Make USB or External Hard Drive perform faster
Plug in your USB or external hard drive to your Windows computer. Open This PC folder, right-click on the device and select Properties. Next, select the Hardware tab. Here, select the storage media which you want to make faster, and then click on the Properties button.
USB Quick removal vs. Better performance
A new box will open. Click on Policies tab. Here you will see two options in the USB Device Properties box: The policy settings have the following effects, states Microsoft:
Quick removal: This keeps the device ready to be removed at any time. You can remove the device without using the Safely Remove Hardware process. However, to do this, Windows cannot cache disk write operations, which in turn may degrade system performance.Better performance: This improves system performance. When this policy is in effect, Windows can cache write operations to the external device. However, you must use the Safely Remove Hardware process to remove the external drive. The Safely Remove Hardware process protects the integrity of data on the device by making sure that all cached operations finish.
The default is Quick Removal. When this option is selected, it disables Write Caching on the device and in Windows. You can disconnect the device safely, without having to use the Safely Remove Hardware option. If you want better performance from your USB device, you can select the Better performance option. When this is selected, it enables write caching in Windows, but you have to use the Safely Remove Hardware option from the notification area, to disconnect the device safely, else it may result in data corruption. When you eject a device using this setting, Windows will flush the write cache to the disk. It will ensure that the operation is completed and once it is done, it will inform you that is Safe To Remove Hardware. Read: How to create Safely Remove Hardware Shortcut in Windows As we mentioned earlier, the performance improvement may or may not be noticeable at all. You will have to see how it works for your external media. Please let us know if you noticed a performance increase when you tweaked this setting. See this post if Safely Remove Hardware not working in Windows 11/10.
