2 hours to backup photos to usb drive?

[Artio]

Hi, I purchased a verbatim usb drive as an extra backup for Photos library. The library is 12.3GB and the usb drive is 16 GB. I dragged the photos library to the drive and it said 2 hours to backup! I have since noticed that the drive is usb2.0 and my macbook is usb3.0. I cancelled after 10 minutes. Is this what I should expect and would a usb 3.0 drive be much quicker. My main backup is on an ecternal Lacie hd.

Thanks
Artio

 

[honestone]

That does seem like a long time, although USB 2.0 is slow. I just tried something on my Mac Mini. I have an external SSD that has various TV series on one of the partitions. One of those is Season 3 of "House of Cards", and the size of that folder (contains 13 episodes) is almost 12 gig in size. It is connected to my Mac Mini via USB 3.0. Also, I have a SanDisk Cruzer Guide 32 gig USB 3.0 Flash Drive that is plugged into my USB 3.0 hub, which of course is connected to the Mini. When I dragged that "House of Cards" folder onto the SanDisk device, it said it was going to take 28 minutes.

So, yes, USB 2.0 is going top be slower, but 2 hours for copying a 12 gig folder does seem excessive. I no longer have any USB 2.0 Flash Drives, so I can't provide a more definitive test. But my testing should give you a better idea.

Also, note that the dragging was done from the external SSD, through a USB 3.0 port, to another USB 3.0 port, and finally onto the Flash Drive. If that "House of Cards" folder was on the Mac Mini instead, I suspect the transfer would be somewhat faster.

 

[Artio]

That does seem like a long time, although USB 2.0 is slow. I just tried something on my Mac Mini. I have an external SSD that has various TV series on one of the partitions. One of those is Season 3 of "House of Cards", and the size of that folder (contains 13 episodes) is almost 12 gig in size. It is connected to my Mac Mini via USB 3.0. Also, I have a SanDisk Cruzer Guide 32 gig USB 3.0 Flash Drive that is plugged into my USB 3.0 hub, which of course is connected to the Mini. When I dragged that "House of Cards" folder onto the SanDisk device, it said it was going to take 28 minutes.

So, yes, USB 2.0 is going top be slower, but 2 hours for copying a 12 gig folder does seem excessive. I no longer have any USB 2.0 Flash Drives, so I can't provide a more definitive test. But my testing should give you a better idea.

Also, note that the dragging was done from the external SSD, through a USB 3.0 port, to another USB 3.0 port, and finally onto the Flash Drive. If that "House of Cards" folder was on the Mac Mini instead, I suspect the transfer would be somewhat faster.

Thanks ,Artio