How to Speed Up USB Transfer in Windows 10

USB Transfer speed is usually not an issue if you have to transfer small-sized files to and from your PC. However, when it comes to large files, slow transfer speed could be a real pain. If you face similar issues on your Windows 10 computer and it has started to take a toll on your patience and productivity, you deserve a solution. This article discusses the reasons that could lead to slow USB transfer speed and how to fix it. Before we take a look at the solutions to speed up USB Transfer in Windows 10, let us find take a look at the reasons.

Why is USB Transfer Speed Slow on my PC?

The slow rate of data transfer across PC and memory devices is mostly prominent for USB Flash Drive. Issues ranging from a faulty storage device to wrong USB port and device driver issues to troubles with PC settings or files could be the reason behind slow USB Transfer Speeds. The issue could also trouble you while transferring data to and from external hard drives. Before you jump to any conclusion, it is necessary to troubleshoot the reason and act upon it.

How Can I Speed Up USB Transfer Rate?

Check the USB Drive for Issues

You can begin the troubleshooting by making sure that the USB Drive is not faulty. For this, you can insert the USB Drive into a different PC. Now, initiate a file transfer to or from the other computer and see if the transfer speed is slow or regular. If the USB Drive speed is quiet here, then the issue is with the USB Drive. For this, you will have to find solutions to fix the USB Drive, or maybe replace it. Try to format the USB Flash drive and see if that helps.

If the USB speed is average on the other device, then the issue must be with your PC.

Use USB 3.0 Port for File Transfer

Most of the USB Drives these days are USB 3.0 compatible. USB 3.0 offers up to 10x speed over the previous USB generation, i.e., the USB 2.0. While using a USB drive on your PC, make sure to insert it in a USB 3.0 port. To identify a USB 3.0 port, look inside the port for the blue colored adapter. The electric blue colored port is standard among PC manufacturers to mark 3.0 ports. Some computers may have just one 3.0 port, while some can have more than one.

While you are at it, make sure to check whether the USB drive you are using is 3.0 compatible or not. A USB 2.0 drive will operate on slow speed by default. If that is the case, maybe it’s time to upgrade your gear.

Update USB Device Driver

One of the possibilities why the USB transfer speed on your PC is slow could be because of the outdated USB Device Driver. An old driver could cause conflicts because of compatibility issues. Make sure to update the USB Flash Drive Driver on your PC for higher transfer speeds.

Follow the steps below to carry out driver update in Windows 10 to improve USB transfer speed:

Step 1: Press Win + X to open the Windows menu on your PC. From the options, select Device Manager.

Step 2: The Device manager window will launch. Here, from the list of devices, click on the Disk drives option to expand the list of memory drivers installed on your PC. Now, identify the USB drive with a slow transfer speed. Make a right-click on it and select the Update Driver Software option.

Step 3: A new window will open now. Here, you can select how you want to search for driver software. Make a selection on the first option, i.e., the Search automatically for updated driver software option.

Now, if an updated version of the USB device driver is available, your PC will download it and install it on your PC. After the driver update is successful, close the Device Manager window and restart your PC. Once your PC restarts, go ahead and check whether the USB transfer speed matches your expectations.

Enable Better Performance Policy for the USB Drive

By Enabling the Better Performance policy in the USB drive’s properties, you can speed up USB transfer speed. The change can be made in the Device Manager window, but there’s a catch. As you enable this setting, you will have to disable the Quick removal feature. So, every time you have to remove the USB drive from your PC, you will need to select the safely remove hardware option from the taskbar.

Here are the steps to follow:

Step 1: Open Device Manager as directed in Step 1 of the above solution.

Step 2: Identify the USB Flash Drive driver under the Disk drives section. Make a right-click on it and select the Properties option.

Step 3: In the Properties window, go to the Policies tab. Here, under the Removal policy section, select the radio button corresponding to the Better performance option. Click on Ok to apply the changes.

Now check if switching to better performance helped with speeding up the data transfer rate.

Workaround for Desktops (Insert USB Drive to Rear Port)

If you operate a desktop, try inserting the USB Drive into any of the USB Ports at the rear. The rear ports are directly connected to your PC’s motherboard, which by default, will offer faster USB transfer speed. According to many users, the USB ports at the front of the CPU cabinet provide relatively lower transfer speed.

Try FAT32 Architecture for the USB Drive

If the USB Flash Drive you are using is formatted in NTFS, it will operate at a relatively slower speed. You can switch the Flash Drive’s architecture to FAT32 and see a noticeable increase in the USB Drive’s transfer speed.

For this, open Command Prompt in Admin mode. For this, press Win + X. From the menu that opens, select Command prompt (Admin).

In the Command Prompt window, type the following command and press the Enter key:

convert E: /fs:ntfs

Make sure to replace E with the drive letter of your USB Driver. You can find that out in the This PC window.

After processing the above command, exit Command Prompt. Now, reinsert the USB drive in your PC and see if the USB data transfer speed increased in Windows 10 or not.