External USB2.0 HDD Speeds

Thunderbolt

Thunderbolt

Thunderbolt

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Just got a WD MyBook II Essential Edition in the post, how fast should Vista report file copy speeds to be, am doing a bit of backing up, and its says that its going at 26MB/sec. Not had an external HDD before and this strikes me as being way too slow. Can't really think why its at this speed.
 
Maximum I have got from a USB hard drive is about 35MB/s IIRC. Do you have SP1 installed for Vista as this fixes the file transfer issues it had.
 
26Mb/s is pretty reasonable. The speed will depend on both the drive and the type of files being copied - small files will report a much lower speed because of the delays caused by continually updating the MFT, large files (>100Mb) will give a better indication of the speed of the link.
 
that's around normal for usb2

25-35mb is avergage->max


hence why usb2 is crap idea for external drives

esata is what you want, full hard drive speed then
 
ok having esata drive, but if you don't have esat on mobo then it's usless, wouldn't firewire offer higher transfer speeds compaired to USB2?
 
6 and 1/2 Dozen, 1 reads faster and other writes faster in real use.

I have no idea why USB2.0 limits about 30MB/Sec when 480Mbps sec is far higher.

Read on Everything USB.

" USB 2.0 has a raw data rate at 480Mbps, and it is rated 40 times faster than its predecessor interface, USB 1.1, which tops at 12Mbps

But here is catch :

" As far as we know, effective rate reaches at 40MBps or 320Mbps for bulk transfer on a USB 2.0 hard drive with no one else is sharing the bus. Flash Drives seem to be catching up too with the some hitting 30MB/s milestone. For all we know, USB interface could become become the bottleneck for flash drives as early as 2008. "


Seems accurate, I only hit 30MB/Sec approx on my WD My Book but connect it by ESATA I hit 70MB/Sec.
 
USB transfers in bursts which is why it's so slow. Firewire is quite a bit faster as the transfer rate is more sustained.

milkinc13 said:
ok having esata drive, but if you don't have esat on mobo then it's usless, wouldn't firewire offer higher transfer speeds compaired to USB2?
Click to expand...

You don't need eSATA on your mobo, just a backplate. IcyDock do a nice one which has power as well as data so it goes off with the PC.
 
milkinc13 said:
ok having esata drive, but if you don't have esat on mobo then it's usless, wouldn't firewire offer higher transfer speeds compaired to USB2?
Click to expand...

sata -> esata backplate adaptor ~£2-5
sata -> esata front port adaptor ~£2-5

:)

personally i'd never get a WD book, they look cheap & tacky, and are massive and plasticy, WD are however a very good brand
 
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Icy_Box_front%20angle.jpg


that looks good ;)
 
IMO thats horrid.

Looks like a Bible sitting flat lol.

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mybook_premium_es.jpg



wdg1su5000n1.jpg



And the new look :


205761335.jpg



Now thats a work of Art :D
 
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the icybox is all metal, and is just over the size of a hd, the WD Book's are huge!

each to his own i guess
 
I dont need it to be metal, its a Back up HDD thats Syncs 1x per week (I have used it 24/7 at times).

Size aint issue to me, if it was I would have bought a 2.5" model.

Sometimes something need a bit of "size" to it IMO.

So lets just say we dont share same taste. :)

Anyhow OP's topic was more about Speed, solvable by using ESATA (if Mobo has it)
 
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