slow USB transfer rate

Hello !
I use a thinkpad r50e, with 2 USB port.
When I do a lsusb, here is the output:

Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

(even though I only have 2 USB ports)

Whenever I try to write large amount of file to a USB fat32 key, it takes me forever. Last time, it was 30 minutes for 4GB!

How can I be sure I’m using the USB 2.0 and not the 1.1 ?

I read that there was a “sync” bug in opensuse 10.0, but it is marked as fixed.

What can I do to speed-up my device? How can I be sure I’m using USB 2.0 ?

Thanks !

splitsch wrote:
> What can I do to speed-up my device? How can I be sure I’m using USB
> 2.0 ?

Connect the device and run “lsusb -t” to see to which root hub it is
connected.

Kind regards,
Andreas Stieger

Ok, it’s connected to the USB 2.0 port.
(actually, both ports are 2.0…don’t see why lsusb shows me 1.1 ports…)

Anyway, is 4MB/sec a reasonnable rate speed for a USB key ?

In the “mount-option”, under nautilus, I can’t see “sync”.
When I manually mount the drive, without any other option than “-t vfat”, the speed is exactly the same (around 4 MB/sec)

Can someone please confirm it’s normal, or what could I do to make it normal ?

Thank you !

USB pen drives / keys all vary in quality. Just because they are cheap might not be a good reason to buy one.
As always you get what you pay for.
You will likely find a good USB key offers info on transfer rates, where the cheap one might not want you to know.

The speed you quote sounds average.
My kingston does 8mb/sec

The automatic mount happening through hot-plugging is not very efficient for copying large amount of data. Typically, it makes sure that the disk is always synced for every write. If you really want to get speed, mount it yourself after unmounting it, with options like “noatime” etc. and use it.

Make sure that you don’t pull it out without unmounting.