Western Digital External USB HDD Slow

[rypaca]

Hi all, happy belated holidays.

I have a question about using an external USB hard drive. Currently I have a 1TB Western Digital "MyBook" attached to my 21.5" iMac. I am currently (and have been since I picked up this external drive) experiencing slow speeds on the drive. The slow speeds are primarily noticeable when (a) the drive has not been used for x minutes and needs to spin up, and (b) when I attempt to play music via iTunes or video via VLC directly from the USB drive. I've been copying the media to play from the USB drive to the iMac and playing it thus.

Any ideas why the slow speeds are happening? Could there be a compatibility problem (ie, USB HD is USB 1.x whereas iMac is USB 2?) or an incorrect setting (causing the slow access time for the HD?)

Also any suggestions for upgrading the drive (SSD, FW)?

Thanks much,
Ryan

 

[Paulywauly]

Thats doesnt sound right at all. how old is your mybook? is it USB2?

I have 3 of these and they do have a tendency to spin down when you dont use them for a little while i think its part of the built in power saving features, they will spin back up when needed which takes a few seconds.

Are you using a USB hub? if so, try plugging it straight into the mac and see if you still get slow transfer speeds

 

[rypaca]

Thats doesnt sound right at all. how old is your mybook? is it USB2?

I have 3 of these and they do have a tendency to spin down when you dont use them for a little while i think its part of the built in power saving features, they will spin back up when needed which takes a few seconds.

Are you using a USB hub? if so, try plugging it straight into the mac and see if you still get slow transfer speeds

Thanks for the reply:

- the unit is about 8 months old.
- no USB hub, unit is plugged directly into back of iMac (tried all ports, same result).
- checked, and yes, USB2.0

I should mention that I have Time Machine scheduled on this drive, but I've noticed the skipping (in the case of audio) even without a backup occurring.



Thanks much,
Ryan

 

[Paulywauly]

i think its safe to assume its USB2 if its less than a year old!

First thing i'd do is try it out on another computer. if its having issues with transfer speed etc on another machine it could be a bad hard disc. luckily it should still be under warranty so you should be able to contact western digital for a repair or replacement