What's a fast way to copy a lot of files from an internal hard-drive to external (USB) storage?

What's a fast way to copy a lot of files from an internal hard-drive to external (USB) storage? I have a large amount of data - about 500 GB - on the internal hard drive of a desktop PC. This includes music, videos, PDFs... you name it.
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Guest [Entry]

"Make sure that you are using a USB2.0 port and make sure the USB 2.0 controller says ""high speed"" -- a lot of disreputable manufacturers sell the ""full speed (12)"" USB devices with a
prominent ""USB 2.0"" label on them, which is technically accurate but fools people who think USB 2.0 implies ""High speed"".

Also check if your USB hard disk has the ""sync"" mount option enabled?
This is another cause for slowdown. You can remount the filesystem with

mount -o remount,async... /dev/usbdisk ..."

Guest [Entry]

If I had a really huge amount of data to copy, I'd whip the drive out of the external enclosure and put it internally in the computer, and put it back in the enclosure when I was done. I keep a couple of SATA cables and drive bays open for just that sort of need. Opening up the enclosure and reclosing it afterwards it time consuming, but the copy itself will be miles faster.