[Discuss] USB drive: bad hi-speed writing?

[Jeff East]

I recently got a cheapo MP3 player that acts as a thumb drive.  The
trouble is, it writes *VERY* slowly under Linux (maybe 15kb/s), but fast
under WinXP (same hardware - dual boot).   My good thumbdrive (Lexar) is
the same speed under both OS's.  All USB hardware is on the motherboard.

So why is Linux falling down on the job?  I do notice that one Interval
number, and the power, are different.  I don't know enough about USB tech
to know what that means. Here are lines from /proc/bus/usb/devices:

My controller:
	T:  Bus=01 Lev=00 Prnt=00 Port=00 Cnt=00 Dev#=  1 Spd=480 MxCh= 8
	S:  Manufacturer=Linux 2.6.20.4 ehci_hcd
	S:  Product=EHCI Host Controller

Just the "E" lines 
	Lexar - E:  Ad=02(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 512 Ivl=31875us
	MP3 --- E:  Ad=02(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 512 Ivl=0ms

The Lexar is ~32ms, right?  And here are the whole entries.  The MP3's LCD
backlight is always on while attached - is that worth the extra 400mA ?

	T:  Bus=01 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=01 Cnt=01 Dev#=  5 Spd=480 MxCh= 0
	D:  Ver= 2.00 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs=  1 
	P:  Vendor=05dc ProdID=a410 Rev=30.00 
	S:  Manufacturer=LEXAR MEDIA
	S:  Product=JUMPDRIVE SPORT
	S:  SerialNumber=1069F002104237141104
	C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=80 MxPwr=100mA
	I:  If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=08(stor.) Sub=06 Prot=50
		Driver=usb-storage 
	E:  Ad=81(I) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 512 Ivl=0ms 
	E:  Ad=02(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 512 Ivl=31875us

	T:  Bus=01 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=06 Cnt=02 Dev#=  3 Spd=480 MxCh= 0
	D:  Ver= 2.00 Cls=00(>ifc ) Sub=00 Prot=00 MxPS=64 #Cfgs=  1
	P:  Vendor=0402 ProdID=5661 Rev= 0.02
	S:  Manufacturer=ALI Corp
	S:  Product=MP3 PLAYER
	S:  SerialNumber=00403056500000001030
	C:* #Ifs= 1 Cfg#= 1 Atr=80 MxPwr=500mA
	I:  If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=08(stor.) Sub=06 Prot=50
		Driver=usb-storage 
	E:  Ad=81(I) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 512 Ivl=0ms
	E:  Ad=02(O) Atr=02(Bulk) MxPS= 512 Ivl=0ms

I'd welcome any tips towards monitoring the MP3 writes, if that would
reveal timeouts, dropped packets, or some other errors.  At the moment,
nothing shows up in Xconsole.

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