[Solved] Seagate External Hard Drive Running Slow on Windows 11/10

Updated By

Tracy King 

Written By

Cici 

Last Updated on April 22, 2024

On online forums, people frequently discuss issues with Seagate hard drives being slow, including slow write speeds for Seagate external hard drives and sluggish transfer rates. Slow response or transfer speeds are major concerns for regular users. Apart from replacing the hard drive, there are more cost-effective ways to address this problem. Before we dive in, let's first understand the factors causing Seagate external hard drives to slow down.

Why is my Seagate external hard drive slow?

Seagate external hard drive can be slow in two aspects: first, the Seagate external hard drive is slow to respond or unresponsive, causing problems when transferring files; second, the read and write speed of the Seagate external hard drive is slow. Both issues can be caused by multiple factors, but most of them share some similarities. Here are some primary reasons for a slow write speed or transfer speed on a Seagate external hard drive:

- The Seagate external hard drive is highly fragmented, causing longer retrieval times for scattered files. - The Seagate external hard drive has numerous bad sectors, which may lead to slower transfer speeds or the drive ceasing to function altogether. - A faulty cable or outdated drivers can interrupt the connection between the computer and the external hard drive. - The Seagate external hard drive is too slow and has no remaining storage space. - The Seagate external hard drive is infected with viruses or malware, resulting in sluggish performance.

After identifying the root cause of the issue, you can take appropriate steps to fix it. This article offers several solutions for various problems. If you find these methods helpful, share this guide on social media to help more people.

How to solve the problem of slow Seagate external hard drive?

If you wish to restore the performance of your Seagate external hard drive and make it faster, you can choose the appropriate option to resolve the issue of a slow Seagate external hard drive:

1. Solution 1: Check and Replace the Cable 2. Solution 2: Test External Hard Drive Speed 3. Solution 3: Defragment the External Drive 4. Solution 4: Check and Repair Bad Sectors 5. Solution 5: Update Drivers 6. Solution 6: Enable Write Caching 7. Solution 7: Free Up Space on the External Drive 8. Solution 8: Run Antivirus Software 9. Solution 9: Reformat the External Hard Drive

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to resolve slow read or transfer speeds on a Seagate hard drive with the utf-8 encoding format:

Solution 1: Check and replace the SATA cable

4. A faulty SATA cable can cause slower read/write speeds or increased latency. Make sure your external drive's cable is in good condition, and try switching the SATA cable port.

Step 1: Check the drive port: Try plugging your hard drive into a different SATA port on the back (or front) of your case.

Step 2: Use a USB 3.0 cable or plug into a compatible port.

If the cable is not the issue, try the other fixes.

Solution 2: Test the External Hard Drive Speed

By checking the drive's speed, you can more precisely pinpoint the issue. You can compare it to its normal speed to see if it's slowed down, and a tool like Partition Master can assist you in testing your hard drive's read and write speeds. This tool offers a user-friendly interface that aids in managing your drives.

Download this hard drive benchmark tool and run a speed test on your Windows system.

Step 1. Launch AOMEI Partition Assistant. Then click the Download button to activate the "DiskMark" feature under the "Discovery" section.

Step 2. Select the target drive, test data, and block size from the drop-down menus.

Select a disk to test its speed.

Step 3. Once you've configured all the settings, click on “Start” to begin the disk test. You'll then see the read/write speeds for sequential or random I/O, along with latency data.

A Seagate external hard drive should perform close to its advertised speed. If it's running slower than it used to, let's explore the possible causes and try to fix it.

Read more:

Solution 3: Defragment external drive.

If you haven't defragged the drive in a long time, this could also cause it to run slow. Windows offers a built-in Disk Defragmenter tool that helps rearrange fragmented data on the drive for better performance.

Step 1. Connect the Western Digital external hard drive to your Windows 11/10 computer.

Step 2: Hold down the Windows + R keys to open the "Run" window.

Step 3: Type dfrgui to open the optimization window.

Step 4. Select your slow Seagate external hard drive and click on Analyze.

Click Optimize and wait for the analysis to complete.

Solution 4: Check and repair bad sectors

A damaged file system or bad sectors might lead to the slow transfer speed of Seagate external hard drive. To solve this issue quickly, I highly recommend you use a professional repair tool - AOMEI Partition Assistant to check the file system and fix errors, thus improving the transfer speed of Seagate external hard drive. It provides "Check File System" and "Disk Surface Test" features to solve this issue.

Download this repair tool for free and follow the steps:

Step 1: Right-click on the problematic partition.

Step 2: Choose Tools > Check File System.

Step 3: Confirm that you want to hide the partition.

Click “Start” to begin checking for errors on your partition.

