I have done some tests on a variety of usb sticks using xp pro 64 bit, vista
Ultimate 32 bit and vista Premium 64 bit.

I have E6600 processor with 4G memory.
Gigabyte N680SLI-DQ6 motherboard.

All tests were completed on the same PC / hardware

I have formatted a variety of devices from 8G to 0.5G and they are all
significantly faster running under XP pro.

Under XP pro the 8G stick takes just 20 seconds... under either vista the
time taken was just under 10 minutes!!

Ihave tried, changing the policy statements for the sticks ( no difference),
removed all other usb devices (no difference), plugging them into different
ports (no difference)

The drivers being used all say Microsoft on all systems. With my limited
knowledge it very much looks like a Microsoft problem.

However could it be a motherboard / driver problem?

On Thu, 3 May 2007 07:34:00 -0700, Mick
<Mick@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
>I have done some tests on a variety of usb sticks using xp pro 64 bit, vista
>Ultimate 32 bit and vista Premium 64 bit.
>
>I have E6600 processor with 4G memory.
>Gigabyte N680SLI-DQ6 motherboard.
>
>All tests were completed on the same PC / hardware
>
>I have formatted a variety of devices from 8G to 0.5G and they are all
>significantly faster running under XP pro.
>
>Under XP pro the 8G stick takes just 20 seconds... under either vista the
>time taken was just under 10 minutes!!
>
>Ihave tried, changing the policy statements for the sticks ( no difference),
>removed all other usb devices (no difference), plugging them into different
>ports (no difference)
>
>The drivers being used all say Microsoft on all systems. With my limited
>knowledge it very much looks like a Microsoft problem.
>
>However could it be a motherboard / driver problem?[/color]

It could be. I remember installing some chipset updates and also a
BIOS update for my motherboard that afterwards brought up the old
"found new hardware and is installing" message from Vista at the next
reboot, which updated several MB interals which did seem to improve
overall system performace. I didn't do any before and after tests
though, just seems to better overall performance, if it really is or
not can't really say.

I have a Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 MB.

It really depends on the particular board. Mine uses a Intel South
Bridge to control USB, and the ICH8R chip calls for a Intel driver. So
if that's similar for your board you may get better results if
Gigabyte now has a updated driver for it. It could be Vista just
installed some generic drivers from the Vista DVD not finding more
specific ones.

Dig out your Gigabyte MB manual and near the front it should have a
illustration of a block diagram of the MB's main features. On this
block diagram find what specifically controls USB functions (should be
the South Bridge) then check on the Gigabyte site if there are chipset
and/or BIOS updates.

Just what is slower? Formatting them?

Did you go into device manager and optimize the USB thumb drive for speed?
It is NOT the default setting.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

"Mick" <Mick@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:40A5CBEC-F212-43C3-8E98-69BDA4EC8E75@microsoft.com...[color=blue]
>I have done some tests on a variety of usb sticks using xp pro 64 bit,
>vista
> Ultimate 32 bit and vista Premium 64 bit.
>
> I have E6600 processor with 4G memory.
> Gigabyte N680SLI-DQ6 motherboard.
>
> All tests were completed on the same PC / hardware
>
> I have formatted a variety of devices from 8G to 0.5G and they are all
> significantly faster running under XP pro.
>
> Under XP pro the 8G stick takes just 20 seconds... under either vista the
> time taken was just under 10 minutes!!
>
> Ihave tried, changing the policy statements for the sticks ( no
> difference),
> removed all other usb devices (no difference), plugging them into
> different
> ports (no difference)
>
> The drivers being used all say Microsoft on all systems. With my limited
> knowledge it very much looks like a Microsoft problem.
>
> However could it be a motherboard / driver problem?[/color]

On Thu, 03 May 2007 07:34:00 -0700, Mick wrote:
[color=blue]
> I have done some tests on a variety of usb sticks using xp pro 64 bit, vista
> Ultimate 32 bit and vista Premium 64 bit.
>
> I have E6600 processor with 4G memory.
> Gigabyte N680SLI-DQ6 motherboard.
>
> All tests were completed on the same PC / hardware
>
> I have formatted a variety of devices from 8G to 0.5G and they are all
> significantly faster running under XP pro.
>
> Under XP pro the 8G stick takes just 20 seconds... under either vista the
> time taken was just under 10 minutes!!
>
> Ihave tried, changing the policy statements for the sticks ( no difference),
> removed all other usb devices (no difference), plugging them into different
> ports (no difference)
>
> The drivers being used all say Microsoft on all systems. With my limited
> knowledge it very much looks like a Microsoft problem.
>
> However could it be a motherboard / driver problem?[/color]

FWIW - that time difference would be about what you'd expect between USB
1.1 and USB 2.

