Data transfer speed

ajm

ajm

ajm

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Joined
13 Apr 2004
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What is the difference in data transfer speed between a USB pen and an external laptop drive (5400 type)?

Or is it a case of they both run at the speed of the usb port?
 
USB pen - approx 9MB/s read, 6MB/s write. For a reasonably recent one, may be lower
5400 HDD - about 50MB/s read, never tested write but not far off

Both dependent on the machine and USB port plugged into
 
Thanks for the quick reply.

I am only concerned in the read speeds at the moment as it is to plug into my dvd recorder.What speed do usb ports usually run at?
 
It its a USB1.1 port then your probably not going to see more than 8Mbit (~1MB/s)... if its USB2 then its another story and depends hugely on your specific hardware, software configuration, etc. and what you will actually get will vary wildly - i.e. early USB2 external HDD on a crud USB2 hub will prolly fluctuate between 10 and 20Mbit with no rhyme or reason, whereas a newer 7200RPM USB2 drive might manage 200-250Mbit sustained (upto ~30MB/s)
 
if the interface on your DVD recorder is USB 1.1, then probably not. But for putting stuff onto it from your computer, then you will definitely see a performance boost
 
if the interface on your DVD recorder is USB 1.1
Click to expand...
Is there any easy way of me finding out as it doesn't say in the manual?

So will the hdd transfer rate be the same as usb pen rate on dvd recorder?
 
Basically, if your DVD recorder is USB 1.1, then neither the pen or the HDD will run at full speed. You really need a USB 2 host to get the most out of either.

So, yes - for USB 1.1, they will both run at the same speed (the max. that your DVD recorder can manage)
 
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