Is there a way to limit USB 3.0 flash drive speed

**ultragamer2** · January 15th, 2017

This is probably a strange question because all the threads are about how to increase the speed of usb 3.0 flash drives.

But I have a very small usb 3.0 flash drive that apparently is prone to overheating (and it's summer here).

Is there a way to limit the speed so it doesn't reach its maximum in Ubuntu (easily as I'm not an expert) but so it's still faster than usb 2.0?

**chris354** · January 15th, 2017

If its overheating I would consider that to be a serious fault and return it. They should not be getting "too hot" if they are operating normally.

**sudodus** · January 15th, 2017

I don't know any way to reduce the speed except to connect it via a USB 2 port. There are USB 3 pendrives, that do not run hot, but are still fast, for example 'standard' Sandisk Extreme (while Sandisk Extreme Pro runs hot).

**HermanAB** · January 15th, 2017

Stick a little 5V USB fan on it.

**ultragamer2** · January 16th, 2017

I've been trying to use it with tvhead to record, I got it to replace a 64gb usb 2.0 that I was using before with no issues.

I got 1m usb 3.0 extension cable and have been trying to use it with that (so I don't risk overheating the pc usb port and the extra socket gives it some more heat dissipation). But what happens is that it seems to record ok and works, but I turn the computer on another day and all the files are gone.

I've tried 2 other cables with the same problems.

The only thing I think could make it work better would be connecting it directly to the usb 3.0 port without a extension cable but it's summer here and very hot at the moment.

I tried a usb fan but the pc has to be in suspend to come on to record and the fan stays on in suspend so it would just be on 24 hours a day wasting power and causing noise.
So I don't know any way to have the fan only come on when the computer is actually on.

**HermanAB** · January 16th, 2017

See this:
http://www.beyondlogic.org/usbnutshell/usb1.shtml
and
http://www.beyondlogic.org/usbnutshell/usb2.shtml

If you can get an old full speed USB hub, then you may be able to prevent the drive from going to high speed.

BTW, are you sure the loss of data is due the speed and heat? It is possible that you lost the data because you shut down or unplugged it while it was still busy and corrupted the transfer.

**kurt18947** · January 16th, 2017

Runs hot, loses data, faulty device?

**ultragamer2** · January 16th, 2017

It was connected the whole time, it only went into suspend.

Yeah I thought of trying a usb 2 or slower hub and I might try it, but I sort of wanted to see if the problem still occurred when it was plugged directly in.

It runs hot because it is so small, I'm not sure that it's running hotter than it is meant to but that model seems to run hot normally according to forum discussion.

But it seems faulty because it's not working sometimes and data is dissappearing. The only non standard thing I am doing is connecting it through a usb 3.0 extension cable because I don't want to overheat the computer sockets. But if there's no reason to think a cable vs direct connect would cause any problems with a usb 3.0 flash drives then it seems faulty.

I have once tried connecting a usb 2.5" hdd through a usb extension cable and it wouldn't power on properly but worked fine without a extension cable.