It's important to note that while your Seagate Expansion 14TB External Hard Drive is formatted as exFAT, the formatting itself should not inherently cause the pauses you're experiencing during file copies. ExFAT is designed to be compatible with both Windows and macOS and supports large file sizes and drives.

Given that your FastCopy utility doesn't exhibit the same behavior, it seems more likely that the issue lies with how Windows Explorer handles the file copy process. Windows Explorer might perform additional checks or operations during copying that could introduce pauses. Here are a few more suggestions:

1. Disable Thumbnail Generation: Windows Explorer generates thumbnail previews for media files during copying. Disabling this feature might help improve the speed and consistency of the copy process. To do this, go to Folder Options > View tab > "Always show icons, never thumbnails."

2. Update USB Drivers: Make sure you have the latest USB drivers installed for your system. Outdated or incompatible drivers could impact the performance of external drives.

3. Try Different USB Ports: If your computer has multiple USB ports, try using a different one. Sometimes, certain USB ports might have better performance due to how they are connected to the motherboard.

4. Experiment with a Different File Manager: You might try using an alternative file manager to see if the pauses occur there as well. This could help determine whether the issue is specific to Windows Explorer.

5. Run Disk Checks: Perform a disk check on your Seagate external drive to ensure there are no file system errors that could be causing the pauses.

6. Test on Another Computer: If possible, try connecting your Seagate drive to another computer to see if the pauses still occur. This could help determine if the issue is specific to your system.

If none of these suggestions resolve the issue, it might be worth contacting Seagate's support for further assistance. They could provide insights into any known compatibility issues or specific settings that might help optimize the performance of your drive with Windows 11.

 

It's important to note that while your Seagate Expansion 14TB External Hard Drive is formatted as exFAT, the formatting itself should not inherently cause the pauses you're experiencing during file copies. ExFAT is designed to be compatible with both Windows and macOS and supports large file sizes and drives.

Given that your FastCopy utility doesn't exhibit the same behavior, it seems more likely that the issue lies with how Windows Explorer handles the file copy process. Windows Explorer might perform additional checks or operations during copying that could introduce pauses. Here are a few more suggestions:

1. Disable Thumbnail Generation: Windows Explorer generates thumbnail previews for media files during copying. Disabling this feature might help improve the speed and consistency of the copy process. To do this, go to Folder Options > View tab > "Always show icons, never thumbnails."

First, thanks for the detailed response.

The drive in question stores mostly photographic images (more than 80,000 of them), and I need to be able to see the thumbnails, so disabling thumbnail generation isn't an attractive option. Once a file copy completes, the thumbnails show up as expected, and quickly. Besides, the old NTFS drive it replaced had that option enabled and it never caused any pauses or any other issues. And another NTFS-formatted external USB drive, about five years old, doesn't have these file-copying problems and it also has thumbnail generation enabled.

2. Update USB Drivers: Make sure you have the latest USB drivers installed for your system. Outdated or incompatible drivers could impact the performance of external drives.

The USB drivers, and all other drivers on this PC, are up to date. I'm pretty conscientious about that.

3. Try Different USB Ports: If your computer has multiple USB ports, try using a different one. Sometimes, certain USB ports might have better performance due to how they are connected to the motherboard.

The PC has multiple USB ports but they're all already being used. I use the USB ports on the back of the PC to attach the two USB drives, having read that that might make a difference.

4. Experiment with a Different File Manager: You might try using an alternative file manager to see if the pauses occur there as well. This could help determine whether the issue is specific to Windows Explorer.

I'll keep this suggestion in mind, but I'd rather not mess around with other file managers yet. With all its limitations, Windows Explorer has always been adequate for me until now.

5. Run Disk Checks: Perform a disk check on your Seagate external drive to ensure there are no file system errors that could be causing the pauses.

I'll also keep this in mind, but given that file copies using FastCopy run perfectly quickly and smoothly, I'm not expecting much in the way of enlightenment.

6. Test on Another Computer: If possible, try connecting your Seagate drive to another computer to see if the pauses still occur. This could help determine if the issue is specific to your system.

This isn't a particularly viable option. I'm a home user, and other than a really old and feeble laptop, there's no other PC available for this sort of testing.

If none of these suggestions resolve the issue, it might be worth contacting Seagate's support for further assistance. They could provide insights into any known compatibility issues or specific settings that might help optimize the performance of your drive with Windows 11.

Again, thanks for responding. I'm still hoping for some Windows setting I've neglected that might resolve this one issue I'm having.

Larry