USB HD transfer rates progressively slow down

[paruhd0x]

I have a 200GB IDE drive in a USB enclosure, I start a transfer from it and it begins at 8MB/sec to my other drive, then after 30 seconds it is down to about 100KB/sec then finally dwindling down to 15KB/sec and never going higher until the transfer ends, which makes my 5 minute transfer turn into a 20 hour transfer.

Curious if anyone has any advice on solutions for this.

Brand new installation of Windows XP Pro w/ SP2, using a USB 2.0 port directly to the motherboard, have tried all my other USB ports, having the same effect.

All help is greatly appreciated, thank you!

 

[dclive]

Same thing happens in safe mode?

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Test the external drive with another PC. Probably bad cable. Nominal speed should be 30MB/sec.

 

[paruhd0x]

I tried different usb cable with two different PCs and had same results, I am thinking maybe it is the enclosure...

Thanks SerpentRoyal, dclive for your help!

 

[amdhunter]

Sounds like the drive itself is failing to me. Does the drive make any clicking sounds? Did you check event viewer for any disk related error messages?

 

[paruhd0x]

Hmmm Oh boy. I took it out of the enclosure and put it in my system directly through the IDE connection. It is having the same slow down. The drive must be dieing

 

[corkyg]

When was the last time you defragged it?

 

[paruhd0x]

Originally posted by: corkyg
When was the last time you defragged it?

It analyzed to be 27% file fragmented. I think I'll attempt to defrag it after I recover my files.