14 DAY TRIAL // In some scenarios users will be able to gain a boost of performance from their USB storage devices if they increase the maximum transfer size from the default, Microsoft revealed.
This is why the Redmond company is now providing a hotfix designed to help customers get a bump in terms of the transfer size of their USB storage devices.
The software giant is calling KB 2581464 an update, but it´s only available for download from Microsoft Support and not served as an automated refresh through Windows Update.
According to Microsoft, deploying the KB 2581464 hotfix will introduce “a new feature that enables you to update the maximum transfer size of USB storage devices in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2. After you install this update, you can increase the maximum transfer size from 64 kilobytes (KB) to 2 megabytes (MB) in the Usbstor.sys driver.”
It’s important to note that in addition to Windows 7 RTM and Windows Server 2008 R2, KB 2581464 also supports Windows 7 (Service Pack 1) SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.
“For some USB storage devices, performance can be improved if the maximum transfer size is increased from the default 64 KB. This update supports this change when the hardware vendor provides a device information file (INF) to set this value for the USB storage devices,” the software giant said.
Simply installing the hotfix won’t do users much good. This because they’ll actually need to increase the maximum transfer size of USB storage devices manually.
Since this requires them to perform a small registry hack, my advice is to make sure and back-up first, as such tweaks are always risky.
Microsoft described the entire process that customers need to go through once they deployed the hotfix:
“Click StartCollapse this imageExpand this image, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press Enter. Locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\usbstor\VVVVPPPP. Click Edit, point to New, and then click DWORDValue. Type MaximumTransferLength, and then press Enter. Click Edit, and then click Modify.
“In the Value data box, type a value to specify the maximum transfer size between 64KB and 2MB. For example, you select Decimal and type a value between 65535 (64K) and 2097120 (2M). Exit Registry Editor. (VVVV represents device descriptor idVendor in hexadecimal - PPPP represents device descriptor idProduct in hexadecimal),” the company added.
Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) RTM Build 7601.17514.101119-1850 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) RTM are available for download here.
Windows 7 RTM Enterprise 90-Day Evaluation is available for download here.