Why is my USB file transfer really slow?

I have a Classic. And I have a Windows 7 machine.

When I connect the device via USB to access/transfer files on the SD card using Windows Explorer, it takes a long time for it to read and display the contents on the SD card.

I don't see a way to do that using Link if I want full manual control of what to move or copy, so it seems Windows Explorer is my only option.

If I remove the SD card and insert it into a USB 3 card reader, it all goes lightning fast.

I'd really like to be able to do this without having to remove and reinsert the SD card each time. Am I missing something?

Thanks!

When you are experiencing the slowness is Link or Blend already running on the computer?
If so Link, if set to defaults, will be syncing the media, libraries, and other stuff in the background with the computer.
Blend will be syncing and caching BBM, emails and messages, and your File Manager.
All of which slows down the whole USB speeds.

Other than that, generally the speeds are a bit slower via USB than if the SD card was removed and put in a dedicated card reader.

It would be helpful if you told us what 'slow' means. Transfer a single large file (~100 MB) and tell us how long it took.

Also, the USB connection on your phone is USB 2 (relatively slow). Since your dedicated card reader is USB 3 (fast), it could explain the difference in speed you are seeing.

++++ Edit:

I transferred a 97 MB file from computer to SD card on my z30 via USB 2. It took about 35 seconds. In reverse, it took only 12 seconds. The SD card I'm using is a Samsung Evo 64GB.

With the "turn on wireless connection to my computer" Enabled in BB Link, I unplugged the USB cabled and repeated the test to see if it would transfer faster over WiFi. It took longer to transfer, but my WiFi router is crap; if you have a good N router and are close to it, you might be better off transferring files over WiFi.

I'm aware of the difference in speeds between USB 2 and USB 3. My inquiry was on the hope there may still be something else I'm overlooking.

When I connect the phone to the computer via USB, just having Windows Explorer complete the reading of the contents of the folder I want to copy files from takes a full 40 seconds -- 10 seconds to read the disk so I can navigate to the folder, and then 30 seconds before the green status bar across the top of the Windows Explorer screen is completed once I do select the folder I want to copy from. The folder has about 7 GB of data (audio files). Then, copying a 110-MB file to the computer took 30 seconds. Then, refreshing the source folder took another 10 seconds. Then, copying a 20-MB file to the computer took only 4 seconds.

So, reading the contents of the card is a major part of the bottleneck.

Neither Link nor Blend was opened at the time.

Using Link seems to work faster, but it has limits that seem locked in in terms of what can be accessed. The folder where these audio files are, for instance, is a subfolder under Documents that my call recorder software created. I can't navigate to it in Link. I guess I can tell the software to put the files in the main Documents folder, and I may try that, but I lose a lot of organizational control if I have to do that with all apps that create files.

I can't find an easy way to use WiFi but I'm pretty sure it will be slower than USB 2 regardless of the router being used.

By the way, using the Lexar USB 3 card reader, the card contents are read by Windows Explorer virtually instantly, and copying that 110-MB file to the computer took 4 seconds. I'm using a SanDisk Ultra 64 GB card.

When you are in USB host mode with any device, it is the device itself, not your computer, that is "reading" the data off of the card, and writing it to the card. You will be bottlenecked by the i/o speed of the bus that the SD card reader is connected to in the phone, as well as the speed of the phone's processor.

Obviously, none of that is the case when you have the card in a USB card reader directly inserted into the computer - you're using your PC's processor at that point, which is absolutely much more powerful than your phone's processor, and with USB 3, on a considerably faster data bus.

The Classic's processor isn't especially fast, and the card reader bus probably isn't super-fast on most 3-year-old SoCs. I would imagine that a Passport would turn in much lower transfer times with its faster processor and faster (and maybe even wider?) bus. But no phone is going to compare to a USB 3 card reader, especially not a phone with a USB 2 interface.

I don't really think there is anything more you can do. Back when that SoC was designed, 32 Gig cards were just being released, and were expensive and rare. Common micro-SD card sizes were 2, 4, and 8 GB, and the number of files would usually have been lower, so these performance limitations wouldn't have been so obvious.

This just gives a good example of why the industry needs newer and faster devices all the time - it's easy for us to forget how much more we ask of our devices every year, and even if something like the SD card slot "works" with much larger cards, that doesn't mean it will work "well." Standards improve (USB 2 to USB 3, 8 GB to 128 GB, etc.) and the more you use the newer standards, the more obvious the shortcomings of an older device are. My parents have Moto G 2nd-Gen phones, and while SD cards work there too, they don't work nearly as fast as in, say, an LG G4. It is what it is. The Moto G was $180 vs. $650 for the G4.

