Low transfer rate for USB 2.0 disk

If you use a AsRock MoBo, look for the XfastUSB.exe utility and install it --cebaehreen
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Howto: Fix Slow USB 2.0 file transfer on Windows XP
USB storage devices can be optimized for either quick removal or performance.  If optimized for quick removal, data transfer can potentially be reduced to a crawl. 

To optimize your USB drive for performance: 

1. Right click on the USB drive and select properties
2. Select the Hardware tab
3. Under All Disk Drives, highlight your USB drive and select Properties
4. Select the Policies tab and select Optimize for performance.
5. Press OK twice, and your transfer speeds should increase dramatically

Note that when your drive is optimized for performance you’ll need to use the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the taskbar to eject the drive – otherwise you’ll risk corrupting your data by just removing the drive from the port.

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Windows 7 Easy Transfer (for windows XP 32b)

Windows 7 Easy Transfer (Windows x64) 

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What is USB 2.0?
Finalized in 2001, Universial Serial Bus (USB) 2.0 is a complete overhaul of the Universal Serial Bus input/output bus protocol which allows much higher speeds than the older USB 1.1 standard did. The goal of the new serial bus is to broaden the range of external peripherals that can be used on a computer. A hard drive can easily hit the USB 1.1 bottleneck whereas it now becomes more 'usable' under USB 2.0 conditions.
For those people who found us via search engines, USB 2.0 should neither be called 'USB2' nor 'USB 2'.
What happened to USB 1.1?
USB 1.1 allowed a maximum transfer rate of 12Mbits/second. It is now obsolete, but both of its speeds (1.5Mbps & 12Mbps) are being adopted into USB 2.0, and they are now called Original USB officially. Though some manufacturers label their products Full-Speed USB. Note that this seems a bit deceptive as it's easy to mistake Full-Speed for Hi-Speed. You won't be fooled from now on as you now aware that Full Speed USB is only 12Mbits/second where Hi-Speed USB mode is capable of a much faster 480Mbits/second.
Traditionally, USB mice and keyboards only need 1.5Mbps to function; exceptions are gaming mice and keyboards that require 12Mbps. These higher-end gaming products send way more location feeds thru USB; hence, more bandwidth is required. Generally, the performance levels (1.5Mbps & 12Mbps) are grouped under 'Original USB' by the USB Promoter Group.
The logo shown on the right is authorized by the same organization to the vendors for use on their products should they passed the compliance tests.
How do I know if my PC has USB 2.0?
You can identify whether your PC has Hi-Speed USB or not relatively easy. Open Device Manager and expand the Universal Serial Bus section. There should be an "Enhanced" USB host controller present.

Windows 98 systems may use a different name, because Hi-Speed USB drivers in these operating systems are not provided directly from Microsoft (Windows ME, 2000 and XP get their drivers through Windows Update). These drivers are provided by the manufacturer, and may carry the maker's name (i.e. ADS, Belkin, IOGear, Siig, etc.). There should also be two "standard" version USB host controllers present as well. They are embedded in the USB chip which routes the differing USB speeds accordingly without user intervention.
There are currently 7 manufacturers of the Hi-Speed USB host silicon themselves:

• ALi (Acer Labs)
• Intel
• NEC
• SiS
• VIA
• nVidia (shows as "Standard" controller)
• Philips

Any other brand name that appears in Device Manager would likely be an add-in Hi-Speed USB PCI card. The makers above do not make add-in cards, but they do make the chips that are used in them. Q: Do you need USB 2.0?
Q: How do I know I plug in a Hi-Speed USB device?
Q: How does USB 2.0 handle today's applications?
Q: How does USB 2.0 and 1.1 work together?
Q: How does a USB hub slow down devices?
A USB hub has to re-calculate the time left before the next sof (end of the uframe); the small extra delay added by the hardware hub could make the transaction not handled as fast as a device directly connected to the host. If several devices are connected on the USB hub and working in parallel (for example, a webcam + a USB flash drive + a mouse), then the USB bandwidth is shared among the devices usage.

 Howto: Fix Slow USB 2.0 file transfer on Windows XP
Windows Easy Transfer for Windows XP