Anyone know why it has suddenly started taking so long to transfer downloads from my desktop computer on to my external hard drive, I am talking about maybe at least three hours for transfering about 20 items.

5 minutes ago, NoshowJones said:

Anyone know why it has suddenly started taking so long to transfer downloads from my desktop computer on to my external hard drive, I am talking about maybe at least three hours for transfering about 20 items.

When was the last time you defragmented the HDD (assuming it is a magnetic drive, not an SSD). Write times can be severely affected if the drive is widely fragmented, as the drive heads need to move around a lot to find little portions of unused space to write to. This is even more noticeable if the drive is more than 90% full and fragmneted.

There are other reasons that could cause this, including physical damage due to heat, dust, humidity and age but the first that comes to mind before my second coffee - and the easiest to fix.

There are tools you can download - for free - that can do other things like clear caches and optimise your PC, remove junk files, and so on. If you want recommendations for a couple, reply below.

Good luck.

16 minutes ago, The Oracle said:

When was the last time you defragmented the HDD (assuming it is a magnetic drive, not an SSD). Write times can be severely affected if the drive is widely fragmented, as the drive heads need to move around a lot to find little portions of unused space to write to. This is even more noticeable if the drive is more than 90% full and fragmneted.

There are other reasons that could cause this, including physical damage due to heat, dust, humidity and age but the first that comes to mind before my second coffee - and the easiest to fix.

There are tools you can download - for free - that can do other things like clear caches and optimise your PC, remove junk files, and so on. If you want recommendations for a couple, reply below.

Good luck.

Yes I would like recommendations for any tool to download. I think my external hard drive is SSD although there is nothing on it that says either. Thanks.

2 minutes ago, NoshowJones said:

Yes I would like recommendations for any tool to download. I think my external hard drive is SSD although there is nothing on it that says either. Thanks.

Right. The first one I have used for about twenty years both the free and "pro"(paid) versions.
The User Interface is esy. All this really does is provide an easy interface to draw on functions that are already built into Windows. There are other (free) apps you can download from within it.
CAUTION!
When installing, it will try to install "bloatware"like screen recorders and other tools. So be sure you unclick these boxes or do not accept to subscribe to their newsletter.
https://www.iobit.com/en/advancedsystemcarefree.php

The second, CCleaner does less but is quick and its registry defragger is better. It's also minuscule. CAUTION! Double-check on the install that its not installing bloatware or some free version of anti-virus software.

https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner/download

Iobit has a full suite of driver updateers and a particularly good uninstaller. All fro free although with limits. They all try to install additional apps during installation.

FINAL WORD

Whether you external HDD is Magnetic or Solid State, the degfragger/trim option in AdvancedSystemCare will fix it.
First, just do a full scan and click the "Auto Fix and Retsrt PC" button. That'll clear out junk files, leftover install files, cookies, registry errors and stuff first. Then, go back in after the restart and click on "Speedup"
"More Optimisation Tools" (The three dots)
Left hand side, near the botom
"Smart Defrag"
It WILL download an installer. Once again caution on bloatware. Run th free version by clicking the appropriate box. Wait. Go for a walk. Early lunch. If your external HDD is magentic, it could take a while, depending on fragmentation, size, and %age of capacity full.

Good luck!