Post by drcard on Oct 16, 2019 16:18:28 GMT -5
Speed Up External Drives – Windows 10
Overview:
Many users have noticed that external drives seem to work slower than the internal drives. One reason for this is that the USB port cannot transfer data as fast as an internal connection. While this is true, the majority of the slowness is due to a default Windows policy rather than hardware limitations. Changing this policy can speed up interaction with an external drive. Just how much of a speed up will differ based upon the use of the external drive. This was written for Windows 10, but may work for earlier versions.
Windows External Drive Default Policy
Windows has two policy choices for external devices (flash drives, smart cards, hard drives, etc.)….Quick Removal or Better Performance, and Quick Removal is the default setting. The basic difference between the two policies is when Windows actually writes/reads to the drive.
For Quick Removal, Windows writes/reads to the drive as soon as it is requested by an application or user. This instant action keeps the files up to date as fast as possible so if the device is removed, no data is lost or corrupted (hence the name Quick Removal). The problem with Quick Removal is that while Windows is writing/reading to the external drive no other access to the drive is allowed and the application that requested that action must wait for Windows to report the action has been performed before it can do anything else; and any other application trying to access the drive has to wait until Windows is finished. This means all things comes to a standstill until Windows finishes. Example: While File Explorer is saving a file to the external hard drive it cannot open a different file on that drive until the saving process is completed. With an increase in interaction with the external drive (such as the files for a running application) the larger the slow down will be due to the multiple “waits” for Windows.
For Better Performance, Windows creates a cache of the data to write/read for the external drive and immediately reports that the task is completed, allowing the application to continue without waiting. Windows will actually perform the write/read on the external drive in the background when the drive is not in use. Removing these “waits” will allow an application or the user to perform the task faster, or speed up their interaction with their external drive. The only bad problem with the Better Performance policy is in removing the device before Windows has finished transferring the cache to the external drive, which could cause data to be lost or become corrupt. To prevent this from happening, Windows activates the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media tool and places its icon in the right side of the Taskbar when any external drive’s Policies is changed to Better Performance. The Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media tool makes sure all data in the cache has been transferred to the external drive before issuing the notification of “Safe to Remove”. Using the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media tool prevents the loss of data or data becoming corrupt.
Change Windows Policy for an External Drive
The Windows policy is a setting that each external device has and changing that setting only changes the policy for that drive. You must know the name of the external drive as it appears in Device Manager (not the drive letter like E:\, but the computer name of the drive like TOSHIBA DT01ACA100). You can plug and unplug the external device while viewing Device Manager to see it add to the drives and thus what’s its name. This Policy setting is only for external drives.
1) Type Device Manager into the Search box and select Device Manager control panel above.
2) In Device Manager click the > next to Disk drives to expand the list of drives.
3) Select the name of the external drive. Right click. Select Properties.
4) In the Properties box of the drive, select the Policies tab.
5) Click the radio button to the left of Better Performance to change to that policy. Click OK to save your changes and close Device Manager.
The changes are immediate and you will find the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media icon in the Taskbar group of running applications.
Overview:
Many users have noticed that external drives seem to work slower than the internal drives. One reason for this is that the USB port cannot transfer data as fast as an internal connection. While this is true, the majority of the slowness is due to a default Windows policy rather than hardware limitations. Changing this policy can speed up interaction with an external drive. Just how much of a speed up will differ based upon the use of the external drive. This was written for Windows 10, but may work for earlier versions.
Windows External Drive Default Policy
Windows has two policy choices for external devices (flash drives, smart cards, hard drives, etc.)….Quick Removal or Better Performance, and Quick Removal is the default setting. The basic difference between the two policies is when Windows actually writes/reads to the drive.
For Quick Removal, Windows writes/reads to the drive as soon as it is requested by an application or user. This instant action keeps the files up to date as fast as possible so if the device is removed, no data is lost or corrupted (hence the name Quick Removal). The problem with Quick Removal is that while Windows is writing/reading to the external drive no other access to the drive is allowed and the application that requested that action must wait for Windows to report the action has been performed before it can do anything else; and any other application trying to access the drive has to wait until Windows is finished. This means all things comes to a standstill until Windows finishes. Example: While File Explorer is saving a file to the external hard drive it cannot open a different file on that drive until the saving process is completed. With an increase in interaction with the external drive (such as the files for a running application) the larger the slow down will be due to the multiple “waits” for Windows.
For Better Performance, Windows creates a cache of the data to write/read for the external drive and immediately reports that the task is completed, allowing the application to continue without waiting. Windows will actually perform the write/read on the external drive in the background when the drive is not in use. Removing these “waits” will allow an application or the user to perform the task faster, or speed up their interaction with their external drive. The only bad problem with the Better Performance policy is in removing the device before Windows has finished transferring the cache to the external drive, which could cause data to be lost or become corrupt. To prevent this from happening, Windows activates the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media tool and places its icon in the right side of the Taskbar when any external drive’s Policies is changed to Better Performance. The Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media tool makes sure all data in the cache has been transferred to the external drive before issuing the notification of “Safe to Remove”. Using the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media tool prevents the loss of data or data becoming corrupt.
Change Windows Policy for an External Drive
The Windows policy is a setting that each external device has and changing that setting only changes the policy for that drive. You must know the name of the external drive as it appears in Device Manager (not the drive letter like E:\, but the computer name of the drive like TOSHIBA DT01ACA100). You can plug and unplug the external device while viewing Device Manager to see it add to the drives and thus what’s its name. This Policy setting is only for external drives.
1) Type Device Manager into the Search box and select Device Manager control panel above.
2) In Device Manager click the > next to Disk drives to expand the list of drives.
3) Select the name of the external drive. Right click. Select Properties.
4) In the Properties box of the drive, select the Policies tab.
5) Click the radio button to the left of Better Performance to change to that policy. Click OK to save your changes and close Device Manager.
The changes are immediate and you will find the Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media icon in the Taskbar group of running applications.