"ray" wrote:
[color=blue]
> On Thu, 03 May 2007 07:34:00 -0700, Mick wrote:
>[color=green]
> > I have done some tests on a variety of usb sticks using xp pro 64 bit, vista
> > Ultimate 32 bit and vista Premium 64 bit.
> >
> > I have E6600 processor with 4G memory.
> > Gigabyte N680SLI-DQ6 motherboard.
> >
> > All tests were completed on the same PC / hardware
> >
> > I have formatted a variety of devices from 8G to 0.5G and they are all
> > significantly faster running under XP pro.
> >
> > Under XP pro the 8G stick takes just 20 seconds... under either vista the
> > time taken was just under 10 minutes!!
> >
> > Ihave tried, changing the policy statements for the sticks ( no difference),
> > removed all other usb devices (no difference), plugging them into different
> > ports (no difference)
> >
> > The drivers being used all say Microsoft on all systems. With my limited
> > knowledge it very much looks like a Microsoft problem.
> >
> > However could it be a motherboard / driver problem?[/color]
>
> FWIW - that time difference would be about what you'd expect between USB
> 1.1 and USB 2.
>
> Ray,[/color]
That's very interesting. It would explain alot. According to Everest the
device is being recognised as usb 2.0 but timings suggest it's only running
at usb 1.1 speed

I've noticed that hardware manufactors seem to have a real problem with usb
2 devices and I'm thinking now this might be a motherboard driver problem. I
have all the latest drivers. It's not credible to think Microsoft didn't get
their usb 2 devices to work at full speed, hence my thinking it's mb problem.

"Adam Albright" wrote:
[color=blue]
> On Thu, 3 May 2007 07:34:00 -0700, Mick
> <Mick@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>[color=green]
> >I have done some tests on a variety of usb sticks using xp pro 64 bit, vista
> >Ultimate 32 bit and vista Premium 64 bit.
> >
> >I have E6600 processor with 4G memory.
> >Gigabyte N680SLI-DQ6 motherboard.
> >
> >All tests were completed on the same PC / hardware
> >
> >I have formatted a variety of devices from 8G to 0.5G and they are all
> >significantly faster running under XP pro.
> >
> >Under XP pro the 8G stick takes just 20 seconds... under either vista the
> >time taken was just under 10 minutes!!
> >
> >Ihave tried, changing the policy statements for the sticks ( no difference),
> >removed all other usb devices (no difference), plugging them into different
> >ports (no difference)
> >
> >The drivers being used all say Microsoft on all systems. With my limited
> >knowledge it very much looks like a Microsoft problem.
> >
> >However could it be a motherboard / driver problem?[/color]
>
> It could be. I remember installing some chipset updates and also a
> BIOS update for my motherboard that afterwards brought up the old
> "found new hardware and is installing" message from Vista at the next
> reboot, which updated several MB interals which did seem to improve
> overall system performace. I didn't do any before and after tests
> though, just seems to better overall performance, if it really is or
> not can't really say.
>
> I have a Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 MB.
>
> It really depends on the particular board. Mine uses a Intel South
> Bridge to control USB, and the ICH8R chip calls for a Intel driver. So
> if that's similar for your board you may get better results if
> Gigabyte now has a updated driver for it. It could be Vista just
> installed some generic drivers from the Vista DVD not finding more
> specific ones.
>
> Dig out your Gigabyte MB manual and near the front it should have a
> illustration of a block diagram of the MB's main features. On this
> block diagram find what specifically controls USB functions (should be
> the South Bridge) then check on the Gigabyte site if there are chipset
> and/or BIOS updates.
>
>
> Adam,[/color]
I should have said that I had already checked I had the latest drivers and
bios. My usb devices are in-deed on the Southbridge as you suggested. I'm
beginning to think it's mb/driver issue. I would raise a ticket with gigabyte
but in order to do so I have to remove the motherboard to get it's serial
number.. not something I want to do just yet!