Thanks for this detailed reply. It all makes perfect sense, of course, and is pretty much what I expected (though inquiring is never a bad thing).

You touch on a provocative topic, by the way. I picked up my Android tablet the other day to see about typing memos to sync to my cloud world instead of handwriting notes when out running around or even running around the house, and discovered Swype (or whatever Samsung's current version of that is). Holy bat sh-t, Batman! So that made me wonder what the Passport might be able to do along similar lines.

I did a little looking around online, though, and it seemed a bit discouraging. It seems the Passport's keyboard efficiency has some pros and some cons as compared to that of the Classic, which is what I use and love.

Going to the Passport would also mean no longer staying with Verizon, which is all I've ever used and which I love as well. If I did get a Passport, I suspect it would be as a "second" phone, like my Z30 is now, just for playing videos and surfing the web and so forth. Though one never knows. It does have a physical keyboard so I guess anything's possible.

When this recent issue came up I looked to see if the Passport happened to support USB 3 and saw that it does not. But your comment about it potentially doing USB transfer considerably faster than what I have now is, well, as I said, provocative.

I suspect it would probably still, at best, be much closer to the speeds I'm getting now via USB with the Classic than what I'm getting with the USB 3 card reader. Agreed?

Any chance you care to direct me to a thread that makes a good case for getting a Passport, even given the facts that (1) it has compromises in the physical keyboard compared to the Classic; (2) it's bulkier to carry around compared to the Classic; and (3) I'd have to become an AT&T customer for the first time?

As to coping files off the Classic, I guess I'm left with looking at the positive side and marveling over the fact that an ordinary paper clip has become the single most advanced piece of high-tech equipment I have in my arsenal at present!

Thanks so much!

[By the way, my username on the forum is classact. I started the thread without realizing I wasn't logged in, or that it even let's you do that, and then I didn't see a way to change it to show my username. Oh, well.]

Do you perhaps have SD card encryption turned on? This slows down transfers significantly!

Z30STA100-5/10.3.1.2558

Originally Posted by GreenCopperz

Do you perhaps have SD card encryption turned on? This slows down transfers significantly!

Z30STA100-5/10.3.1.2558

I haven't done anything along those lines -- I've never enabled it or disabled it. So, whatever I have is the defaults. I assume that means it's off.

Yes should be off but worth a double check. Also if you go to the sd card consortium website, if you use their format software instead of built-in windows or Mac, you may gain some improvements. Good luck! Welcome to the forums.

Z30STA100-5/10.3.1.2558

Try mass storage mode. It's probably copying in network mode that's super slow.

FML

Originally Posted by classact

Thanks for this detailed reply. It all makes perfect sense, of course, and is pretty much what I expected (though inquiring is never a bad thing).

You're welcome.

I suspect it would probably still, at best, be much closer to the speeds I'm getting now via USB with the Classic than what I'm getting with the USB 3 card reader. Agreed?

Yes, agree. The Passport should be measurably faster than the Classic, but still no where in the class of a USB 3 direct connection.

Any chance you care to direct me to a thread that makes a good case for getting a Passport, even given the facts that (1) it has compromises in the physical keyboard compared to the Classic; (2) it's bulkier to carry around compared to the Classic; and (3) I'd have to become an AT&T customer for the first time?

Probably best if you just do some reading in the Passport forum, to get both sides of the argument.

As far as the carriers go, the reality is that Verizon's coverage is better (or existent) in more rural, "middle of nowhere" areas than AT&T, but in anyplace with a decent population, you aren't going to notice much if any difference. Further, because AT&T uses GSM, you could move the phone to T-Mobile, or use a local SIM in most of the world in your phone with no issue. AT&T's phones are the closest to "universal" of any carrier (though individual phones may vary slightly in supported bands). Otherwise, I suspect you wouldn't be able to tell much if any difference between being on Verizon and being on AT&T.

Originally Posted by GreenCopperz

Yes should be off but worth a double check. Also if you go to the sd card consortium website, if you use their format software instead of built-in windows or Mac, you may gain some improvements. Good luck! Welcome to the forums.

Z30STA100-5/10.3.1.2558

Thanks. I'll try that.

Originally Posted by John Vieira

Try mass storage mode. It's probably copying in network mode that's super slow.

