Windows 11 Transfers: 7 Tricks to Speed Up Transfers NOW! 🚀⚡
If you're noticing that file transfer speeds on your Windows 11 PC are slower than usual, there are a few tweaks you can make to optimize the process. 🚀
Use SSDs instead of HDDs
If you have the option, I always prefer to use units of solid state drives (SSDs) instead of hard drives (HDDs), as the former are much faster. This will allow you to copy files at a significantly faster speed. ⚡
For example, you can copy files at speeds of 500 MB per second on SSDs, compared to 30 to 150 MB per second on HDDs. Even better! NVMe SSDs offer data transfer speeds of 3,000 MB per second. 💨
There are many SSD options available to choose from if you're looking for a new storage device. 🛒
Connect storage devices to USB 3.0 ports
If you're copying files to an external drive and the device supports USB 3.0 or higher, make sure you connect it to a USB 3.0 or newer port. This is critical because USB 3.0 offers much faster data transfer speeds than USB 2.0. ⚙️
If you connect a USB 3.0 storage device to a USB 2.0 port on your computer, you'll experience slower transfer speeds. USB 3.0 offers data transfer speeds of up to 5 GB per second. 😱
Most USB 3.0 ports are blue inside, making it easy to check a port's version, although this isn't always the case. Additionally, you'll often find the word SS (SuperSpeed) next to a USB 3.0 port, indicating which version it is. 🔍
You can also use Windows 11's built-in Device Manager tool to check the version of a USB port. To do this, open Windows Search (press Windows+S), type Device Manager and launch the utility. Expand the "Universal Serial Bus Controllers" section and look at the USB port names. The names will tell you which version it is. 🖥️
Use NTFS instead of FAT32
A disk's file system also influences how fast or slow file transfers are. Whenever possible, choose the NTFS file system instead of FAT32, as NTFS allows your system to read and write data faster. ⚙️
Most Windows drives use NTFS as their file system, but some drives may use FAT32. To check, open File Explorer (press Windows+E), right-click your drive, and select "Properties." Then, go to the "General" tab and check the value next to "File System."
You can change a disk's file system if you wish. This can be done with or without formatting the disk. Here's how to do both. 📂
Convert a disk to NTFS without formatting
To convert a disk's file system to NTFS without affecting the data on the disk, I opened Windows Search (press Windows+S), typed System Symbol, and select "Run as Administrator." Choose "Yes" to the User Account Control prompt. 🚀
In the Command Prompt, type the following command. Replace "A" with the drive letter you want to convert to NTFS. Then, press Enter.
convert A: /fs:ntfs
Wait for Command Prompt to change your disk's file system. When it finishes and you see the success message, type the following command and press Enter.
exit
Convert a disk to NTFS by formatting it
If your drive is new or you don't mind losing all the data stored on it, you can format it to NTFS. To do this, open File Explorer (press Windows+E), right-click your drive, and choose "Format." 🔥
In the Format window, click the "File System" drop-down menu and choose "NTFS." Enter a name for the disk in the "Volume Label" field and click "Start." 📝
Wait for the disk to be formatted to the NTFS file system. ⏳
Copy files using Robocopy
Windows 11 features a command-line copy method called Robocopy that lets you copy files faster than the traditional File Explorer method. Simply specify the files you want to copy in the command, and Robocopy will copy everything to the chosen directory. ✂️
To do this, I opened Windows Search (press Windows+S), typed System Symbol and select "Run as Administrator." At the User Account Control prompt, select "Yes." 🛠️
In the Command Prompt, type the following command. Replace "SourcePath" with the full path of the folder you want to copy and "DestinationPath" with the full path of the folder where you want to paste the files. Then, press Enter.
robocopy "SourcePath" "DestinationPath" /e /z /mt:16
In this command, the "e" parameter ensures that all subdirectories are copied, including empty ones. The "z" parameter ensures that you can resume the file transfer task if it's interrupted. The "mt:16" parameter tells the command to use multithreading with 16 threads for faster data transfers. 🚀💻
Disable real-time antivirus scanning
Sometimes, real-time antivirus scanning can delay file transfers. This happens because the tool scans your files while you're copying them. In this case, temporarily disabling real-time scanning can speed up file transfers. 🔒
To do this, I opened Windows Search (press Windows+S), typed Windows Security, and launch the app. Select "Virus & threat protection," choose "Manage settings" under Virus & threat protection settings, and turn off the "Real-time protection" switch. 🛡️
At the User Account Control prompt, select "Yes."
Start your file transfer. When you're done, reactivate protection by turning "Real-time Protection" back on. 🔙
I compressed files before copying them
When you compress files, their size is reduced, which speeds up transfers. This also makes copying and pasting more convenient, as you can create a single file from multiple files. Plus, your operating system only has to open and read one process, allowing for faster data transfers. 📦
You can use Windows 11's built-in compression feature to create a ZIP file of your files. To do this, open File Explorer (press Windows+E), select the files you want to compress, right-click a selected file, and select Show more options > To send a > Compressed (zipped) folder. 💼
Other ways to compress files in Windows 11 include using free archiving tools like 7-Zip and WinRAR. 📦
Close unwanted applications running in the background
If you have any apps running in the background that you're not using while copying files, close them. This is because those apps consume your computer's resources, leaving fewer resources available for the file transfer task. 🔄
You can close background apps the usual way (by clicking the "X" in the top right corner of the app). If an app is unresponsive, use Task Manager to force quit it. 🛑
And that's how you fix slow file transfer speeds on a Windows 11 PC. If you're using a NAS drive, we also have tips for achieving faster file transfers on your device. 💾✨
