USB 3.0 vs USB 2.0 performanc testing question

I recently bought a ORICO 2588US3 Tool Free USB 3.0 2.5 " SATA Hard Drive External Enclosure. Two of the reviews on the site say the USB 3 connection cuts in and out. I'm wondering how they know that.

I just did a test with my Win 8 laptop which has two USB 3.0 ports, in addition to a USB 2.0 port. I have a USB 2.0 external enclosure with a 2.5" 80GB 5400 rpm SATA drive in it and I have the new USB 3.0 (mentioned above) with a 250GB 7200 rpm SATA drive in it. I connected the USB 2.0 drive to a USB 3.0 port on the computer since my wireless mouse receiver is occupying the USB 2.0 port. I copied a file of approx. 700 MB to it; this took about 22 seconds. Then, I connected the USB 3.0 enclosure to the same port and copied the same file to it; this took about 12 seconds.

Other than actually clocking the transfer times, I know of no way to confirm whether the USB 3.0 enclosure and consistently working at USB 3.0 speed when connected to USB 3.0 port. Can someone clue me in on this?

 

The first thing I'd check is going to CONTROL PANEL and opening DEVICE MANAGER. If you see any yellow "?" or "!" marks by the USB devices and/or the external hard drive, reinstall the drivers. If they appear OK, leave them alone.

Data transfer speeds can vary based on factors including the size of the file(s) and other tasks running on the PC while the transfer is in progress. Given this, it's possible for a USB 3.0 transfer to drop to USB 2.0 speed at times. In addition, all USB 3.0 storage devices are not created equally. I have seen tests on Tom's Hardware that rate the average speed of different brands and models; performance can vary widely between them.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the replies. All components in Device Manager are fine; they are all working properly.

The time with the USB 3.0 external enclosure was about 12 sec. That is about 58.3 Mbps, so it's in the ballpark with some of the devices shown at http://www.everythingusb.com/speed.html.

Getting back to my original post, I was wondering how two of the users who posted buyer reviews determined that the USB 3 connection cuts in and out. Perhaps they were using some software utility that monitors USD transfer speed.