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USB storage can transfer faster connected to Super-Speed USB 3.0??

macq
Level 7

‎06-01-2012 06:16 PM - last edited on ‎03-06-2024 08:39 PM by Community Admin

OK. I'm puzzled again. Hoping for some help with this odd message.

I have a brand new Hitachi USB 3.0 Touro Mobile Pro (500GB). I plugged it in earlier today and it ran great. I unplugged it and plugged it back in several times - all very wonderful. Copied stuff to/from all was fine.

Then, I booted with it still plugged into the USB port.

At startup, I got the message:
"This USB mass storage device can transfer information faster if you connect it to a Super-Speed USB 3.0 port".

OK, I agree, it can. But, all of the ports on the G75 *are* USB 3.0.

I tried unplugging it and replugging but now consistently see this warning message each time.

I've tried disabling "Legacy" USB support in the Bios - no change. I know how to turn the warning message off on the driver setting. I don't want to disable just the message notification.

If the thing did this the first time I plugged it in I'd suspect the Hitachi or the cable. But, it only started this after booting with it plugged in so I suspect some driver auto-adjusted something. Any ideas?
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macq
Level 7

‎06-01-2012 07:56 PM

Nevermind (I guess).

I initially thought when this warning message started that I also saw reduced performance. I haven't.

I'm seeing the same sustained write speeds I saw earlier - about 60-70 MB/s.

It's hard to know whether that's the best I can expect from this USB drive. It's certainly very good and way faster than I would have expected if it was running at USB 2.0 speeds.

So, I'm not sure why I just started seeing this message after booting with it plugged in rather than earlier today. Perhaps the icon notification setting wasn't triggering earlier? Or wasn't enabled but somehow got enabled? Not sure.

In any event, it's not a performance change on my system.

If anyone knows a good explanation of why this message appears I'd still be interested. What I found easily was lots of speculation from ignorant people like me.

sorry to have bothered anyone.
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X-ROG
Level 15

‎06-03-2012 08:24 PM

Have you tried another USB 3 device? It could be the chipset not recognizing the chip in your external HDD properly and reporting to Windows incorrectly. USB 3 compatibility is everywhere unfortunately 😕
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macq
Level 7
In response to X-ROG

‎06-04-2012 06:12 AM

No, that's the only USB 3 device I have at the moment.

This G75 was the first in a series of upgrades in our household so as I progress along I'll have more equipment to mix-match.

I'll soon have a desktop based on the Asus P8Z77 V Pro running very soon - it will be interesting to see how that same drive performs / behaves on that.
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macq
Level 7
In response to macq

‎06-09-2012 04:33 PM

I've gotten some more hardware and evaluated this problem further.

The summary is that the G75 gets improved performance with a USB 3.0 drive over a USB 2.0 one, but, it's not that dramatic. With my new desktop computer, I do see a dramatic difference with these two drives. This leads me to believe the warning from the G75 saying it "could go faster" is probably legit - that is - it's not just a nuisance message.

The improved speed on the G75 with the USB3 drive could just be related to the faster drive and controller in the USB3 device and not directly related to the USB3 transmission speed.

If anyone has other ideas to try to resolve this I'd appreciate it.

Here's the details of my tests:

G75
USB2 28 MB/s (224 Mb/s)
USB3 36 MB/s (285 Mb/s)

Desktop
USB2 23 MB/s (183 Mb/s)
USB3 60 MB/s (481 Mb/s)


The speeds were for an image backup of a source drive with over 20GB of data so this is a sustained write test. Write caching was disabled. I didn't do any sustained read tests.

The hardware involved is:
USB 3.0 drive: HGST Touro Mobile Pro 500GB 0S03105
USB 2.0 drive: WD Sata II drive in an Antec MX1 enclosure

Desktop computer is based on the brand new Asus P8Z77 V Pro motherboard running an Intel i7 3770 (so faster than the G75). This motherboard has the exact same Intel chipset for USB but it also has an Asmedia chip for more USB ports. I do not know which of these controllers I was using in these tests. But, the USB 3.0 drive does *not* give me the same "could go faster" warning when plugged into any of the USB 3.0 ports. It does give me this message when plugged into a USB2 port.

Because the same USB3 device plugged into the desktop does not produce this warning message and does perform very well - it proves the USB device and its cable are OK.

The desktop and the G75 both have the same Intel Sata III SSD as the source drive. So this doesn't contribute to any performance difference between them.
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