Author Topic: Slow FAT32.  (Read 595 times)

Adrian

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Slow FAT32.
« on: September 15, 2025, 01:31:47 pm »
Hi,

On my Lenovo T60 laptop, copying an ArcaOS iso (1.6Gb) from a JFS partition to a FAT32 USB stick or external USB SSD takes about 3 hours.
From JFS to JFS external goes pretty fast well.
OK, the interface is USB 2.0.
The interface of the external SSD is USB 3.xx.
I use this partition for compatibility reasons. If ArcaOS isn't available I have my Mac or else I can find a windows computer.
Why is the copy action so slow?
Is this due the size of the partition; 32Gb or the USB 2.0?

Grts, Adrian

Pete

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Re: Slow FAT32.
« Reply #1 on: September 15, 2025, 02:35:33 pm »
Hi Adrian

I have had this problem myself.
The cause was using some cheap usb sticks from an ebay seller - trying to set either of the 2 sticks involved to boot an ArcaOS installation was painfully slow during the copy process and neither could boot to perform the install. These sticks work fine to copy files to/from in "normal" use - allowing for the fact that fat32 is slow - but could not be used to create a working install stick for ArcaOS.
Resolution: Use a better brand usb stick - Sandisk and Kingston products work fine, creating an ArcaOS install stick takes a few minutes... memory suggests between 3 to 10 minutes.

I suspect hunting through old forum posts about ArcaOS install problems will show a few posts similar to yours, there may be other causes eg badly setup usb/fat32 drivers or other system configuration issue but I think the above is more common.


Regards

Pete