Checking USB Transfer Speed with Task Manager

Learn how to check the speed of your USB drive during file transfers using built-in Windows tools.

One straightforward way to monitor the read and write speeds of your USB drive while it's actively transferring data is by using the Windows Task Manager. This method shows you the performance metrics in real-time during a file operation.

Here's how to do it:

1. Press the keys Ctrl+Shift+Esc simultaneously to open the Task Manager.
2. Click on the "Performance" tab. If you see a simple view, click "More details" at the bottom first.
3. In the left-side pane, select the specific disk corresponding to your USB drive (it might be labeled as "Disk 1", "Disk 2", etc., depending on how many drives you have).
4. On the right-side window, you can observe the Read speed and Write speed metrics displayed graphically and numerically.

This method provides a view of the current transfer speed your USB drive is achieving during a specific file copy or operation.