"Richard Urban" wrote:
[color=blue]
> Just what is slower? Formatting them?[/color]
[color=blue]
>
> Did you go into device manager and optimize the USB thumb drive for speed?
> It is NOT the default setting.
>
> --[/color]

Richard,
I did set the drive to optium speed, that's what I meant by changing
policy. Apologies for not being clearer. File copies were also slower, but I
decided to just concentrate of the time taken for a format. Thought I would
keep it simple.[color=blue]
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Richard Urban
> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
> (For email, remove the obvious from my address)
>
> Quote from George Ankner:
> If you knew as much as you think you know,
> You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
>
> "Mick" <Mick@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:40A5CBEC-F212-43C3-8E98-69BDA4EC8E75@microsoft.com...[color=green]
> >I have done some tests on a variety of usb sticks using xp pro 64 bit,
> >vista
> > Ultimate 32 bit and vista Premium 64 bit.
> >
> > I have E6600 processor with 4G memory.
> > Gigabyte N680SLI-DQ6 motherboard.
> >
> > All tests were completed on the same PC / hardware
> >
> > I have formatted a variety of devices from 8G to 0.5G and they are all
> > significantly faster running under XP pro.
> >
> > Under XP pro the 8G stick takes just 20 seconds... under either vista the
> > time taken was just under 10 minutes!!
> >
> > Ihave tried, changing the policy statements for the sticks ( no
> > difference),
> > removed all other usb devices (no difference), plugging them into
> > different
> > ports (no difference)
> >
> > The drivers being used all say Microsoft on all systems. With my limited
> > knowledge it very much looks like a Microsoft problem.
> >
> > However could it be a motherboard / driver problem?[/color]
>
>[/color]

what file system was the stick using? I have found that Vista does not like
Fat32.

"Mick" wrote:
[color=blue]
> I have done some tests on a variety of usb sticks using xp pro 64 bit, vista
> Ultimate 32 bit and vista Premium 64 bit.
>
> I have E6600 processor with 4G memory.
> Gigabyte N680SLI-DQ6 motherboard.
>
> All tests were completed on the same PC / hardware
>
> I have formatted a variety of devices from 8G to 0.5G and they are all
> significantly faster running under XP pro.
>
> Under XP pro the 8G stick takes just 20 seconds... under either vista the
> time taken was just under 10 minutes!!
>
> Ihave tried, changing the policy statements for the sticks ( no difference),
> removed all other usb devices (no difference), plugging them into different
> ports (no difference)
>
> The drivers being used all say Microsoft on all systems. With my limited
> knowledge it very much looks like a Microsoft problem.
>
> However could it be a motherboard / driver problem?[/color]

"Ron K." wrote:
[color=blue]
> what file system was the stick using? I have found that Vista does not like
> Fat32.
>
> "Mick" wrote:
>[color=green]
> > I have done some tests on a variety of usb sticks using xp pro 64 bit, vista
> > Ultimate 32 bit and vista Premium 64 bit.
> >
> > I have E6600 processor with 4G memory.
> > Gigabyte N680SLI-DQ6 motherboard.
> >
> > All tests were completed on the same PC / hardware
> >
> > I have formatted a variety of devices from 8G to 0.5G and they are all
> > significantly faster running under XP pro.
> >
> > Under XP pro the 8G stick takes just 20 seconds... under either vista the
> > time taken was just under 10 minutes!!
> >
> > Ihave tried, changing the policy statements for the sticks ( no difference),
> > removed all other usb devices (no difference), plugging them into different
> > ports (no difference)
> >
> > The drivers being used all say Microsoft on all systems. With my limited
> > knowledge it very much looks like a Microsoft problem.
> >
> > However could it be a motherboard / driver problem?[/color][/color]

Ron,
FAT32 but a NTFS format is just as bad.