Why does flash memory speed decrease during file transfer?

If you use a flash drive, you have probably encountered a sudden drop in file transfer speed many times. Usually, many flash memories offer a very high speed at the beginning of transferring files, but very soon this speed drops significantly. But why does this happen? We will discuss this topic further.

• Flash memory vs. external hard drive; Which one is better?

How is file transfer done by flash memory?

The USB standard defines a set of data transfer protocols that This allows computers to communicate with all kinds of devices. flash memory also has a variety of uses, one of the most common uses of these products is transferring files between different devices.

When you connect a flash memory to a computer, the computer sends a special signal to provide information such as capacity and type. Get the file system used by Flash. Then flash provides the desired information to the computer so that the two can find the best way to communicate.

After exchanging the initial settings, these two systems must specify a speed for exchanging information. By specifying this speed, both of them can benefit from the maximum data exchange speed without being under too much pressure. Due to the differences in the ports used in the computer and of course the big differences between different flash memories, we see a lot of difference in this field and as a result, different flash memories usually do not offer the same speed.

SanDisk flash memory model Ultra Dual Drive GO USB Type-C capacity 64 GB

5 reasons for reducing the speed of flash memory during file transfer

After determining the initial speed, many users expect that the desired speed will be constant throughout the file transfer process. to stay But in this field, several factors come into play and these things can limit the speed of file transfer for flash memory. In the following, we will discuss some of the most important reasons for this decrease in speed.

The type and size of files being transferred

The size and type of files being transferred have a great impact. They have flash memory data transfer speed. For example, large video files take up much more bandwidth than simple text files, which means that the transfer speed may be slower than you expect. Even if both the flash memory and the computer port support the USB 3.0 standard, which offers a much higher transfer speed than the previous generation, still the type and size of the files play an important role in the transfer speed.

DashDrive UV150 flash memory model, 64GB capacity

Number of files in progress Transfer

Among other factors that can reduce the speed of file transfer, we can mention the number of files that are being transferred at the same time. The greater the number of files and their variety, the greater the pressure on the computer and flash memory. Therefore, if you want to transfer a large number of heavy files, it is better not to do this at the same time and divide these files into small parts. If the desired files are very large, it is better to transfer them one by one.

Fragmentation (Fragmentation)

Many users are not familiar with the concept of Fragmentation. When you transfer files from the system to the flash memory, these data may be located in different parts of the memory and fragmented due to various hardware and software reasons that we cannot discuss now. This process slows down the transfer speed because instead of the desired file being called from only one part of the memory, it has to move from different parts. Of course, this problem is not only specific to flash memory, but also to the hard drive in the computer. It also faces this problem on a larger scale. Therefore, in order not to face this problem, you should defrag both the hard drive and the flash memory once in a while, for which there are many software. Of course, we should note that you don't need to do this for SSD memories, but hard drives still struggle with this problem.

SanDisk flash memory model Ultra Dual Drive GO USB Type-C capacity 128GB

Cash process

Caching is a process used by the operating system to temporarily store files in order to access them faster. is used. But the same process can reduce the speed of file transfer through flash memory. To deal with this problem, it is better to regularly delete the old cache related to system memory and flash memory so that you do not face this problem.

Incompatibility between flash memory and computer

from Other factors related to file transfer speed reduction, we should mention the incompatibility between flash memory and computer. Naturally, if your computer uses a USB 3.0 port, but the flash memory is old, the file transfer speed will not be as expected.> Let's mention the cases. In such a situation, an expensive flash memory shows its difference compared to cheap models. Because expensive and high-quality flash memories can provide high speed with a significant constant, but cheap flash memories usually even if they provide high speed at the beginning, their transfer speed will decrease very soon.

Source: MakeUseOf< /a>