I have been using FreeFileSync for several years now to backup my documents to a USB flash drive. I had been using a Kingston flash drive, but it stopped working, so this week I got a Lexar one to replace it. FreeFileSync synced very fast to the Kingston drive, but it syncs to the new Lexar incredibly slowly. I don't understand why, since the Lexar (a Lexar® 16GB JumpDrive® S50 USB 2.0 Flash Drive) seems to be as fast, if not faster than, the Kingston for file operations performed in Windows Explorer.
The very first one or two times that I synced to the Lexar using FreeFileSync, I thought it was fast, but it hasn't been since then. I've tried disabling fail-safe copy and deleting "sync.ffs_db" files, but it made no difference. FreeFileSync is incredibly slow to generate .ffs_lock files and then stays at 0.00% when syncing for a long time. Some files that are only a couple hundred KBs take as long as 16 seconds to sync.
The Compare operation is much slower than it was for the Kingston as well. Oddly, when I created a new sync job and compared one of the folders I regularly sync (which contains more than half of the files I regularly sync), the folder comparison was lightning fast. But when I added the other four folders that I sync one-by-one, it got slower each time.
Do you have any idea what could be going on? Thank you.
-- Timothy
Syncing to Lexar flash drive is very slow
- Posts: 4
- Joined: 8 Oct 2008
- Posts: 1
- Joined: 21 Dec 2012
Not all memory sticks are created equal. See some that show the same specs but on is faster than the other
- Posts: 4
- Joined: 8 Oct 2008
Thanks, but it seems there's something more going on here, since file operations (such as Copy) to the Lexar flash drive are quite fast in Windows Explorer, but not in FreeFileSync.Not all memory sticks are created equal. See some that show the same specs but on is faster than the otherpcmedic67
In fact, it seems like Windows Explorer copies around 0.5-1 MB to the flash drive in about the same time that it takes FreeFileSync to copy 1 KB to it.
- Posts: 4
- Joined: 8 Oct 2008
I didn't think to mention earlier that I'm using Windows 8.1 and the latest version of FreeFileSync (6.7).
Syncing to the Lexar flash drive in FreeFileSync is still extremely slow. I just tried it again to get some exact statistics, and it took 10 minutes and 58 seconds to sync only 38.0 KB (59 files), even though I already ran the comparison before syncing. Copying files to the flash drive is nowhere near that slow in Windows Explorer (where I just copied a 209 MB file to it in less than a minute).
The very first time I synced to the drive, the average speed was 0.22 GB/min, which I didn't think was too bad, but it almost seems like it is getting slower each time I sync. FreeFileSync is also locked up most of the time while it is syncing (it takes quite a while just for the window to show up when I click on it in the taskbar), and I don't remember it ever doing that with the Kingston.
The problem seems to be that there is a very large overhead when syncing files, because it takes around the same amount of time (a very long one) to sync a 200KB or 20MB file. One thing I haven't tried yet is reformatting the flash drive, but I don't think that should be necessary, since Windows says it is FAT32 and hasn't found any disk errors on it, and Windows Explorer copies files to it fairly fast.
This seems very odd to me, and any help would be very much appreciated.
Syncing to the Lexar flash drive in FreeFileSync is still extremely slow. I just tried it again to get some exact statistics, and it took 10 minutes and 58 seconds to sync only 38.0 KB (59 files), even though I already ran the comparison before syncing. Copying files to the flash drive is nowhere near that slow in Windows Explorer (where I just copied a 209 MB file to it in less than a minute).
The very first time I synced to the drive, the average speed was 0.22 GB/min, which I didn't think was too bad, but it almost seems like it is getting slower each time I sync. FreeFileSync is also locked up most of the time while it is syncing (it takes quite a while just for the window to show up when I click on it in the taskbar), and I don't remember it ever doing that with the Kingston.
The problem seems to be that there is a very large overhead when syncing files, because it takes around the same amount of time (a very long one) to sync a 200KB or 20MB file. One thing I haven't tried yet is reformatting the flash drive, but I don't think that should be necessary, since Windows says it is FAT32 and hasn't found any disk errors on it, and Windows Explorer copies files to it fairly fast.
This seems very odd to me, and any help would be very much appreciated.
- Posts: 4
- Joined: 8 Oct 2008
I recently noticed that Notepad++ locks up for several seconds when I save small text files to the drive, so I was increasingly doubting that this was a FreeFileSync problem.
I contacted Lexar about it, and they said that they will replace the flash drive since it is under warranty, so hopefully that will take care of the issue.
I contacted Lexar about it, and they said that they will replace the flash drive since it is under warranty, so hopefully that will take care of the issue.
- Posts: 3
- Joined: 7 Jun 2012
I have exactly the same problem but with an ADATA USB stick. I copied my backup files from a Kingston USB stick to the ADATA stick.Thanks, but it seems there's something more going on here, since file operations (such as Copy) to the Lexar flash drive are quite fast in Windows Explorer, but not in FreeFileSync.
In fact, it seems like Windows Explorer copies around 0.5-1 MB to the flash drive in about the same time that it takes FreeFileSync to copy 1 KB to it.russelllj
Syncronizing with the Kingston took me just a couple of minutes. In that moment I am trying to syncronize the same files with the ADATA stick since 5 hours and 50 minutes. And it still doesn't finish :(
- Posts: 3
- Joined: 7 Jun 2012
It is definitely the memory stick. I copied now my backup files from the ADATA stick to a Seagate Backup Plus Drive together with some other files. The FFS file search took me now just 5 minutes for 700 Gb.I have exactly the same problem but with an ADATA USB stick. I copied my backup files from a Kingston USB stick to the ADATA stick.
Syncronizing with the Kingston took me just a couple of minutes. In that moment I am trying to syncronize the same files with the ADATA stick since 5 hours and 50 minutes. And it still doesn't finish :(ferry53
So in my opinion it is no software problem. FFS runs fine.
The problem is the memory hardware!
