Extremely Slow Windows 11 File Transfer Speeds

[FailedtodownloadmoreRAM47]

Afternoon

 

Having an issue today with my dads windows 11 laptop (Acer Aspire A514-54). I don't use windows 11 so was wondering if anyone else had a similar experince.

 

Problem

 

Trying to transfer large amount of files 110GB (multiple seasons of a tv show) from a external HDD to the internal NVMe PCI-e Gen 3 SSD (Kingston OM8PCP3512F-AA) and after about 8% of the file transfer the speed of the transfer tanks to 0 bytes and then barely goes above 10MB/s. 

 

I assumed it was the cache being filled so then cancelled the transfer and tried a smaller file (single episode about 1 GB) and same thing happens after about 25% the file transfer again tanks to 0 bytes.

 

I assumed it was maybe a issue as the external HDD is quite old (even though i do not have any problems using it on my system) so I tried to copy a file from his desktop to his desktop (again only a small 1GB  file) and it went from 550MB/s to again 0 bytes after 25%.

 

Searched though plenty of guides online and tried multiple fixes and nothing seems to work. His windows 11 is completely up-to-date, all firmware up-to-date.

 

Tried everything in this guide and still no luck

 

tomshardware.com/how-to/optimize-ssd-in-windows

 

 I use the external HDD on my own system to transfer files from a large HDD all the time and it never has this kind of slow file transfer (used it to transfer 40GB 2 days ago on to my mums laptop which took under 10 mins) so i am thinking it has something to do with my dads Acer laptop and windows 11.

 

So, have any windows 11 users who transfer large files had this issue? as i am not sure how to fix this issue as it cannot be normal for file transfers to take that long on a well maintained, less than a year old laptop, which makes me think there is some setting or option that is preventing the drive from operating correctly.

 

Sorry for the long post and any help or advice would be much appreciated.

[adm0n]

25 minutes ago, FailedtodownloadmoreRAM47 said:

I assumed it was maybe a issue as the external HDD is quite old (even though i do not have any problems using it on my system) so I tried to copy a file from his desktop to his desktop (again only a small 1GB  file) and it went from 550MB/s to again 0 bytes after 25%.

This doesn't sound like everything is working as it should and it is definitely not a windows 11 feature.

 

When you copy the file on his laptop, have you checked in the Taskmanager what is happening? You can get some helpful info in the drive there,

 

This is how it looks for me copying a ~14GB file from my SSD to my SSD

Spoiler

If you do this on your dads laptop and the activity time stays at 100% but the read/write speeds go to zero, it usually indicates a problem with the SSD. You could download crystaldisk info to check on the health of the SSD. (https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/). I'd go with the one, that doesn't have a japanese sounding name after it, otherwise there will be anime girls all over your SSD infos. Unless you are into that of course

[Alex Atkin UK]

42 minutes ago, FailedtodownloadmoreRAM47 said:

Trying to transfer large amount of files 110GB (multiple seasons of a tv show) from a external HDD to the internal NVMe PCI-e Gen 3 SSD (Kingston OM8PCP3512F-AA) and after about 8% of the file transfer the speed of the transfer tanks to 0 bytes and then barely goes above 10MB/s.

That's what happens when you fill the SLC cache of an SSD.  It can only go full speed for a certain percentage of the drive size, the larger the drive, the larger the SLC cache.

 

Its why I went back to SATA SSDs when moving large files around, as SATA being slower can actually make it feel smoother - as it will take longer the fill the cache and once full it can cause the OS to become less responsive as its waiting for IO.

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/kingston-nv2-1-tb-m-2-nvme-ssd/6.html

 

I've seen a lot of reviews claiming minimum speeds remain above 100MB/s, but my personal experience in real world use has been similar to yours, where it can tank really low - likely as its having to perform erase cycles at the same time. 

 

You generally get better performance filling a completely empty drive vs one you have deleted files from and might not have ran a TRIM cycle yet to clear those blocks.

[johnno23]

SSDs in laptops also heat up quite fast which also compounds the issue. Once an SSD has hit it temp threshold it will slow down to prevent over heating and possible damage. you could try hitting pause on the transfers then after a few minute let it continue and see if that helps.

However regardless of what you do you are basically limited by what the hardware is capable of.

[Alex Atkin UK]

5 minutes ago, johnno23 said:

SSDs in laptops also heat up quite fast which also compounds the issue. Once an SSD has hit it temp threshold it will slow down to prevent over heating and possible damage. you could try hitting pause on the transfers then after a few minute let it continue and see if that helps.

However regardless of what you do you are basically limited by what the hardware is capable of.

