Yes, and it's like this for years at least. I've always been on debian.
Command line moving/copying do the same stuff. It never bothered me that much, but that I've enough of it.
Do you have the same problem ?
Even for short transfer, like 200 Mo to a kindle. It definetely shouldn't take 50 friggin' minutes ! Especially since it seems really BLOCKED !

Linux debian 4.9.0-8-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.9.130-2 (2018-10-27) x86_64 GNU/Linux

Please forgive my ignorance here, but when you say transfer from one device to another, does this mean from your disk drive to a USB and vice versa?
Or file transfers for NFS or SMB?

What dialect of the English language is this? Urban Jungle perhaps? Even the title is confusing

Anyway, sounds like your post is nothing more than ranting, because if you wanted help, you would include relevant information such as the computer make, model and specs, the distribution version in use, graphics drivers in use etc.

Because it sounds like your computer resources are maxed out.

It was junk talk, indeed.
I just discovered that sending a file to a FAT32 seems to be slower than to an ext-whatyouwant.
But since it's a Kindle, to use it it must be a Fat32, so no solution.
I have an idea how the device's filesystem has been corrupted.

But did someone have had a similar problem with fat/fat16/fat32 ? You start transfering a file from your computer to the device, it goes until a moment, where it pauses, then resume 4 to 10 minutes later.

Have you checked system logs for anomalies? Are your USB bus and other devices supported?

It's been the case for a long time where file managers would show a near instant copy, jump to near completion, then show no progress for a while.

However, you mention time frames like 50 minutes, it leads me to believe a driver or device may be at fault.
For example, recently, I ran an upgrade in which the kernel was upgraded, but did not reboot, and forgot about it. I tried to copy some files to a USB device (FAT32) to watch on my TV, and frustratingly it took 30 minutes to copy 55 MEGAbytes. I rebooted, and all kernel modules and kernel versions matched, and things were back to normal.

- Make sure you're running the latest kernel
- Make sure the module versions match the running kernel
- Make sure your chipset is supported and the proper drivers are loaded.
- Make sure you're using the right port. Sometimes trying to use a USB 3 in a USB 2 (or the opposite) port can cause funny issues.
- Make sure the device you're copying is properly formatted. Don't rely on the filesystem from the factory.

Next time it happens, tail the syslog, see if any errors are reported.

Well, you did not mention external HDD or memory sticks, only devices and Kindle.

For what it's worth, if I hook my Galaxy smart phone via USB to transfer files to the SD card, the process is retardedly slow. If I remove the SD card and plug it into a card reader it is acceptable.

It is related to the interface between the computer and the storage medium, the interface(s) through a device apparently have a lot more hoops to go through.

When you give actual, useful information, we have more chance of helping.
So it's more likely a FAT issues than USB itself.When you plug it in, it will warn you if it's corrupt. I use FAT for the boot partition on my Raspberry pi3s, and they almost always report as corrupt on reboot even though it doesn't get updated in normal running.Have a read of this.

It happens exactly as you described, goumba, except it's not a thing of the past. Usually, the time frame is 5 minutes at max. But on the Kindle (no other way to transfer books except through a USB cable, no card to plug in a card reader). The 50 min might have been slightly over-exagerated...
Honnestly, I don't get it. After reinistializing the Kindle (it recreates itself a filesystem and hierarchy), no problem anymore.
Once it is corrupted ( a file transfer interrupted forcefully), it seems fsck alone can't correct it properly.
I'll try with other fat32 usb sticks if the problem still occur.

Thanks for the explanation.

well I've been moving over 200GB across usb3 to usb2 bottle necking ... and its been going on for a really really long time, hours even, and it is still moving files as I write this.

hdd spin speeds, read write,type of HDD, or sdd (now days) ssd to hdd, or hdd to sdd, slower to a faster ssd is not going to pick up the speed either, then their is bottle necking across your MO between USB Ports. cable quality, connection quality, many things go in to actual transferrer speeds and yes the distro too can play into it in how they have whatever transpires via them as well.

no one is stopping you from trying a different distro, and their is plenty out there to try. Instead of complaining about it.

if you got it plugged into a Kindle then Kindle too plays a big part in transfer speeds .what CPU speed is that running at? it has to process all of that it has to do with its system plus the transferring of files.

That's the kind of thing I have on a regular basis (usb stick, dunno usb2 or3, dunno how I could know either, other than looking at the motherboard):

that is what you do, lsusb for linux,
the blue connector on a lap top to indicate 3.0 usb. black is 2.0 or lesser.

how can you even know how cp and mv behave internally - there's no progress bar.

that can't be right.
otoh, i never had a kindle.
maybe they have a very slow connection.

linux software designer probably thought:
"Let's make it like on Windows: just pretend that it copies really fast, then add all sorts of safety measures to prevent the user from pulling the stick too soon...

i oonce experienced similar problems (or at least thought so at the time) and had a good read of that article.
don't remember what i did or if it helped. it was years ago.

one thing i'm definitely avoiding nowadays is to start several copy or move actions at once.
are you doing that, AoiHana???

i also seem to notice that some GUI filemanagers are worse at this than others.

spacefm enqueues copy/move actions instead of trying to push them through all at once.

I do only one file management operation on the same device at once. Usually in all the system also, but it depends. You're "software designer thought excerpt" makes a LOT of sense. Sure, I don't know about the commands' internals. Can I do that, by the way ? Sort of "dmesg" with more details about file system operations ?

Dear Brains, LQ is proud to be a friendly and constructive forum. You could simply ask about the relevant information. Thanks!

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No problem ! I laughed to my heart's content thanks to him. No offense, on the contrary.