Q: I have an external hard drive connected via USB to my notebook computer. My USB ports are 2.0 so I know that they can achieve 480mp/s and my external hard drive is 7200rpm. My notebook's hard drive is 5400 rpm. So when I transfer files why do I only get 15-25mp/s transfer rate instead of 480mp/s or something close to it? Also does it speed up things a bit when you partition the drive into lets say 2-4 separate ones? Or no?
A: No external hard drive will live up to rated specs, but yours are definitely low. Are read or writing to drive. Get HD Tune and benchmark that drive here http://www.majorgeeks.com/HD_Tune_d4130.html