Very slow USB Speed from external HDD

[breather]

Setup
iMac Late 2015 with macOS Monteray Old External HDD: WDT-D3C(B) 2TB USB 2.0 (2TB Wester Digital USB2.0) with filesystem Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

Problem
I'm transferering roughly 1100 files (600GB) from an older HDD to a newer USB 3.0 4tb HDD and I'm getting absolutely horrible speeds. It says it will take 24 days for it to finish. Can't be right. Tried transferring directly to internal HDD instead of to the new external and there is no difference. Tried different USB ports, no difference. Transfering stuff from internal HDD to the new external HDD seems just fine

Questions
Is there software to measure speed from the HDD, maybe the USB ports? Is the old HDD broken? Should I update some firmware/software or anything else? What can the problem be? What can I do to fix this?

Thanks

 

[chabig]

You're right. 24 days would be terrible. But let it continue, and the estimate will likely decrease. Don't expect to transfer 600GB in 20 minutes though. I would not be surprised if it took a day.

 

[breather]

You're right. 24 days would be terrible. But let it continue, and the estimate will likely decrease. Don't expect to transfer 600GB in 20 minutes though. I would not be surprised if it took a day.

I transferred around 300gb the same way. It took 4 days.

 

[chabig]

It has been awhile since I transferred that much, but I remember it taking a few days too. The 24 day estimate you're seeing should decrease. I think those estimates are hard to get right.

 

[breather]

I used a calculator for speeds I found on the web it says it should take 3-4 hours. That’s optimal conditions I’m assuming, but even if just takes a day I’m happy.

 

[Mike Boreham]

3-4 hrs sounds like USB 3 speed. If the old HDD really is USB 2 as you say, it will take a lot longer.
If the old HDD is actually USB 3, are you using a USB 3 cable.
Feels like a very long time ago that HDDs were USB 2.

 

[breather]

3-4 hrs sounds like USB 3 speed. If the old HDD really is USB 2 as you say, it will take a lot longer.
If the old HDD is actually USB 3, are you using a USB 3 cable.
Feels like a very long time ago that HDDs were USB 2.

From systeminformation (in Swedish though)
This: Hastighet: Upp till 480 Mbit/

That's USB 2.0 right?



Ext HDD 1021:

Produkt-ID: 0x1021


Tillverkar-ID: 0x1058 (Western Digital Technologies, Inc.)


Version: 20.02


Serienummer: 5743415A4132393830303332


Hastighet: Upp till 480 Mbit/s


Tillverkare: Western Digital


Plats-ID: 0x14600000 / 6


Tillgänglig ström (mA): 500


Nödvändig ström (mA): 2


Extra arbetsström (mA): 0


Media:


Ext HDD 1021:


Kapacitet: 2 TB (2 000 396 746 752 byte)



Borttagbart medium: Nej


BSD-namn: disk4


Logical Unit: 0


Typ av partitionskarta: Huvudstartpost (MBR)


S.M.A.R.T.-status: Kontrollerad


USB Interface: 0


Volymer:


Media:


Kapacitet: 2 TB (2 000 395 698 176 byte)


Ledigt: 1,4 TB (1 395 382 263 808 byte)


Skrivbar: Ja


Filsystem: Journalförd HFS+


BSD-namn: disk4s1


Inlänkningsplats: /Volumes/Media


Innehåll: Apple_HFS


Volymens UUID: CF14A64E-3564-31F4-98D3-5FD2EEFD182E


I also did a Disk Utility test and found a problem... this, also in Swedish
Kör Skivkontroll på ”Media” (disk4s1)

Kontrollerar och reparerar filsystemet ifall det behövs och är möjligt.
Volymen är redan avlänkad.
Utför fsck_hfs -fy -x /dev/rdisk4s1
Kontrollerar journalförd HFS Plus-volym.
Kontrollerar filen extents overflow.
Kontrollerar katalogfil.
Kontrollerar filer med flera länkar.
Kontrollerar kataloghierarki.
Kontrollerar filen med utökade attribut.
Ogiltig nodstruktur - Invalid Nodestructure
Volymen Media kunde inte kontrolleras fullständigt. - The Volumen Media could not be controlled completely
Avslutningskoden för filsystemkontrollen är 8.
Återskapar det ursprungliga läget som avlänkad.
Kontroll eller reparation av filsystemet misslyckades. : (-69845)

Åtgärden misslyckades…

 

[Fishrrman]

Just some thoughts...

