I could not remember the USB 3 speeds before the fresh install so figured the Z77 must me slow. I had a Q77 machine to prove the USB drive was fine. It kept bugging me so I went to the ASRock site and downloaded the UsB drivers from their site. They were older but I installed them anyway.
Proof that newer is not always better. But in the confusion and desperation I tried XFast USB which I had always ignored. XFast does help somewhat.
Here is a portable SSD I put together. Before I switched drivers, even this topped at 30 MB/s. Glad my USB 3 is back in action.