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Slow File Copy

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by phillracer, 2005/07/27.

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  1. 2005/07/27
    phillracer

    phillracer Inactive Thread Starter

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    Hi there,

    Just wondering if anyone has a EASY solution of know of a possible cause of my little problem below (if it is a problem?)

    I have a 20mb file sitting somewhere on my computer and I want to copy it to my desktop - should it take between 3-5seconds to just copy 20mb?

    This also happens when I copy files from my CDROM drive. To copy a 600mb file could take 3-5mins and sometimes it even stops halfway through I think.

    I have:
    AMD Athlon 2500XP
    Segate hard drive - 80gb
    512mb Ram

    It never use to be this slow but it has the last couple of months. If anyone has some advice or some solution for me I would appreciate hearing it.

    Thanks :)
     
    phillracer,
    #1
  2. 2005/07/28
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    phillracer

    Sounds a bit sluggish to me :) Copying a 20 Mb file the desktop should be virtually instantaneous. The speed of copying from a CD will depend on whether the CD is pressed - a commercial CD, or burnt - as in CD-RW - these CD's read slower. 3 - 5 mins for a multiple CD is not overly excessive - a single 600 Mb file I would expect to be quicker.

    Your PC may be clogged up with unnecessary files, spyware, malware, etc.

    I trust you are running antivirus software - updated - and have an active firewall running?

    It would not harm to run an online antivirus scan from RAV - via Quicklinks in my signature.

    Some things you can do to 'clean up' and hopefully speed up the PC ....

    Empty your Temporary Internet Files folder.

    Clear out other Temporary Files and folders - Start > Run > type in %temp% - this will list the temp files in Documents & Settings under your user name - they are safe to delete.

    Clear out the Windows Temp folder - you will not be able to delete one or two files as they will be in use.

    Do you scan regularly for spyware and adware? Both of these can slow down a m/c.

    Download Spybot and Ad-Aware SE through Quicklinks in my signature, update both immediately. Set up Ad-Aware as outlined here, run both and delete all they find.

    Download and install Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta - this provides continuous monitoring, a daily scan and auto updating.

    For a degree of permanent protection/blocking download SpywareBlaster 3.4, update it and enable all protection.

    There are other lines of defence against spyware, etc, but those above are a good starting point.

    Finally read through How to surf the Internet more safely with Internet Explorer - I suggest you use the settings recommended there.

    Let us know if this lot helps you.
     
    PeteC,
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  4. 2005/07/28
    phillracer

    phillracer Inactive Thread Starter

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    Pete,

    Thanks for the fast reply. So here are the things I have to say in reply:

    I run Norton Internet Security PRO and do a live update 1-2time a week.
    I also have the lastest version of "Ad-Aware SE Personal" and just ran it like I do weekly tonight and found 5items which were only cookies but I usually find about 5Tracking cookies.
    Do you recommeded me doing a online scan? I am on 56k connection so this could take a long time when I have all the updates and a good virus and firewall programe.

    I empty my Temp Internet Files maybe once every two weeks and delete all cookies.

    I did the Temp thing and I have about 250mb of files on that temp folder. Some of these look like programe files etc - as you 100% sure if they are deleted it won't stuff anything up on a programe or anything?

    When you say Windows Temp folder do you mean C:\Windows\Temp - That one? That only has about 25mb of files in it at the moment. Should they be deleted also?

    If I install Microsoft Antispyware and leave it scanning all the time it is just something else that will take up resources wouldn't it? This itself would slow things down.

    I am always onto it when it comes to making my PC pretty secure I download all updates for Virus scan and Spyware and I also get all the Windows Updates.
     
    phillracer,
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  5. 2005/07/28
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Seems you run a pretty 'tight ship' - which is welcome news :)

    There is probably no need to run an online scan - except as a last resort, maybe - I have always found NAV to be reliable.

    The files in the Documents & Settings Temp folder are just that - temporary files. No program worth it's salt would install anything there which is 'required' and I would not hesitate to delete the lot - 250Mb seems very excessive to me. FYI - I empty mine out on a weekly basis. If you decide to go ahead on this the files will end up in the Recycle Bin where they can be left for a few days and available for restore if a problem arises.

    Likewise the files in C:\Windows\Temp.

    Are you getting low on free space on the hard drive?

    Microsoft AntiSpyware (MAS) monitors your system - an active scan is performed only once/day or less frequently if you prefer it that way - it is configurable. The resources used are negligible except when a scan is taking place. It can be uninstalled through Add/Remove Programs at any time if you don't fancy it.
     
    PeteC,
    #4
  6. 2005/07/28
    phillracer

    phillracer Inactive Thread Starter

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    Ok Pete,

    Thanks for your help anyway. I will just keep everything updated and run some scans. If it gets faster I will let you know. And I am only using 30gb (MAX) on my HDD at the moment so I do not think there is a problem there. I have a 80gb. When my computer is just sitting there I am still have about 250mb of ram avilable so I don't think it is my RAM.

    If you have any other suggestions or something I would be glad to hear them.

    Thanks a lot :)
     
    phillracer,
    #5
  7. 2005/07/28
    Dennis L Lifetime Subscription

    Dennis L Inactive Alumni

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    Quick check ...

