. You can find good USB drives with decently fast writes on them. When you're buying one, search for "USB 3.2" and you should be able to find something that will allow a sustained write closer to 60MB/s. Look at reviews also.
 
kirbyrj said:
I'm guessing it's because the flash memory on the USB drives you've been using is slow (or just a really terrible controller). Once you fill up the write buffer, you get a slow down while the buffer waits for the write to the slower flash memory.

Yes, you can use an SSD like you have. If you buy a "premium" USB drive, look for the transfer rates on them. You can find good USB drives with decently fast writes on them. When you're buying one, search for "USB 3.2" and you should be able to find something that will allow a sustained write closer to 60MB/s. Look at reviews also.
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If it's the buffer, would not I see this cycle (Fast then slow) every time I use drive? The pattern I am seeing is that the drive is fast all the time for the first several months of me using it. When it does eventually get slow, it is slow from the beginning of every session. I have seen this pattern with virtually every large-capacity drive I used (low capacity I just did not bother to pay attention). And these drives were from Sandisk, Samsung, PNY, Patriot, and the like, so not a Chinese no-name special.
 
I thought you were talking about file transfers starting fast and then ending slow. Maybe I should read better.

I don't know that I've noticed that trend myself, but I don't use USB storage enough for me to pay attention to the long term speeds.
 
Do the drives support Trim? In general Trim is required to make a used (empty) SSD act like a brand new one.
 
I use the Sandisk Extreme Pro's and they have been performing great for the past couple of years.
CrystalDiskMark_Sandisk_Extremem_Pro_USB_20211215091628.jpg


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I used to rely quite a bit on thumb drives and then I took the plunge and purchased a Samsung T7. My first one was 500GB (and later 2TB) In terms of raw speed and performance, I'll never go back! only downfall is you NEED to make sure if you use any cabling other than what is included that it is up to snuff.
 
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