I'm experiencing really slow file transfer speeds when moving files from my TOSHIBA 2TB HDD to a Samsung 1TB SSD on Windows 11. My HDD is rated for a 6Gbps read speed, while the SSD has impressive specs with 3,400 MB/s for sequential reads and 2,500 MB/s for writes. Yet, I only manage to get around 99 MB/s when transferring files from the HDD to the SSD. I've also tested other combinations, and here are my speeds: HDD to USB is 15 MB/s, USB to SSD is 38 MB/s, and SSD to SSD reached 556 MB/s before slowing down to 26 MB/s. All drives report as healthy in various diagnostic tools. Is there any way to improve these speeds?
2 Answers
Honestly, your speeds are typical because HDDs and USB drives are just slower compared to SSDs. Before we had SSDs, those transfer rates would have been considered good. When it says 'up to' on the drives, remember that's a peak speed, not something you'll consistently hit. Also, the 6Gbps figure for the HDD is about the interface speed, not the actual performance you're likely to see during use.
It sounds like you're just hitting the limitations of your HDD, which is pretty normal for those speeds. The 99 MB/s you're getting is actually in line with non-sequential read speeds for HDDs. You might want to benchmark your drives using a tool like CrystalDiskMark to get a clearer picture of what they can do. Don't forget, the 6Gbps spec you're citing is the interface capability, not the actual data transfer speed, which can lead to some confusion.
I ran CrystalDiskMark, and I got 156.81 MB/s read and 151.21 MB/s write for the HDD. So maybe it’s just the way I'm transferring files that's slowing things down?