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Help Super slow transfer speed via OTG

GeorgeFeb

GeorgeFeb

Newbie
Hello there!

So I'm using new Lenovo TB-8505X with Android 9 and I've tried several file managers and still when I'm trying to transfer files to my USB Kingston 16 GB the speed is too slow, like one mb, ridiculous, and the system starts to lag atrociously!

On my old Lenovo Tab Essentials with Android 5, lol, everything transfers fast!

Why is that and what can be done about it?

TIA!
 
Welcome to Android Forums, GeorgeFeb!

There are a couple of things I'd try right away--if you haven't already.

One, switch things around--put the USB drive in a different device and, using one of the same file managers as on your new Lenovo, see how transferring files goes.

Next, try a different USB drive with the new Lenovo, and see how transfers work there.

Post your results! :)
 
Does your new Lenovo TB-8505X have a USB Type-C or a micro-USB port?
If your previous Tab Essentials, (presumably having the more prevalent micro-USB port at that time) was working out better it sounds like there's a compatibility issue with the USB-OTG cable/adapter you're currently using. Despite the 'universal' in the USB standard's name, it's not. In reality, there a just too many proprietary protocols the different manufactures have pushed out in their own respective products. You might want to try getting a different cable/adapter.

Or are you plugging your tablet into a USB hub or directly into a USB port on your computer? If in a hub, is it a powered (plugged into an external power source) model or just one that gets powered by whatever USB port it's plugged into?
 
MoodyBlues said:
Welcome to Android Forums, GeorgeFeb!

There are a couple of things I'd try right away--if you haven't already.

One, switch things around--put the USB drive in a different device and, using one of the same file managers as on your new Lenovo, see how transferring files goes.

Next, try a different USB drive with the new Lenovo, and see how transfers work there.

Post your results! :)
Click to expand...

Thanks!

Yeah, I use the same file manager and the same usb flash drive on my old tablet and everything works fine, have to yet try with another usb flash drive on my new tablet!

Thanks for the suggestion!
 
svim said:
Does your new Lenovo TB-8505X have a USB Type-C or a micro-USB port?
If your previous Tab Essentials, (presumably having the more prevalent micro-USB port at that time) was working out better it sounds like there's a compatibility issue with the USB-OTG cable/adapter you're currently using. Despite the 'universal' in the USB standard's name, it's not. In reality, there a just too many proprietary protocols the different manufactures have pushed out in their own respective products. You might want to try getting a different cable/adapter.

Or are you plugging your tablet into a USB hub or directly into a USB port on your computer? If in a hub, is it a powered (plugged into an external power source) model or just one that gets powered by whatever USB port it's plugged into?
Click to expand...

No, it has a micro usb!

I don't use any hubs, just a regular OTG cable, hook usb flash drive on one side and plug it into my device with the other!

I dunno, maybe a new cable would work, but I highly doubt, will try though!

Thank you!
 
Ha, it works faster with the another old usb drive, but still slows down the system, but less, still not what I wanted, but better, lol, that's great!

So maybe I should buy a new, faster usb drive and I guess a new OTG...

And another question, it's defo not because of Android 9 itself, right, coz in principle all should work fine?
 
Here's the Wikipedia page for OTG, it might be worth reading through to get a better understanding on how OTG is implemented:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_On-The-Go
This is just all supposition but the fact that your cable/adapter worked better on your older tablet isn't so much an Android OS matter but there's likely to be compatibility issue involved at a hardware level as that's the actual interface level involved with USB. The chipset the manufacturer used in your OTG cable/adapter worked seamlessly with your old tablet's hardware configuration, not as well with the newer tablet. Simply because a USB cable looks similar to another, they are in fact not always the same inside -- a cable with thicker insulation and thicker gauge wiring inside with last longer and provide more consistent, reliable data transfers, plus when the components for OTG to work that are added into to an OTG cable/adapter, keep in mind that different manufacturers will use different components at varying quality levels. A hardware configuration that works with one tablet may or may not as compatible as another.
 
svim said:
Here's the Wikipedia page for OTG, it might be worth reading through to get a better understanding on how OTG is implemented:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_On-The-Go
This is just all supposition but the fact that your cable/adapter worked better on your older tablet isn't so much an Android OS matter but there's likely to be compatibility issue involved at a hardware level as that's the actual interface level involved with USB. The chipset the manufacturer used in your OTG cable/adapter worked seamlessly with your old tablet's hardware configuration, not as well with the newer tablet. Simply because a USB cable looks similar to another, they are in fact not always the same inside -- a cable with thicker insulation and thicker gauge wiring inside with last longer and provide more consistent, reliable data transfers, plus when the components for OTG to work that are added into to an OTG cable/adapter, keep in mind that different manufacturers will use different components at varying quality levels. A hardware configuration that works with one tablet may or may not as compatible as another.
Click to expand...

