A-Data "MyFlash" - Flash drive slowdown

[amocanu]

I have an "A-Data myFlash 02G" USB Flash drive and when i copy a large amount of small files, the copying process takes forever

It took me almost 10 minutes to copy 100 MB of small files

When I copy large files the copying process is fast....it takes about 3 minutes to copy a 700MB file

I tested the flash drive on many computers and I got the same result, so it has nothing to do with the USB ports or the operating system.

I use the FAT32 filesystem on it

Does this mean that my flash drive is failing? I only used it for 3 months.

[ripken204]

lol, not at all. that's just how fast flash drives are. don't worry about it.

[amocanu]

thanks for the answer

So I guess this is normal for flash drives

[jaclaz]

Have a look at this comparison to have an idea how size of files and/or filesystem can affect performance:

http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=2549

jaclaz

[RJM]

Well, the file system has to update the file allocation table on the flash drive each time it writes a file and this can take a lot longer than just writing say a 4K file because the system has to read the file allocation file from the flash drive, update it and then replace it. It only has to do this once for one large file

instead of a thousand times for 1000 4K files.

This process of reading and writing files is directed through a hard drive's file allocation table, which determines the physical starting location of a file, and records chains of data that describe the locations of all files on the platters. This file allocation table is also referred to when the system attempts to write new files to a platter, as it keeps track of available space as well as space already in use.

Edited June 13, 2007 by RJM

[amocanu]

I guess I have to get used to this or find a more suitable filesystem

Thanks for the reply people

[RJM]

You could zip them first and just have 1 large file that would transfer quickly.