Slow to copy files - *Fixed

[i.shaun]

I just did a clean install of the mac, and I'm noticing it is extremely slow at copying files back from an External HDD. It is on USB 2.0 connection, and still going maybe 10MB/minute.

This is the speed I'd expect from a 1.0 connection. I've checked the wires, everything is connected. I thought maybe I'd speed it up by using an External DVD drive to copy the 20GB music library back from the DVDs rather than the external -- but the external DVD drive showed the same slow speed. The drive didn't even seem to spin up to read faster (like it normally would, it reads/writes quicker than the slot drive on the imac).


It just ran as slow as possible, with the same slow transfer rate. I've been going for a couple hours or more now, and only have 4GB of 16 copied over.





I'm guessing there could be a reason for this that I'm missing. Is there anything anyone can think of that could be causing this? It's a fresh install, all updates installed on this Tiger 10.4.11 OS X.

Settings maybe?

-External is formatted HFS+ and the iTunes library does not contain any single file over 4 GB, or even close to 1GB. (just music/library files). There has been no problem with the media before.

 

[BlueRevolution]

Are the devices plugged directly into the computer? Not the keyboard or anything?

Is the system fully patched up now?

 

[i.shaun]

System was fully updated, and only the mouse is plugged into the keyboard as the keyboard USB ports are only 1.0.


I have (3) 2.0 ports on the back of the iMac, one holds the External HDD directly, another holds a USB Hub, and the last one holds the keyboard directly. The USB hub is 2.0, and it has a power cord, all plugged in.

On the Hub itself, I only have the External DVD drive, and an ipod cable at the moment. The ipod cable is not connected to an ipod at the moment. The External DVD drive is on, and operational, however it too showed the same slow speed.



This is strange because when I had the install DVDs in it, it seemed to run faster, finished the installation faster than the slot drive was able to do.



When looking at the external HDD's access indicator (blue LED), it flashes slowly, as if hardly being read. Normally for an operation like this, it would flash rapidly while reading/writing.

 

[i.shaun]

I rebooted, held down "CMD+P+R" during startup (before the chime) until it rebooted again. (that clears the PRAM)

It seems to have helped that issue but I think my iMac is at the end of it's days



I ran Apple Hardware test again, and got this error: 4MOT/2/40000004: HDD


The one I had gotten previously was also HDD, but started with different number. I have tried looking it up with no success, and no apple stores are in my area. I believe it could mean the harddrive is failing, even though Disk Utility verification comes up clean/good.

 

[shwc]

I hypothesize that your slow transfer speed was in all likelyhood do to the fact that Spotlight was very busy indexing both your internal drive and your external drive. Remember you did a clean install. Indexing will keep your cpu and your drives busy for quite a while (multiple hours). Your computer responsiveness on all fronts will be considerably slower then normal during this time of extensive indexing.

NOTE: I do not think your imac is dying; Your hard drive perhaps, but not your imac. A quick install of a new hard drive (for good measure) and you are good to go.

 

[toolbox]

I ran Apple Hardware test again, and got this error: 4MOT/2/40000004: HDD

This error with your external drive or internal?

 

[i.shaun]

This error with your external drive or internal?

I don't know, but it's a fairly new external that hasn't given me problems before. It's the iMac itself that's been having problems. I guess I can unplug everything and run it again, but I doubt the external is the problem.


EDIT: Definitely Internal iMac HDD. I unplugged the external, and had only the keyboard and mouse plugged in -- same error code showed. I figured as much since I don't think the AHT checks external hardware.