Read more:

Solution 5: Update the driver

If the Seagate external hard drive is connected to a computer with outdated or damaged drivers, you'll need to update the outdated driver to resolve the slow speed issue. You can do this by updating the driver through the Device Manager, which you can access following the instructions in our Knowledge Center.

Step 1: Right-click on the Windows icon and select Device Manager.

Step 2: Select the target drive and expand the right arrow.

Step 3. Right-click the problematic driver and select Update Driver.

Solution 6: Enable write caching

Write caching improves performance by using volatile memory to collect write operations. This cache allows the computer to temporarily store these commands until they are written to an external storage device.

Step 1. Open Device Manager and expand Disk Drives.

Step 2. Right-click the target drive and select Properties.

3. On the Policies tab, check the box for Better performance.

4. Select < strong >Enable write caching on the device.

Solution 7: Free up space on your external hard drive

Insufficient disk space can slow down your hard drive's transfer speed. You can free up space in a number of ways, such as deleting unnecessary files and apps, clearing out large files, and expanding partitions. For more detailed steps on how to free up space on an external drive, click the following link:

How to Free Up Hard Drive Space in Windows 10/11 [Step-by-Step Guide]

If your PC doesn't have enough space for new apps or games, or if clutter on your hard drive is driving you crazy, you're not alone.

Solution 8: Run an antivirus scan

If your hard drive is connected to an unsafe device, it might get infected with a virus. This can also cause it to slow down its response time. This is why it's best to have a tool that protects your device from virus attacks.

Step 1: Open an antivirus tool (such as AVG).

Step 2: Scan for viruses.

Run antivirus software

Upon completion of the scan, you can use an antivirus tool to deal with these viruses.

Solution 9: Reformat the External Hard Drive If your external hard drive is causing issues and is unreadable on your Mac, reformatting it might be the solution. However, note that this will erase all data on the drive, so make sure to back up important files beforehand. Here's how to reformat an external hard drive on your Mac: 1. Connect the external hard drive to your Mac. 2. Open "Finder." 3. In the sidebar, click "Devices." You should see the name of your external hard drive. 4. Right-click on the drive icon, then select "Format." 5. In the pop-up window, choose a format for the drive. For most purposes, select "ExFAT" as it works seamlessly between Mac and Windows. If you'll only use it on a Mac, choose "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)." 6. In the "Volume Name" field, enter the desired name for your hard drive. 7. Ensure the "Format" is set correctly, then click the "Erase" button. This will initiate the formatting process, which may take a few minutes depending on the size of the drive. After reformatting, your hard drive should now work properly on your Mac. Remember to back up your data to avoid losing crucial information!

Formatting external hard drive is another simple way to fix the slow external drive issue. The tool Partition Master offers a fast and secure formatting feature that can help you clean the drive and solve hard drive problems. You can format the drive to NTFS/FAT32/exFAT/EXT3 file systems.

Download this powerful tool and follow the steps to format your external hard drive:

Step 1. Launch AOMEI Partition Assistant, right-click the partition of the external hard drive/USB/SD card that you want to format and choose "Format".

Step 2. Specify a new partition label, file system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3/EXT4/exFAT), and cluster size for the selected disk partition, then click “OK”.

<Step 3> Click Yes in the warning window to continue.

Step 4. Hit the 'Run 1 Task' button on the top left to review the changes and click 'Apply' to start formatting the external hard drive/USB/SD card.

Conclusions

There are many reasons why your Seagate external hard drive might be running slow. Whatever the reason for your slowdown, you can use the solutions in this article to improve its performance. Among them, Partition Master provides several solutions that can help you easily test the speed of your external hard drive and optimize its performance in various ways after the speed test.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Slow External Seagate Hard Drive Issues

With the nine solutions provided in this article, you can easily fix the issue of slow Seagate external hard drive. If you have other queries about this issue, continue reading the FAQ section below.

How do I speed up a Seagate hard drive?

There are several ways to speed up a Seagate external hard drive:

• Replace the SATA cable
• Defragment the hard drive
• Repair bad sectors
• Enable write caching

This article also provides many other ways to speed up your drive. You can see a detailed step-by-step guide in the post.

2. Why does my external hard drive take so long to load?

If your external hard drive has bad sectors or a damaged file system, it may take longer to load. A lack of disk space can also cause slow loading times.

How fast is the Seagate 2TB drive?

The Seagate 2TB external hard drive operates at 7200 RPM, equipped with a 64MB cache to minimize latency and loading times. In terms of transfer speeds, Seagate offers up to 600 MB/s. If you have a Seagate hard drive, you can use the Partition Master tool to verify its authenticity.