Comment 238 for bug 197762

I just had this problem re-appaer after I fixed it, see my commentsin bug "https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/334914". Still running with same hardware. Now I'm on 9.10 with kernel:

alex@alex-desktop:~$ uname -r
2.6.31-17-generic

After I installed 9.10 with its default kernel on release day, I remember to have made backups to my 1TB USB2.0 drive that went at expected speeds. Today I wanted to backup again and it started off fast at ~35MB/s in nautilus but went to ~2MB/s after ~400MB was copied. "dstat showed it was writing at ~1.5MB/s.

The thing to note here is I connected it to the front-panel of my computer case which is connected to the motherboard. The case is an Antec 900, "http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=MTEyOQ==". Bought it 2 years ago so it may have undergone some revisions.
Next I connected the USB drive to the backpanel (USB port directly on motherboard) and now it had normal speeds again, dstat ~30MB/s-40MB/s.
The front panel has given me some troubles before since it seems that the slots on it do not always make a good electrical connection, resulting in the device not being recognised or disappearing. But my USB drive stayed reliably connected, just at slow speeds.
So now I'm wondering if there may be a technical difference in the front- and backpanel connections that limit the speed.