When you are transferring data between your computer and external hard drive, if the drive becomes much slower than before, it is very likely that something wrong has occurred. This article will unveil the 7 main reasons and according solutions.
Nowadays, many prefer to select an external hard drive for data backups in that it is affordable and its copying speed is higher than traditional data storage media, such as CD or DVD. However, sometimes, an external hard drive may become very slow for some reasons even though you haven’t dropped or hit it. In such a case, what can you do to resolve it? The followings will expose the 7 primary reasons behind this issue and offer you corresponding solutions.
1. You haven’t run disk defragmentation for a long time
In general, on a mechanical hard drive, all files are stored in scattered pieces in several places. Therefore, when you try to access one file, the drive will work to read all its pieces, which will take much time. To solve this issue, here comes disk defragmentation, which is able to reduce the amount of fragmentation. Thus, it is highly suggested to you should run disk defragmentation regularly. If you haven’t run it for a long time, your hard drive will have too much fragmentation, which will lead to drive running slowly.
Solution: In this case, of course, you should run disk defragmentation right now. Just go to Computer and right click the target disk and choose “Properties”. Then in the popup dialog box, switch to “Tools” tab and hit “Optimize” button.
2. The external hard drive has bad sectors
Moreover, drive suffering logical issues, such as containing too many bad sectors, is one of the most common reasons too. Once a sector gets corrupted, the files on this sector will get compromised too, like PST damage. Such issues usually occur due to conflict of drivers, sudden power outages during the computer is working with the drive in active mode.
Solution: Now that the drive may contain bad blocks, you can use the Windows inbuilt scandisk tool. Like the solution in the first part, in the “Properties” dialog box, click “Check Now” button under “Tools” tab.
3. The hard drive is not supplied with sufficient power
Furthermore, different hard drives have their particular starting and operating currents. However, the power supplies of your computer USB port are the same. Thus, some external drives require more power than your USB port supplies.
Solution: In this situation, you can buy a special USB connector, one end of which can get connected to two USB ports of your computer, and the other end is used to connect to the external hard drive.
4. Too many programs are working with the disk
What’s more, a hard drive can become considerably slow owing to heavy load. In other words, too many applications are working with the drive actively in the meantime. For instance, you are downloading files to the disk, watching a movie from the disk, scanning the disk and copying data from the disk simultaneously.
Solution: In this scenario, the best means is to reduce the amount of hard work given to the disk. Right click on the taskbar on the Desktop and select “Start Task Manage”. In the following dialog box, use “End Process” to stop the unnecessary applications.
5. You’re downloading too many files directly to the drive simultaneously
In addition, many users prefer to directly download files right onto the connected external hard drive. Thus, provided that you’re downloading too many files to the disk at the same times, you are giving hard work to the disk as well.
Solution: Without any doubts, in such case, you should prevent downloading too many files meanwhile to the drive.
6. Your disk driver is outdated or corrupted
Your external hard drive can work on your PC depending on the computer disk driver. Therefore, if your disk driver malfunctions, such as being out-of-date or compromised, your disk will be unable to function as normal, either.
Solution: Now that the diver is to blame, you should fix the issue starting from it. Upgrade the driver or reinstall it right away!
7. The external hard drive is about to die
The most annoying and frightening reason is that the external hard drive is about to die. Perhaps you think that you always take good care of your hard drive. But it is an unquestioned fact that any data storage device has its limited lifespan.
Solution: Therefore, the most imperative action that you should do at once is to copy your data to another drive. Otherwise, as soon as the drive fails thoroughly, your data will give farewell to you as well.
Author Introduction:
Shirley Zhang is a data recovery expert in DataNumen, Inc., which is the world leader in data recovery technologies, including corrupt sql and outlook repair software products. For more information visit www.datanumen.com