How do I optimize USB storage for better performance on Windows 11/10? As of the Windows update of October 10, 2018. Microsoft no longer optimizes external storage devices for “Better performance“ Windows 11/10. Instead, it optimizes them for “Fast removal. ”
This risewindows article will show you how to optimize USB Storage for Better Performance on Windows 11/10.
Better Performance and Quick Removal on Windows 11/10
Beginning with the Windows update from 2018, Microsoft no longer optimizes external storage devices for Windows 11/10 “Enhanced Performance.” Instead, it optimizes for “quick removal” of them. Improved performance and fast erase in Windows 11/10 Microsoft has two policies for external storage devices connected via USB, whether a USB flash drive or an external hard drive. Each storage device has specific policy settings so that you can choose different policies for different devices.
For instance, you can apply an extended power policy to USB-A and a short-distance policy to USB-B. Windows 10 and 11 use the “Fast Delete Policy” when the October 10, 2018 Update starts. When you connect your USB drive to a PC and write to the drive, Windows will write data to the drive as fast as possible when the quick delete policy is selected.
This policy ensures you can eject a drive without using the Safely Remove Hardware option when using a USB- A program can write to your USB stick in the background. However, this feature dramatically reduces the risk of data corruption if you habitually remove storage devices first and then unplug them. However, this quick removal feature may slow down other programs you may use.
Apart from that, the “Better performance” policy does not slow down your program. Then, Windows will cache write operations to the drive and let applications proceed as if they had already written the data. Windows then performs the write operation in the background. This policy has a disadvantage. It can result in data loss in some situations. You will think that the data are saved and removed from the drive, but the data wasn’t saved on your disk, and the files on the drive will corrupt. Microsoft has yet to provide the option “Safely Remove Hardware.”
Microsoft thinks that the default “Quick Removal” is good enough for most people who avoid data loss; hence, this policy applies to a USB flash drive by default. After all, you can switch between Better Performance and Quick Removal; you can choose either option wisely.
How to Optimize USB Storage for Better Performance on Windows 11/10?
As mentioned above, you must apply the Better Performance policy separately on each external drive if you have more than one. Even after using policies, Windows will remember for the next time when you connect the same USB drive again to your PC. So, if you change this option to one USB flash drive, it will not be applied to another flash drive. However, if you plug the same USB flash drive into another PC, you must configure this policy again.
Step 1. First, connect your USB flash drive to Windows 11/10 PC.
Step 2. Now, bring up Run dialog box by pressing
Step 3. Then, type
Step 4. Next, look for the USB flash drive entry at the bottom of the Disk Management window and right-click it. Select
Step 5. After that, in the USB Device Properties dialog box, navigate to the
Step 6. Lastly, click the
If you want to change and then apply the default policy Quick Removal, repeat the above steps in step 5. select the same.
That’s it for the article.
I hope this article will be helpful to you.
Good luck & keep reading, guys.
Also, read How to Access Computer Management on Windows 11?