FML

Dude! Holy solution, Batman! I tried that and it behaves "almost" as well as the USB 3 card reader! Windows Explorer seemed to instantly report the contents of the disk, and copying that 110-MB file to the computer took about 12 seconds (as opposed to 4 with the USB 3 card reader and 70 via USB in network mode between the 10 seconds to read the drive, 30 seconds to read the folder, and then 30 seconds to copy the file).

I'm a bit confused, though. Where you change the setting, the notice says Link and File Manager won't work. Link indeed does not see the device at all and Windows Explorer doesn't see the internal storage either -- it just sees the SD card -- which is what the notice indicates. But File Manager on the device and apps that access the media card for read and write seem to be just fine with it. So I don't know what it means that File Manager won't work when it seems to work fine.

So, I just have to go in and change this back and forth depending on my needs whenever connecting to the computer, then. Pretty much. Right?

It seems there are zero downsides to doing this other than the fact that the computer can't see the device this way. Pretty much, right? Or are there any related quirks that result that I should know about?

(Also, any opinion on the potential virtues of reformatting as was suggested, too, please.)

Thank you! Awesome!

[EDITED -- Corrected: Changed 40 seconds via former USB network approach to 70 seconds.]

Originally Posted by classact

Dude! Holy solution, Batman! I tried that and it behaves "almost" as well as the USB 3 card reader! Windows Explorer seemed to instantly report the contents of the disk, and copying that 110-MB file to the computer took about 12 seconds (as opposed to 4 with the USB 3 card reader and 70 via USB in network mode between the 10 seconds to read the drive, 30 seconds to read the folder, and then 30 seconds to copy the file).

I'm a bit confused, though. Where you change the setting, the notice says Link and File Manager won't work. Link indeed does not see the device at all and Windows Explorer doesn't see the internal storage either -- it just sees the SD card -- which is what the notice indicates. But File Manager on the device and apps that access the media card for read and write seem to be just fine with it. So I don't know what it means that File Manager won't work when it seems to work fine.

So, I just have to go in and change this back and forth depending on my needs whenever connecting to the computer, then. Pretty much. Right?

It seems there are zero downsides to doing this other than the fact that the computer can't see the device this way. Pretty much, right? Or are there any related quirks that result that I should know about?

(Also, any opinion on the potential virtues of reformatting as was suggested, too, please.)

Thank you! Awesome!

[EDITED -- Corrected: Changed 40 seconds via former USB network approach to 70 seconds.]

Yeah. Mass storage only let's you access the SD because of the way that the device file system works. They could technically let you access it, but they don't want you tinkering with the files and folders the blackberry needs to run.

Probably also a bit odd with multiple folders linked to the android runtime, which is another reason android apps won't work with sd.

You can reformat the card with windows utility, but you might need to reformat again on device because of exfat drivers.

Anyway often the simplest solution is the best.

FML

Not really relevant to the topic, but I'm curious whether you younger members get the reference when I say "Holy whatever, Batman."

Just curious.

Thanks again!

Originally Posted by classact

Not really relevant to the topic, but I'm curious whether you younger members get the reference when I say "Holy whatever, Batman."

Just curious.

Thanks again!

Yes. I get it. Yesterday I posted "Holy rain batman" when there was a rain storm here in ontario.

FML

Originally Posted by John Vieira

Yes. I get it. Yesterday I posted "Holy rain batman" when there was a rain storm here in ontario.

FML

That is so cool. Life is good.

Originally Posted by CrackBerry Question

I have a Classic. And I have a Windows 7 machine.

When I connect the device via USB to access/transfer files on the SD card using Windows Explorer, it takes a long time for it to read and display the contents on the SD card.

I don't see a way to do that using Link if I want full manual control of what to move or copy, so it seems Windows Explorer is my only option.

If I remove the SD card and insert it into a USB 3 card reader, it all goes lightning fast.

I'd really like to be able to do this without having to remove and reinsert the SD card each time. Am I missing something?

Thanks!

I concur it is noticeably slower I am trying to delete pictures it says "discovering" and it just cumbersome, doing the same action on my Note 4 just starts deleting no need to "discover" not to mention that is still slow, I can transfer 5-10 GB of videos to my note 4 in a few minutes if that, the Classic USB actions are slow all across the board I hate it.

Hey, the mass storage tip worked for me! Thx!

Context - I was trying to transfer 89MB and windows explorer estimated it would take 2 hours! WTH?!

But turning on "mass storage mode" made the transfer quick.