Copying very slow in Windows XP

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I have a PC in which I have trouble copying files from one location to another – like c: to an external drive or to a network drive. Tried using a batch file with same result.
However, if I drag and drop files in My Computer, the speed is very acceptable.
This does not make sense and is very irritating because the drag and drop is manual. I have found nothing that makes sense online.
Does anybody have an idea as to what is causing this and how to fix?
Thanks!

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ADD,Memory,make sure you have SP#3,Defrag your hard drive.
What is your cache on your internal drive? I hope it’s @ least 16mb.Then what is your cache for the,External drive?This could be slowing things down.Also what is the speed of your usb connection?Are,ALL your driver’s up to date on your machine?

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Thanks.
How do I find the size of cache for the various drives?
usb connections: ver 2
Drivers should be up to date.

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This FREE program will tell you just about everything.About your system;http://www.hwinfo.com/download32.html

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This FREE program will tell you just about everything.About your system;http://www.hwinfo.com/download32.html

While that program may indeed be “freeware” … everyone should know that it installs the Bing search toolbar, as well as makes Bing the browser home page …. the opportunity to “opt out” of installing those items was not given!!!!!!!!!

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Umm, what Bing bar? I just downloaded HWInfo via the link to Majorgeeks on the page you gave, installed it and no sign of any tool bar or Home page change.

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I have come across this on occasion with Windows XP but I have never pinned it down.

Toggle between enabling/disabling write caching on your primary drive.
See if one of those settings makes any difference.

Possible issues:
1 Drive is old and in need of replacement.
2 XP is old and need of a clean install. (os decay)
3 Mal-software interaction, possibly a bad or corrupt driver.

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1. drive is old – not due to be replaced until end of year
2. yes, xp is old – see item 1
3. I ran malware detection – none was found

How do I enable/disable write caching on primary drive?
Thanks

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1. drive is old – not due to be replaced until end of year
2. yes, xp is old – see item 1
3. I ran malware detection – none was found

How do I enable/disable write caching on primary drive?
Thanks

Follow this link.

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27772-DrivePlatter
Outer edge is the fastest with the bits per inch times Pi for the volume or number of bytes present.

As each arm movement moves inward (next track) the number of bytes decreases per track.

First 1/4 from outer edge is generally faster than the “rated speed” of the drive. Eg: outer edge may be .9ms while inner most track may be 35-40ms on a drive with a 8ms rating.

If you have not defragged, then you will have some near the outer edge, more some where in the inner area and the remainder on the inner most free area track.

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I have seen my XP system–older Pentium 1.6 GHz w/ 2GB RAM–slow down if my Recycle Bin has a lot of deleted files in it. Once I empty it, my system perks back up, again.

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Thanks you all for your help. I will look into defragging and emptying the recycle bin.
Our company does not allow downloads of programs.

itconc

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HwInfo32 freeware:
I prefer *portable* software, free or not free. It keeps my system clean. And no need to worry about installation of unwanted software.
Download the portable version of HwInfo32. (See above for link.) Then just double click the .exe file to run.
Note: HwInfo32 requires admin level user to run. For a non-admin normal user, you need to create a short cut of the .exe file. Then choose ‘run as’ in the short cut Property. When the short cut is double clicked, you can then enter an admin level user name and password to run the software.

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I have a PC in which I have trouble copying files from one location to another – like c: to an external drive or to a network drive. Tried using a batch file with same result.
However, if I drag and drop files in My Computer, the speed is very acceptable.
This does not make sense and is very irritating because the drag and drop is manual. I have found nothing that makes sense online.
Does anybody have an idea as to what is causing this and how to fix?
Thanks!

Have you tried doing a system restore to a point well before this started to happen?

Afterwards, I then would recommend cleaning the machine with CCleaner (http://download.cnet.com/ccleaner/). Just be alert as it will ask you to install a toolbar, etc.

Then defrag your drive very definitely (BruceWebs’ point is very valid).

I suggest a good third party defrag program as they are automatic and you won’t have to worry about remembering to do it.

I use this defrag program.

Good luck!
.

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