Awesome and super comprehensive, I understand all that now, thanks a lot mate, but now the question arises, how should I pick a new OTG, what should I ask, like please give me the best and fastest one for say, new tablet models? Seems reasonable?

Thanks!

Glad to hear that it's not the system, coz the system and tablet overall work just great! It's day and night after my old tablet!
 
It's a pretty messed up situation as there's no way to get an absolutely 100% guarantee whichever USB-OTG cable or adapter you get will work with your tablet. The burden is dumped on you to go through a trial-and-error process to find something that works. Stick with brands that are from well-known sources and buy from a source that allows returns, if that's viable. You might also want to post your situation in Lenovo's user forum. If someone has your same model and they have a good OTG product that's a reliable source of info to follow up on:
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-Tablets/ct-p/lt_en
 
So I've tried a new OTG, not even a cable, but an adapter, as it turned out it doesn't matter, they all have pretty much the same speed!

Even got to the dev options and turned the file transfer on, see on the screenshot:

To no avail, any more suggestions?
 

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svim said:
This is a bit of a long shot but try enabling your device's Developer Options and toggling 'USB Debugging' on, then off, then on again, and see if data throughput speed is any better.
https://developer.android.com/studio/debug/dev-options
Click to expand...

Ok, I'll do that, tomorrow, I'm done experimenting for today, lol, thanks for the suggestion!

The thing is not only that data speed is too slow, could go down to 100kbs, crazy, but the system becomes unusable, glitchy...

Also seems that it's not only me who has this problem, obviously, ha-ha, some people have this too on Google Pixel with Android Pie, OnePlus and so on, on the bright side I'm glad that it's not a Lenovo problem rather it's an Android Pie problem, have to find a way, I'll post asap!
 
svim said:
This is a bit of a long shot but try enabling your device's Developer Options and toggling 'USB Debugging' on, then off, then on again, and see if data throughput speed is any better.
https://developer.android.com/studio/debug/dev-options
Click to expand...

So all I've got from the Lenovo support is an advice to factory reset the device, should it help? Or better not to, something tells me that it won't help, but might, lol! Said that if it'd continue it could be a warranty matter, but still it's for a service centre to decide...

Also I'm uploading a file, says there that the speeds may be lower, well ok, lower isn't an issue, 5mb would do, but the system is slowing down, that's the main issue!

In the file see Ports section!

Thanks a bunch again!
 

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A Factory Reset 'might' fix this problem but if you have any files/documents saved on it be sure to back them up first. Since copying via OTG is an issue, would you be able to email things as an attachment work out as an alternative? Or use a file transfer app like AirDroid instead. It works over WiFi and if you skip setting up an AirDroid account, it will still work just fine over just any local network to exchange files. (... an AirDroid account allows you to use their online servers as a transfer point. Otherwise, just AirDroid to do file transfers between your tablet and a computer over WiFi connectivity as opposed to USB connectivity.)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sand.airdroid&hl=en_US

Before trying something as drastic as a Factory Reset, try restarting your tablet into its Safe Mode:
https://www.hardreset.info/devices/lenovo/lenovo-tab-m8-prc/safe-mode/
A Factory Reset only wipes the user data partition, clearing out all user data and any user-set configuration and settings files. But it doesn't delete the installed Android operating system (that would create a situation where your tablet has no operating system so it would no longer be functional in any way). After a FR your tablet will still be running its Android OS but without any of the apps you've previously installed and you need to reinstall them. (Anything Lenovo pre-installed will still be there, so there's a distinction between system-level apps and apps you installed.)
Running your tablet in Safe Mode is a matter where at boot up only the Android operating system is loaded into memory, none of the apps you've installed get loaded so the tablet is running just its clean OS. But Safe Mode doesn't delete anything, you just restart normally to get out of it and all your apps and files will still be there.
 
