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Windws 7 File Access/Copy Performance (Poor) - Local & Network

Answered Windws 7 File Access/Copy Performance (Poor) - Local & Network

  • Saturday, November 21, 2009 10:20 PM
     
     
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    I am an IT professional/developer and have noticed with both Windows Vita & Windows 7, when using Windows Explorer to copy files locally or to the network, the performance is outrageously slow. When you use DOS XCOPY, the performance is faster.

    Also, when copying files to/from network using Windows Explorer, the OS becomes unresponsive.

    Also, this same issue is true when Ripping Audio CD's using Windows Media Player and the songs are saved to the Music folder of a roaming profile.

    In my opinion, although Windows 7 is an improvement over Windows Vista, there is still a core issue with file copy with both.

    This is a major issue and Microsoft needs to get on this. Windows XP seems to be the only stable Microsoft OS.

    By the way, where do we report Windows 7 bugs/issues? Microsoft is not making it easy to help them improve their OS.

     

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  • Saturday, November 21, 2009 10:26 PM
     
     
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    I don't mean to lessen the intended impact of your statement but not everyone sees slow performance, Andrew.  I have been using Vista for years on my small network, and now I have Windows 7.  Frankly I'm not seeing anything like what you're describing - copying files through Explorer is nice and snappy on all my systems.

    Regarding stability, I've never used a system that's been more stable than Vista x64.  It runs on my workstation for weeks without a reboot or glitch.  If not for Windows update it would run virtually forever, and I use it hard for software development and testing.  By contrast, the XP systems I have set up are not nearly as stable, and I use them for less.

    Now, the UI on these newer systems...  XP knew better how to present an "all business" interface to the user, I'll give it that.

    Can you be more specific about what you expect?  For example, you're seeing file copy speeds of xxx with XCOPY and yyy with Explorer?  Does system responsiveness change?  Are you seeing errors logged?  What kind of networking do you have set up?

    Also, what 3rd party software (e.g., security suites, antivirus) do you have installed?  That software can make a huge difference in performance.  Not all packages are created equal, as I'm sure you know.

    -Noel
     
  • Saturday, November 21, 2009 10:48 PM
     
     
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    I hear you...

    ok, how do I get the accurate transfer rates using Windows Explorer vs XCOPY?

    Without giving you transfer rates at the moment, I noticed that in both Windows Vista 64 Ultimate and Windows 7 64 Ultimate, the transfer of files using Windows Explorer is much slower than Windows XP Professional. I knew Windows Vista 64 was black-flag as an OS in big trouble and gave up on it a long-time ago knowing Windows 7 was coming out.

    The only time I noticed the OS becoming unresponsive (flash back to Windows Vista days) is when I am transferring or loading data/files from the network. No errors are logged and Windows 7 (and Windows Vista) do not give any indication something is wrong other than the mouse icon goes into a forever wait mode, the OS becomes unresponsive from 30 seconds to over a minute. Then everything returns back to normal as soon as the file is done being copied or loaded from the network.

    In simple developer terms and in regards to unresponsiveness, it is like they need to add an DoEvents() command in their file transfer loop.

    I have Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise, Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, Microsoft Expressions 3 Studio and Microsoft Security Essentials Antivirus.

    3rd Party Software? Oh, boy, where do I start? Also, is this really relevant? Am I only suppose to purchase Microsoft products in order to get good performance from Windows Explorer?

    I have QuickBooks Pro 2009, Pinnacle Studio 14 and Corel Paintshop Pro.

    My network consists of a 3 workstations (Windows Vista 64, Windows 7 64 and Windows 7 64 Ultimate), HP Color LaserJet 3500, Windows 2008 Server Standard 64 (12GB RAM and 2TB HDD), SQL Server 2008 64 and Exchange Server 2007 64. I use 1000Mbps Netgear Switch, CAT5 Hard-wired and a Sonicwall TZ-190 Firewall.

    Bottom line, I have been in this industry since 1986 and a professional consultant since 1999. I am your typical "tech-head" and my Windows is always up-to-date and I am always using the latest and greatest. I am no average home user by any means, so you can assume that all my drivers and updates are current.

    Enclosed is my DxDiag to show my specs on hardware/software in case you're interested.


    ------------------
    System Information
    ------------------
    Time of this report: 11/21/2009, 16:03:13
           Machine name: ANDREW
       Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_rtm.090713-1255)
               Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
    System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
           System Model: System Product Name
                   BIOS: BIOS Date: 03/25/09 12:18:36 Ver: 08.00.15
              Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         920  @ 2.67GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
                 Memory: 6144MB RAM
    Available OS Memory: 6136MB RAM
              Page File: 3420MB used, 8847MB available
            Windows Dir: C:\Windows
        DirectX Version: DirectX 11
    DX Setup Parameters: Not found
       User DPI Setting: 108 DPI (112 percent)
     System DPI Setting: 108 DPI (112 percent)
        DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
         DxDiag Version: 6.01.7600.16385 64bit Unicode

     
  • Tuesday, November 24, 2009 9:50 AM
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    What is your motherboard model? I suggest your search and download drivers for the motherboard chipset, ATA\IDE controller and mass storage.

    Intel - Download Center 

    Important Note: Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information.

    If the issue persists please upgrade the BIOS to the latest version.

    Arthur Xie - MSFT
     
  • Tuesday, November 24, 2009 2:19 PM
     
     
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    Asus PT6 Deluxe. Ok, will do. I will try that.
     
  • Tuesday, November 24, 2009 4:40 PM
     
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    >how do I get the accurate transfer rates using Windows Explorer vs XCOPY?

    The utterly simplest way is to copy a known amount of data and use your watch or a stopwatch.

    >3rd Party Software? Oh, boy, where do I start? Also, is this really relevant?
    >Am I only suppose to purchase Microsoft products in order to get good performance from Windows Explorer?

    Your choice of security software (e.g., antivirus or security suite) could be incredibly relevant, as could the configuration of same.  Keep in mind Windows 7 is VERY new and programs like antivirus and security suites are both incredibly complicated and cut deeply into the system.  Common sense tells us these things are not all going to work very well together until they have more time to be refined.  This is the root of the "wait for SP1 to upgrade" adage with all Windows systems.

    I perceived you as an experienced person, which is why I posted that it's actually possible for Windows 7 not to act the way it does on your system.  That also implies you have installed or changed something that I haven't.

    Have you tried dropping back to Safe Mode with Networking to see if the problem persists?

    -Noel
    • Proposed As Answer by Gray Hat 137 Saturday, February 12, 2011 2:46 AM
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  • Saturday, February 12, 2011 3:00 AM
     
     
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    File transfers over the network abusing DPC and interupts may be due to your local or remote machine's Samba.  I've found that it gets "lazy" after keeping a connection open for a long period of time (such as a network drive mapping).  Try restarting the both machine's Samba implementations; in my case, restarting the SMB service on my remote machine via script solves the problem easily and increases file transfer by factors of 10 while decreasing CPU grinding to almost nothing.