Unexplainable HP Laptop Performance Issue - USB Port Usage - Acronis Stand-Alone Backup

[collinspe]

Season’s Greetings Eveyone:

• I have a computer design/operational issue that has plagued me for years
  • I’ve just discovered (by accident) the cause of different behaviors for cloning a laptop’s SSD to an external HD via USB, using Stand-Alone Acronis Backup
    
    
  • I have googled many versions of a “problem statement” but have never been able to find anything that comes close to answering my tech question of whether this issue is:
  • A computer bus architecture issue
  • A device driver design issue
  • A computer design issue
  • A software design issue
  • A computer speed issue
  • A USB speed issue
  • Other - who knows the type of issue?
    
    
• I have 3 HP Laptop Computers – let’s just call them Computers #1, #2, and #3
  • I’ve attached a zip file with Belarc profiles of each computer
    • All computers have 1 TB SSD
      
      
  • #1 is an HP Laptop, ~2014 vintage, running Win10
    • 2.00 gigahertz AMD A6-7310 APU with Radeon R4 Graphics
    • 16MB Mem, Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
    • 3 USB-2.0 ports
      • Left Side
        • 1 front USB 2.0
        • 1 back USB 2.0
      • Right Side
        • 1 port (2.0)
          
          

• #2 is an HP Pavilion, ~2020 vintage, running Win11
  • 1.50 gigahertz Intel Core i7-1065G7
  • 32MB Mem, Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
    • (I’m not sure about Belarc’s results – I think this has a faster clock speed)
  • 2 USB-2.0 ports, 1 USB-3.0 port
    • Left Side
      • 1 port USB 3.0
    • Right Side
      • 1 front port USB 2.0
      • 1 back port USB 2.0
        
        
    • #3 is an HP Pavilion, ~2022 vintage, running Win11
      • 2.80 gigahertz Intel 11th Gen Core i7-1165G7
      • 32MB Mem, Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
      • 2 USB-2.0 ports, 1 USB-3.0 port
        • Left Side
          • 1 front port USB 3.0
          • 1 back port USB 2.0
        • Right Side
          • 1 port USB 2.0
            
            
        • Computers #2 and #3 generally perform identically and much faster than computer #1
          
          
      • For at least 4 years I’ve been running stand-alone Acronis Backup (2020, later 2021, now 2022) to clone the internal 1 TB SSD to an external 1TB HD via the USB ports
        • On Computer #1 this clone usually took nearly 8 hours, but on occasion it would take approximately 4 hours
          • When the clone took 3 to 4 hours, I wondered whether there were bad sectors or if something had failed, so I would run chkdsk but I found no errors
            
            
        • On Computers #2 & #3 this clone usually took approximately 4 hours, but on occasion #2 would take nearly 8 hours
          • When the clone took only 3 to 4 hours, I assumed it was because these computers were faster (Pavilions) but when it took nearly 8 hours, I wondered whether there were bad sectors or if something had failed, so I would run chkdsk but I found no errors
          • I also checked if the USB cable was bad by repeating the operation with a different cable, but a change in cables made no difference
            
            
        • I could not understand why there were different clone run-times, since I usually left the backups running overnight

• Over the years I googled looking for articles about USB speeds to see whether anyone had encountered differing run times for cloning – or whether any manufacturer (HP) specs existed notifying users about faster or slower run-times depending on which ports were used, or for any recommendations on how to connect USB devices for optimum performance
  
  
• On the weekend of 8-10 December, 2023, I encountered a situation that does implicitly specify how to utilize the USB ports for optimum performance – i.e. for the 1 TB clones to take only 3 to 4 hours on any of the computers that have 2 USB2.0 ports on the same side
  
  
  • Conversely, discovered how to force the 1TB clone to take 7 to 8 hours on any computer with 2 USB2.0 ports on the same side
  • I did test this behavior with Acronis Stand-Alone Backup several times and got consistent results
    
    
  • I discovered by accident (and confirmed this by intent) that connecting the USB devices to the USB2.0 ports in a specific order will cause the 1 TB clone run in either 3 to 4 hours or 7 to 8 hours
    
    
    • For any computer (#1 & #2), that have 2 x USB2.0 ports on the same side:
      
      
      • On computers #1 & #2, connect the bootable Acronis Backup Stand-Alone FD to the front port and the destination HD to the back port and you’ll get a 3 to 4 hour clone process
        • on #1
          • USB2.0 right = mouse
            USB2.0 left, front = Acronis Stand Alone FD

USB2.0 left, back = Destination HD

• on #2
  • USB3.0 left = mouse
    USB2.0 right, front = Acronis Stand Alone FD

USB2.0 right, back = Destination HD

• On computers #1 & #2, connect the bootable Acronis Backup Stand-Alone FD to the back port and the destination HD to the front port and you’ll get an 8 hour clone process
  • i.e. reverse what’s connected to the left front/back for a 7 to 8 hour clone
    
    

• On computer #3, (where the left side has USB3.0 front + USB2.0 back, and the right side has USB2.0), no matter how you connect the bootable Acronis Backup Stand-Alone FD and the destination HD, and the mouse you’ll get a 3 to 4 hour clone process
  • Any combination of connections is a 3 to 4 hour clone
    
    
• I’ve only tested this behavior on these specific HP laptops, with Aronis Stand-Alone Backup
• I wonder whether there are performance differences when doing file/folder transfers using Windows/DOS commands or under Windows program control when on computers # 1 & #2:
  • the destination is an HD/SDD device plugged into the back port
    (would this also be faster)
    or
  • the destination is an HD/SDD device plugged into the front port
    (would this also be slower)
    
    
• Why the cloning process works this way, I have no idea
  • But I am amazed that they work that way and finally relieved that I was finally able to diagnose the mystery of why the same clone operation(s) had different run-times depending on where the FD and HD were connected
    
    
• I’m looking to you technology experts to give me the answer as to why (under Acronis Stand-Alone Backup) plugging in the HD destination drive into the back port results in a 3 to 4 hour clone while plugging the HD destination drive into the front port results in a 7 to 8 hour clone
  
  
  • I wonder what implications this might have for other computer users as well as hardware design engineers and software and firmware architects and developers?
  • I request that you share your findings with me