Stop the current transfer.
Then, try transferring SMALLER AMOUNTS of data.
Perhaps 50 files "at a time".

Swap out the USB3 cable (with the "blue tips", if you are using any), for USB2 cables. I know this "sounds illogical", but try it anyway.

WHAT FORMAT is "the target drive" in?
If it's going to be a "data only" drive (not bootable), I'd suggest HFS+ as the format to use (instead of APFS). Particularly if it's a platter-based hard drive.

 

[breather]

Just some thoughts...

Stop the current transfer.
Then, try transferring SMALLER AMOUNTS of data.
Perhaps 50 files "at a time".

Swap out the USB3 cable (with the "blue tips", if you are using any), for USB2 cables. I know this "sounds illogical", but try it anyway.

Gonna try this.
Think the cable I'm using its the one that came with the HDD, but Ill switch it out if I have another

 

[JLB7]

‎Blackmagic Disk Speed Test

‎Disk Speed Test is an easy to use tool to quickly measure and certify your disk performance for working with high quality video! Simply click the start button and Disk Speed Test will write test your disk using large blocks of data, and then display the result. Disk Speed Test will continue to...

apps.apple.com

 

[MauiPa]

Bad hard drive? I transfer 300 GB to an he’s in a little over an hour. Transfer between hdds in about the same on my M1 MBP. ALL HDDS are USB 3+

Troubleshooting for you:

• Bad Hdd
• Bad cable
• Older Usb
• Outdated firmware on drive
• You loaded WD crap ware ( or drive manufacturers equivalent) on Mac. Don’t, literally, WD crap ware literally rendered 2 drives unreadable- had to recover drives, lost data
• Insufficient power for drive - wrong power adapter or using a hub without supplying power

Good luck

 

[Mike Boreham]

From systeminformation (in Swedish though)
This: Hastighet: Upp till 480 Mbit/

That's USB 2.0 right?



Ext HDD 1021:

Produkt-ID: 0x1021


Tillverkar-ID: 0x1058 (Western Digital Technologies, Inc.)


Version: 20.02


Serienummer: 5743415A4132393830303332


Hastighet: Upp till 480 Mbit/s


Tillverkare: Western Digital


Plats-ID: 0x14600000 / 6


Tillgänglig ström (mA): 500


Nödvändig ström (mA): 2


Extra arbetsström (mA): 0


Media:


Ext HDD 1021:


Kapacitet: 2 TB (2 000 396 746 752 byte)



Borttagbart medium: Nej


BSD-namn: disk4


Logical Unit: 0


Typ av partitionskarta: Huvudstartpost (MBR)


S.M.A.R.T.-status: Kontrollerad


USB Interface: 0


Volymer:


Media:


Kapacitet: 2 TB (2 000 395 698 176 byte)


Ledigt: 1,4 TB (1 395 382 263 808 byte)


Skrivbar: Ja


Filsystem: Journalförd HFS+


BSD-namn: disk4s1


Inlänkningsplats: /Volumes/Media


Innehåll: Apple_HFS


Volymens UUID: CF14A64E-3564-31F4-98D3-5FD2EEFD182E


I also did a Disk Utility test and found a problem... this, also in Swedish
Kör Skivkontroll på ”Media” (disk4s1)

Kontrollerar och reparerar filsystemet ifall det behövs och är möjligt.
Volymen är redan avlänkad.
Utför fsck_hfs -fy -x /dev/rdisk4s1
Kontrollerar journalförd HFS Plus-volym.
Kontrollerar filen extents overflow.
Kontrollerar katalogfil.
Kontrollerar filer med flera länkar.
Kontrollerar kataloghierarki.
Kontrollerar filen med utökade attribut.
Ogiltig nodstruktur - Invalid Nodestructure
Volymen Media kunde inte kontrolleras fullständigt. - The Volumen Media could not be controlled completely
Avslutningskoden för filsystemkontrollen är 8.
Återskapar det ursprungliga läget som avlänkad.
Kontroll eller reparation av filsystemet misslyckades. : (-69845)

Åtgärden misslyckades…

Yes that's USB 2. My memory of USB2 drives is that 25MB/s real world transfer was not unusual. But even that should mean 600GB in 6.7 hours. So something else is going on. I would definitely try a different cable.

