Should copying just under 600GB of files from one partition to another partition on the same external disk take over five hours? (5:23:16, to be exact)
Asking for a friend… /s
600gb/5.23h is 32.63224984066mb/s
It is normal for an hdd spinning drive.
No issues i think it is totally normal as i also have one. Still i can provide better ans if you provide some info like the rpm of the plates 7200 or 5400. Both have different read and write speed but most are 5400 assuming it.
File system also matters. But not a huge margin maybe ±3min
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As @frankjunior calculated, it seems to be about right. The product page says 160MB/s max transfer speed, not write.
If you’re copying data on the same drive back onto itself, it has to first read that data (transfer to the computer) and then write it back (transfer back to the drive). So already you’re halving the maximum rate to 80MB/s theoretical copy speed.
Then also consider that the quoted max speed would be for reading a continuous block of data where the drive’s read/write head doesn’t have to move. Of course here you are doing a read and write simultaneously so it will have to move the head back and forth reading then writing, adding to a slow down.
If the files you are copying are a bunch of smaller files, then add to that the time it takes to seek the head from one file to another, adding to the latency and slowing down the process.
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Yes here partition change means the data is shifting to a another sector of the platter and new indexing and journal of the files.but in same partition transfer make it extremely quick just because it just need to change simple index. And note all brands always write the read speed not the write speed.
Now a days ssd and flash drives are actually writing the read and write separatly. You can find the hdd rpm in the product page or box that the speed if it is 7200 then the speed is slightly more but most small factor drives are 5400 rpm drive they put into the enclosure. Hope it.
And you can benchmark your drive speed with gnome disk app if you want more info.
Edit- if you want more speed you neef back up solution nas, raid function which contain more than 1drives.
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Thanks everybody… Particularly thank you for the detailed responses! Too often we get “just because” responses, but you folks went the extra mile and it is much appreciated!
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Also worth noting is that read and write speeds are the higher, the closer to the edge of disk platter the head works. While rotational speed is the same for entire disk, tangential speed increases with distance from the middle of plate (more sectors travel under the head in one rotation). It’s well visible in disk speed tests, where speed gradually decreases over the course of the test.
Another thing that can decrease actual speed is a file-system fragmentation, which forces disk head to make more smaller reads/writes and move between them.
Oh, and (don’t) forget about Shouting in the Datacenter - YouTube 