svim said:
A Factory Reset 'might' fix this problem but if you have any files/documents saved on it be sure to back them up first. Since copying via OTG is an issue, would you be able to email things as an attachment work out as an alternative? Or use a file transfer app like AirDroid instead. It works over WiFi and if you skip setting up an AirDroid account, it will still work just fine over just any local network to exchange files. (... an AirDroid account allows you to use their online servers as a transfer point. Otherwise, just AirDroid to do file transfers between your tablet and a computer over WiFi connectivity as opposed to USB connectivity.)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sand.airdroid&hl=en_US

Before trying something as drastic as a Factory Reset, try restarting your tablet into its Safe Mode:
https://www.hardreset.info/devices/lenovo/lenovo-tab-m8-prc/safe-mode/
A Factory Reset only wipes the user data partition, clearing out all user data and any user-set configuration and settings files. But it doesn't delete the installed Android operating system (that would create a situation where your tablet has no operating system so it would no longer be functional in any way). After a FR your tablet will still be running its Android OS but without any of the apps you've previously installed and you need to reinstall them. (Anything Lenovo pre-installed will still be there, so there's a distinction between system-level apps and apps you installed.)
Running your tablet in Safe Mode is a matter where at boot up only the Android operating system is loaded into memory, none of the apps you've installed get loaded so the tablet is running just its clean OS. But Safe Mode doesn't delete anything, you just restart normally to get out of it and all your apps and files will still be there.
Click to expand...

Aha, I see, no, unfortunately the factory reset didn't help! Just recently been fiddling with the tablet, so the problem remains! Now though, sometimes it gets to even zero speed while transferring and then comes back to 2-3mb and so on, sometimes the system is slowing down, sometimes not, really strange!

I don't have a PC, haven't had for almost 5 years, I simply copy movies and whatnot to my USB stick and then watch on my TV!

I'll try a safe mode and try to copy some files and if I get the same result then I dunno what to do... Even if I get a normal copy speed in a safe mode I'd still have to use a tablet in the normal mode, so how would it help?

I'm thinking maybe forget about it and use my old tablet for downloading and transfer, don't really want to hustle with the service center since everything else in the device works flawlessly!

Anyway, thanks for the comprehensive answer, much appreciated!
 
I wouldn't bother trying to use Safe Mode if a Factory Reset didn't make any difference. That was something to try first, and then fall back to trying a Factory Reset
But that revelation on the transfer speeds varying from OK to bad, how old is that Kingston USB stick you're using? Do you also use it for file transfers with your old tablet and it still works OK, or is it a matter where you're just using your new tablet all the time?
Just speculating but if you haven't used your old tablet for a while it will be interesting if file transfer speed is OK with your old tablet but not the new one.
 
Ok, then I won't bother with a safe mode!

Yeah, it works great with my old tablet, and other 3 USB sticks too, some quite new, some old, so it's not the problem here I guess!

I'm using exactly my old tablet for transfers, coz this new one is quite unusable for this purpose, lol!
 
I did that, but via dev options, set it on file transfer, didn't help!

When I'm trying to do this now, via USB settings, it won't let me to switch, see on the attached screenshot, dunno why!

Defo some kinda glitch here, but since I can set file transfer via dev options, it shouldn't be a problem...

Edit:

Seems it's not only me: https://support.google.com/android/thread/20866882?hl=en

Some say it could be a hardware problem, but I don't think so, I guess it's a crooked Google hands problem hence Pie problem!

So...
 

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So as I see it, it's a software problem, mainly Android P problem!

Because some dude says that it's a hardware problem, many people can't make that switch as stated in here: https://support.google.com/android/thread/20866882?hl=en
on many different devices, so he argues that it's a hardware problem! G, how can it be a hardware problem if it's the same on all the devices that use Android P, obviously it's a software problem!

I dunno what to do next, seems like it's not solvable, should I still try to get it to the service center, is it even logical to do so?

Thanks again, all the answers are much appreciated!
 
Online help forums are only going to be able to provide you with tenuous, cursory help. This works out for some problems, but it will always be a hit or miss matter that depends on how questions are presented and how they're answered, with countless variables involved in between. Most of the time there's a lot of guesswork, speculation, and interpretation involved.
Repairing a smartphone problem when there's actual physical possession involved will always be easier, especially since this typically involves the necessary tools, peripherals, and equipment to do actual diagnosing to determine what the actual problem is being caused by. Phones are actually very complex, both the hardware and the software, so you might be able to eventually solve your problem by continuing this trail-and-error method on your own, but some things simply require a trained service person to look into what's going on.
 
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