Performance issues with external hard drives (PC)

[Jonn]

More than two, yes.

Have tried each one independently without the USB hub installed, with the HD?
Could there be a conflict with your USB hub?

 

[blitzkrieg]

Have tried each one independently without the USB hub installed, with the HD?
Could there be a conflict with your USB hub?

No, I haven't tried that.

I'll put it on my to do list.

Thus far, the complaint about my current hard drive is only minor, but we'll see how things go.

 

[Judge]

Thus far, the complaint about my current hard drive is only minor, but we'll see how things go.

Your primary drive with Windows on it? What's the problem with it?

 

[blitzkrieg]

Your primary drive with Windows on it? What's the problem with it?

I meant my current, external hard drive (not the Windows drive - Windows is installed on an internal SSD which is working okay).

Apologies if that was unclear.

 

[Judge]

I meant my current, external hard drive (not the Windows drive - Windows is installed on an internal SSD which is working okay).

Apologies if that was unclear.

Roger that.

Other than having to transfer data or reinstall apps, reformatting and partitioning the drive for NTFS won't cost you anything.

 

[Outdated]

There's a lot of very good suggestions in this thread. There's some information missing though.

Having a large drive formatted as FAT renders it useless. The FAT file system isn't able to store files larger than 2.15 gig, and it can't even be used on drives bigger than 2 terrabytes. That will be the issue with Steam and games.

The other issue is that Windows itself is pretty bloody useless when it comes to reading large volumes of files. If folders nested within folders goes beyond a certain limit or if you have too many files in one single folder then Windows will often crash when trying to open them. You can help Windows get around this by laying out everything on your drive very neatly, everything in it's own folder, never too much (2047 files) in one folder. Nested folders - folders inside folders inside folders should never go deeper than 8 levels.

 

[Jeff T]

Have you "enabled write caching" on these hard drives? Doing so tripled transfer speeds on the hard drives.....

Device Manager-> disk drives-(double click on desired HD)-> Policies tab-> check box "enable write caching on device"

Just an idea

 

[blitzkrieg]

There's a lot of very good suggestions in this thread. There's some information missing though.

Having a large drive formatted as FAT renders it useless. The FAT file system isn't able to store files larger than 2.15 gig, and it can't even be used on drives bigger than 2 terrabytes. That will be the issue with Steam and games.

The other issue is that Windows itself is pretty bloody useless when it comes to reading large volumes of files. If folders nested within folders goes beyond a certain limit or if you have too many files in one single folder then Windows will often crash when trying to open them. You can help Windows get around this by laying out everything on your drive very neatly, everything in it's own folder, never too much (2047 files) in one folder. Nested folders - folders inside folders inside folders should never go deeper than 8 levels.

FAT32 is unsuitable for storing larger files, but exFAT is designed to do just that. There is a distinction there.

I am using a 12 terabyte drive which has more than 2TB stored on it, formatted with exFAT.

I agree that Windows can be somewhat unreliable with reading large volumes of files.

 

[blitzkrieg]

Have you "enabled write caching" on these hard drives? Doing so tripled transfer speeds on the hard drives.....

Device Manager-> disk drives-(double click on desired HD)-> Policies tab-> check box "enable write caching on device"

Just an idea

I have just enabled that setting, as you suggest. The default of 'quick removal' was on before, but I changed it to 'better performance' which included a tick box for "enabled write caching."

 

[Judge]

This has been an interesting thread to ponder.

While I am exclusively a Linux user and have been for a few years now, I find it disturbing that some manufacturers of external drives offer preformatted drives using exFAT. Mainly given the obvious, that NTFS and FAT32 are more relevant to the marketplace given that Microsoft Windows dominates the market, while Linux occupies only about 4% of it in comparison.

Keeping in mind that Microsoft maintains a militantly proprietary mentality over its Windows operating system. Particularly Windows 11, which seems to offer far less in the way of third-party modifications than before. Leaving me to suspect there are any number of unpublished aspects of Windows in terms of a lack of compatibility of third-party products and various software protocols not created under the Microsoft brand. I just don't trust them.

A big reason for me to switch to Linux, and be able to modify as much as I can understand, as opposed to remain a captive user in a perceived monopoly. Meanwhile I use a 27-year old version of Photoshop 5.5 in Linux presently using Wine 10.0, and that it runs better in Linux than it ever did in Windows 10.