True, but thermal throttling usually happens pretty quickly, unlikely it would reach 8% before that happened.

[FailedtodownloadmoreRAM47]

1 hour ago, adm0n said:

This doesn't sound like everything is working as it should and it is definitely not a windows 11 feature.

 

When you copy the file on his laptop, have you checked in the Taskmanager what is happening? You can get some helpful info in the drive there,

 

This is how it looks for me copying a ~14GB file from my SSD to my SSD

  Reveal hidden contents

If you do this on your dads laptop and the activity time stays at 100% but the read/write speeds go to zero, it usually indicates a problem with the SSD. You could download crystaldisk info to check on the health of the SSD. (https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/). I'd go with the one, that doesn't have a japanese sounding name after it, otherwise there will be anime girls all over your SSD infos. Unless you are into that of course

I checked task manager while transferring the files and SSD was at 100% usage but transfer speeds were no zero. It keeps going back up to nearly 10MB/s but only briefly. I will download Crystal Disk Mark and run to check if there are any problems with the disk. Thank you for the speedy reply.

[adm0n]

4 minutes ago, FailedtodownloadmoreRAM47 said:

Crystal Disk Mark

Downlaod Crystal Disk Info, not the disk mark!

[FailedtodownloadmoreRAM47]

1 hour ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

That's what happens when you fill the SLC cache of an SSD.  It can only go full speed for a certain percentage of the drive size, the larger the drive, the larger the SLC cache.

 

Its why I went back to SATA SSDs when moving large files around, as SATA being slower can actually make it feel smoother - as it will take longer the fill the cache and once full it can cause the OS to become less responsive as its waiting for IO.

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/kingston-nv2-1-tb-m-2-nvme-ssd/6.html

 

I've seen a lot of reviews claiming minimum speeds remain above 100MB/s, but my personal experience in real world use has been similar to yours, where it can tank really low - likely as its having to perform erase cycles at the same time. 

 

You generally get better performance filling a completely empty drive vs one you have deleted files from and might not have ran a TRIM cycle yet to clear those blocks.

Thank you for this info. I keep all my media files on my my rig HDD and transfer them over to the external drive so i would have not encountered the issue with the cache filling. I use a WD blue NVMe pci-e gen 3 SSD as my main drive and never seem to have the same tanking transfer speeds as are present in my dads laptop. I regularlly transfer large files from my media HDD to my Main SSD with these issues.

 

Stupid question my dad does run Norton Anti-virus (he gets a full sub from his broadband provider for free and does need it as he is not that confident with security problems with his system and like to have the protection). Would this possibly be interfearing in anyway? As the other 2 systems I transfer to and from dont use anti-virus (except good old windows defender).

 

Thanks for the information and the reply.

[FailedtodownloadmoreRAM47]

4 minutes ago, adm0n said:

Downlaod Crystal Disk Info, not the disk mark!

I will.

 

What is the diffence between them? (except the name).

[FailedtodownloadmoreRAM47]

56 minutes ago, johnno23 said:

SSDs in laptops also heat up quite fast which also compounds the issue. Once an SSD has hit it temp threshold it will slow down to prevent over heating and possible damage. you could try hitting pause on the transfers then after a few minute let it continue and see if that helps.

However regardless of what you do you are basically limited by what the hardware is capable of.

Doesnt seem to physically heat up and as good cooling and airflow. thanks for the reply.

[FailedtodownloadmoreRAM47]

finally finished transferring 10 mins ago so about 5 hours for just over 100GB of tv programmes (like 100+ episodes). will run crystal disk info next time I am down to see if there is anything wrong with the drive health. Thank you for all of your responses and replies to this issue. Have a great weekend.

[johnno23]

well the laptop does have options for storage upgrade according to the specs. 50 bucks you drop in a brand new 1TB is what i would do.

Dumping 110 gigs of tv shows on the boot drive is not really what i would in the first place but I am assuming you just wanted to help out your father with access to the tv shows he would like to see. 

 

anyways heres the storage info i found on a review of the laptop

" The CPU and 4 GB of RAM are soldered on the motherboard and non-upgradable, but the laptop also offers a memory DIMM, and upgradeable storage, with an M.2 SSD slot and a 2.5″ bay for a matching HDD/SSD, with the required connector already included. Upgradeable memory and a 2.5″ bay are hardly available on other modern 14-inch laptops, and for some of your could be a reason to consider this Aspire 5 over other options."

[adm0n]

51 minutes ago, FailedtodownloadmoreRAM47 said:

What is the diffence between them? (except the name).

The one gives you information and the other is a benchmark