Hi and welcome to the WD community.
It is possible that the files are corrupted or the Elements has a hardware problem. You can try using a data recovery program to see if that helps with the transfer rate, you should be able to find several options using Google. You can also try running a test using DLG to rule any hardware problems, check the link below for the steps.
How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows
