file transfer speeds Archives

Winsage

January 4, 2026

Speed test pits six generations of Windows against each other — Windows 11 placed dead last across most benchmarks, 8.1 emerges as unexpected winner in this unscientific comparison

Windows 11 has been criticized for its high system requirements, increased overhead, and user interface regressions. A test by TrigrZolt compared six generations of Windows operating systems using six Lenovo ThinkPad X220 laptops, which were not officially supported for Windows 11. In startup time tests, Windows 11 was the slowest, while Windows 8.1 was the fastest. In audio file processing, Windows 11 ranked fifth, and in video rendering, it again placed last. It secured second place in file transfer speeds but was fourth in a malware scan test. Benchmark tests showed Windows 11 in fourth place for both single-threaded and multi-threaded CPU performance. In CrystalDiskMark, it tied for third place, and in Cinebench R10, it was fourth in single-core tests. The outdated hardware used for testing and the absence of an SSD may have skewed the results, which were deemed more historical than practical. A more suitable test would involve contemporary laptops to provide a fairer comparison.

Winsage

December 22, 2025

Windows 11 hack: Higher SSD speeds with new Microsoft NVMe driver

The process of enhancing SSD performance involves modifying the Windows registry with specific commands to unlock improvements in data transfer speeds, particularly for PCIe 4.0 SSDs. The commands to add values to the registry are: 1.

reg add HKEYLOCALMACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetPoliciesMicrosoftFeatureManagementOverrides /v 735209102 /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

reg add HKEYLOCALMACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetPoliciesMicrosoftFeatureManagementOverrides /v 1853569164 /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

reg add HKEYLOCALMACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetPoliciesMicrosoftFeatureManagementOverrides /v 156965516 /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

After executing these commands, a system restart is required to see changes in the Device Manager, where SSD drives will shift from "Disk drives" to "Storage disks," indicating the use of the nvmedisk.sys driver. Users may experience a 10 to 15% increase in data speeds for PCIe 4.0 SSDs, with even PCIe Gen 3.0 SSDs showing improvements. Benchmark results indicated up to a 45% increase in sequential reading performance and a 15% increase in write performance. For a specific 1TB SSD, sequential read performance improved by approximately 23%, and write performance increased by 30%. However, caution is advised as some users reported issues with SSD management tools, and compatibility with all NVMe SSDs is not guaranteed.

Winsage

August 14, 2025

Ditch Windows Explorer! These programs are better for fast file transfers!

Windows Explorer struggles with file transfer speeds, capping around 3GBps, while SSD technology can reach up to 15GBps. Alternatives like XCOPY and FastCopy are recommended for better performance. XCOPY is a command-line utility that can significantly streamline file operations, offering various command switches such as /E (copies directories and subdirectories), /J (utilizes unbuffered I/O), /Q (suppresses file name display), and /I (assumes destination is a directory). FastCopy is a user-friendly tool that integrates into Explorer's context menus and often exceeds XCOPY's speeds, achieving nearly 9GBps in testing. XCOPY outperforms Windows Explorer by two to three times, while FastCopy achieves speeds up to 3.5 times that of Explorer.

Winsage

June 18, 2024

Best external drives to use with your Windows PC in 2024

Capacity is the most important factor when choosing an external hard drive or SSD for your Windows computer, with at least 1TB recommended for the best value. External SSDs offer faster file transfer speeds, while HDDs provide higher capacity for less money. Portability is also a consideration, with smaller drives being more convenient for on-the-go use. Stick to reliable brands when choosing an external drive to ensure the safety of your data.