Speeds on a 2.5inch external drive?

[SiD the Turtle]

I've been looking into getting a 2.5" portable HDD primarily for home data backup. Huge capacity isn't a requirement as I simply don't have that much important data, but being able to do a backup and stashing it away is.

Also as a bonus I was looking at using it to store virtual machines, as my work laptop is creaking under their weight. What is concerning me however is whether you could run a VM on a disk spinning at 5400rpm and over USB2. But then again the disk in the laptop is no doubt 5400rpm. Any thoughts?

Lastly what are people's opinions of the WD Passport drives? I'm a fan of the WD drives and their reliability, having a Raptor and Caviar in my home machine so would be inclined to go for the 160GB model.

 

[Rroff]

Depends a lot on the drive - somewhere between 7MB/s and 25MB/s would be typical - anything over 15MB/s would be okish for running an OS off... I have a couple of USB2 externals HDDs that can do 35MB/s sustained over USB2 but most devices I've used cap out at between 20 and 30MB/s.

 

[Bloodust]

My 2 year old external Maxtor on fireware
http://img103.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hdtachxk0.jpg

 

[Elric]

I have a 80GB Passport drive, the old grey/blue style. Works great, I've just done a HDtach of it and it comes up at around 18-30mb throughput.

 

[SiD the Turtle]

I might get one of these passports. Portable yes, but I'm worried about scratching it, looks shiny...