    Device Manager
    Find and expand -IDE/ATAPI controllers
    Dble click - Primary IDE Channels
    Click on - Advance Settings Tab

    You should now see two group boxes - Labeled Device 0 and Device 1.
    Check in the Current Transfer Mode phrase line for both Device 0 and 1.
    Somewhere they should contain the lettters DMA - not PIO.

    Go back to Device manage ..
    repeat the above process for Secondary IDE Channels

    If any of the above settings are on PIO settings,
    can downgrade transfer rates by factors.
     
    Dennis L,
    #6
  8. 2005/07/29
    phillracer

    phillracer Inactive Thread Starter

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    Hi Dennis,

    Thanks for your reply. Well I checked my Primary IDE Channel and everything there shows the letters "DMA" so that should be fine. I did check the Secondary IDE channel and under device 0 it is set to PIO only but device 1 is set to DMA.

    What should I do from here? And what is the difference between DMA and PIO? If one of these were to be changed could it cause a threat to anything? Overheating, hard drive issues, ram issues anything?

    I look forward to your reply :)
     
    phillracer,
    #7
  9. 2005/07/29
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    DMA

    Short for direct memory access, a technique for transferring data from main memory to a device without passing it through the CPU. Computers that have DMA channels can transfer data to and from devices much more quickly than computers without a DMA channel can. This is useful for making quick backups and for real-time applications.

    PIO

    Short for Programmed Input/Output, a method of transferring data between two devices that uses the computer's main processor as part of the data path. ATA uses PIO and defines the speed of the data transfer in terms of the PIO mode implemented, as shown below.

    DMA is faster and should be used if available. If you have a Device 0 try setting it to DMA - if you are able to. No con's - just pro's :)
     
    PeteC,
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  10. 2005/07/29
    phillracer

    phillracer Inactive Thread Starter

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    Ok I see. So DMA is always a good choice and it will not affect anything if I do change it? I may sound not so sure about some of this stuff because I haven't changed these types of settings ever so I don't know why it was transfering fast at the beginning and then over time it got slow. Can it change itself to PIO automatically?

    I would attach a screen shot of what I see aswell but I can not see the attach option, so I have uploaded it onto my site - www.phillracer.com/gif/secondary.gif Look forward to another reply. :D
     
    phillracer,
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  11. 2005/07/29
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    It should speed up the data transfer from the Device if the Device supports DMA - there is no downside.
    It has been known to happen :) If you select 'Use DMA if available' and the Device cannot use DMA you will be advised via a popup message box.

    You need to be a Contributing Member to post attachments
     
    PeteC,
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  12. 2005/07/29
    phillracer

    phillracer Inactive Thread Starter

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    Ah ok then. I hope it was alright to post a link to the image then. Thanks again for you advice PeteC. I will let you know if it makes a difference at all. Also thanks for Dennis who brought up this idea about checking the Device Manager - I myself have even learn't something from you both :)

    If anyone does have suggestions that may help then I would be glad to also hear then.
     
    phillracer,
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  13. 2005/07/29
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    That's fine :)
     
    PeteC,
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  14. 2005/07/29
    Dennis L Lifetime Subscription

    Dennis L Inactive Alumni

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    phillracer

    My combo 8x DVD/40x CD burner flipped to PIO. Once I got it back to DMA, a 4.5GB image burn went from one hour down to 10 minutes. Noting your hardware configuration in your first post, I would be surprised / disappointed if you could not be running DMA. After you make the setting change, close Device manager and reboot. Then go back into Device manager and check to see if DMA setting stuck.
     
    Dennis L,
    #13
  15. 2005/07/30
    phillracer

    phillracer Inactive Thread Starter

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    Hi Dennis,

    Well I switched my secondary controller to DMA and then restarted and checked to see if it changed over and it hadn't it stayed on DMA. I then place a CD into my CDROM drive and copied the 697mb file. At first the estimated time left was 5mins then went down to 3mins and then near the end it shot up to 10mins and the copying seemed to get slower. Anyway I timed it roughly myself and I got a MAX of 3mins to copy that file from CDROM drive to my desktop. Does this sound correct?
     
    phillracer,
    #14
  16. 2005/07/30
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Very much so - that's fast :)

    Out of interest and curiosity I made a couple of experiments this morning ....

    Copy 560 Mb (7551files, 46 folders) - burnt CD - to desktop - 6' 38" = 84.5 Mb/sec

    Copy 491 Mb (6491files, 46 folders) - pressed CD - to desktop - 5' 39" = 87.2 Mb/sec

    I don't havs a single file on CD as large as yours to hand.

    I shall not lose any sleep over those results :)

    Important to bear in mind the read speed of the CD-ROM drive - mine is a CD-RW drive with a max read speed of 48x.

    I don't see that you have a problem!
     
    PeteC,
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  17. 2005/07/30
    phillracer

    phillracer Inactive Thread Starter

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    Yea it actually seemed a little faster and I also need to remember to take into consideriation the Read speed of my drive - as you mentioned :)

    I think this one was a bit faster actually. But I have learn't a few things from this and I would like to thank both Pete and Dennis. You guys have been a great help. I really appreciate it.

    Regards,
    Phill
     
    phillracer,
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  18. 2005/07/30
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    You're welcome :)
     
    PeteC,
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