Problem with USB External HDD

[gootwo]

I am experiencing really slow transfer rates when dealing with my USB External HDD. The biggest problem is when I am transfering avi files (well al files, but I mostly have avis) from my internal HDD to my external HDD. It seems to get about 300mb into the transfer and then it slows down completely to a trickle. A 700mb file can take an hour to transfer. When I transfer from my external to my internal, I can't seem to get much above 2mb/s. I am at a loss as to what the problem is. I have tried so many things to solve this, I'm not sure what to try next.

I have scanned for virus, malware and spyware.
I have scanned my drives with checkdisk.
I have swapped cables and tried all my USB ports.
I removed all files (took days), dropped all partitions and created a new fresh partition with the same problem.

Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[MindoverMaster]

Is this external drive externally powered? With a power brick? Because if it is only powered by USB, it has to use a part of the USB to keep it powered.

 

[gootwo]

It does have a power brick...not solely powered by usb.

Thanx for the quick reply!

It has been suggested by a friend that perhaps the circuit card inside the chassis is the problem and that I should extracate the drive from the case and use it as an internal. Sound plausible?

 

[Axehack]

Depends on the type of drive, but quite often they do use normal HDD's in a case as an external drive. It could be just that the drive is old and dying. It happens. I find USB external drives are terribly slow in general anyway, Upgrade to network storage!

 

[MindoverMaster]

Well, ones with eSATA aren't so bad. But, yeah, try opening it up and use it internally, hope you can get data off it.

 

[mick5]

I have tried removing a HD from Iomega case it was sata but when installed in PC showed as RAW in windows. Full format it worked fine!

 

[gootwo]

Thanx everyone!

Sorry for the delay in replying. I was able to get all the info off the drive. Very slow process. I removed the drive from the case and tried it inside my tower. Dropped partition and reformatted. Took 36 hours to format 600 gb. Meanwhile, Windows popped up and warned me the drive is failing. So I have pulled it back out and put it back in the case. It is still under warranty. Fingers crossed they won't realize I took it out of the case thereby voiding the warranty.