I have not seen that Disk Utility message before. I assume DU didn't repair it. As it is HFS, third party apps like Diskwarrior would attempt repair, but my instinct would be to try and transfer as it is, first.

 

[breather]

Bad hard drive? I transfer 300 GB to an he’s in a little over an hour. Transfer between hdds in about the same on my M1 MBP. ALL HDDS are USB 3+

Troubleshooting for you:

• Bad Hdd
• Bad cable
• Older Usb
• Outdated firmware on drive
• You loaded WD crap ware ( or drive manufacturers equivalent) on Mac. Don’t, literally, WD crap ware literally rendered 2 drives unreadable- had to recover drives, lost data
• Insufficient power for drive - wrong power adapter or using a hub without supplying power

Good luck

Thanks, will try to troubleshoot a bit and see what I can come up with.
No WD crapware, It has power, Tried different cable,

 

[breather]

Yes that's USB 2. My memory of USB2 drives is that 25MB/s real world transfer was not unusual. But even that should mean 600GB in 6.7 hours. So something else is going on. I would definitely try a different cable.

I have not seen that Disk Utility message before. I assume DU didn't repair it. As it is HFS, third party apps like Diskwarrior would attempt repair, but my instinct would be to try and transfer as it is, first.

Tried a different cable, no change.
Did a new disk utility test and got no error.

my guess is that WD has made a crap HDD and it’s on the verge of breaking.

 

[profcutter]

In the old days, I never had good luck with Western Digital, but now they own most of their hard drive competitors, so it’s harder to choose a reliable brand. I second the idea of doing batches, maybe 50G at a time. Do it quickly if you’re really worried about drive failure.

 

[Analog Kid]

I was going to mention Blackmagic, but it looks like someone has.

The transfer completion estimates are based on average transfer times up to the moment. Small files take longer than big files, so if there are a lot of small files at the beginning of the transfer it will make the times look really bad in the beginning but they might improve later.

In some cases I’ve had better luck copying from the command line than through Finder. Depending on what you’re doing, there might be a preferred option:

What is the difference between `dd`, `cp` and `rsync`?

Besides the explanations from the man pages and --help information, in which way do the commands dd, cp and rsync differ when used to copy files? In which context is each of these superior to the o...

unix.stackexchange.com

That said, my first timemachine backup to an external drive from Monterey took much, much longer than I think it should have so it’s not impossible there’s a problem with the OS.

 

[Realityck]

Setup
iMac Late 2015 with macOS Monteray Old External HDD: WDT-D3C(B) 2TB USB 2.0 (2TB Wester Digital USB2.0) with filesystem Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

Problem
I'm transferering roughly 1100 files (600GB) from an older HDD to a newer USB 3.0 4tb HDD and I'm getting absolutely horrible speeds. It says it will take 24 days for it to finish. Can't be right. Tried transferring directly to internal HDD instead of to the new external and there is no difference. Tried different USB ports, no difference. Transfering stuff from internal HDD to the new external HDD seems just fine

Questions
Is there software to measure speed from the HDD, maybe the USB ports? Is the old HDD broken? Should I update some firmware/software or anything else? What can the problem be? What can I do to fix this?

Thanks

Usually a HDD is about 115 to 130 Mbps transfer.
use this calculator

File Transfer Time Calculator - Techinternets

600 GB with 115 Mbps transfer takes 13 hours, 3 minutes, 34 seconds.

If you used a USB 3 SSD 1TB drive you still have the issue that 2015 iMac USB ports aren't 10 Gbps like USB-C ports on the 2017 model. USB 3.0 (also known as SuperSpeed USB)on your iMac has a maximum bandwidth rate of 5 gbps (gigabits per second). That translates to 640 MBps (megabytes per second) tops.

Most of the tests shows at best 500 Mbps with external SSD. Thats still faster than HDD to HDD. Could say you at that point a newer Mac with USB-C ports could add some years to your life with external SSD to your internal SSD at about 1000 Mbps. NVme SSD could do 2 or 3 times faster.

 

[lostless]

also USB is terrible at transferring a lot of tiny files (in the KB and low MB range). It has to pause and start the new file transfer for each file. It happens in the background. Even a gig can take a long time if its made up of very small files.

 

[BaggieBoy]

When I was trying to get the fastest possible external HDD I used the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test app.