External HDD - Page 2

Gasjatt · 25th Dec 2006, 02:39 AM

Is the USB transfer speed faster than SATA? If not, it would make no sense in using a SATA disk in the enclosure, it'll just slow down to the USB's speed (when connected to the computer through USB)...
What is the transfer speed of IDE, SATA and USB?

SAMSAMHA · 25th Dec 2006, 03:05 AM

nope, sata offers far better transfer speed than usb (1.5Gbit/s or 3.0Gbit/s for sata vs 400Mbit/s for usb 2.0).

Adrian, actually benchmarks have shown that esata performs fairly close to sata. If you have a choice, I would suggest go for esata if you plan to boot off external storage, you probably have a better chance use esata.

Adrian Wong · 25th Dec 2006, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAMSAMHA

nope, sata offers far better transfer speed than usb (1.5Gbit/s or 3.0Gbit/s for sata vs 400Mbit/s for usb 2.0).

Adrian, actually benchmarks have shown that esata performs fairly close to sata. If you have a choice, I would suggest go for esata if you plan to boot off external storage, you probably have a better chance use esata.

Hmm.. That's probably because hard drives are still not fast enough to really benefit from the increased interface speeds.

It really goes to show just how "important" interface speed is after a certain point. After all, there's little performance benefits in upgrading from 1.5Gbits/s SATA to 3Gbits/s SATA.

But USB's transfer speed is really too low. Even if we assume 100% efficiency (which is impossible), it maxes out at 50MB/s, a transfer rate that many fast hard drives can beat (platter-to-buffer transfer rate).

zy · 25th Dec 2006, 08:21 PM

yea.. USB is slower than SATA .. & if i'm not wrong, USB actually consumes more CPU resources compared to SATA

sbrehm72255 · 25th Dec 2006, 10:59 PM

Only problem with esata is that there's not alot of systems MoBo/cases that support it yet. I've only seen on case that has native esata support and it was from Thermaltake.

zy · 25th Dec 2006, 11:09 PM

i know there are combo drives which support eSATA like coolermaster & vantec

getting the card for Esata will be expensive

for laptops

Adrian Wong · 26th Dec 2006, 12:21 AM

Getting eSATA support on the external HDD enclosure is pretty easy. But getting eSATA support on the PC or notebook is a totally different story.

For most PCs, you will still need to get an eSATA adaptor card, while notebooks will need a pretty expensive and rare eSATA expansion card too.

SAMSAMHA · 26th Dec 2006, 01:11 AM

the nice thing about these esata enclosure is that most of them do come with usb or firewire, so they should be fine as you can use either esata or usb. For notebook it might be tougher as I am not sure there's even a esata notebook hd enclosure.

zy · 26th Dec 2006, 01:18 AM

you have to find eSata PCMCIA or ExpressCard which is not easy to get & it is expensive

CALLOFDUTY05 · 26th Dec 2006, 04:02 AM

Ya though it's possible 2 find an eSata PCMCIA card,it's very tough to get an ExpressCard based eSata right now.

25th Dec 2006, 08:21 PM	#14 (permalink)
zy Dead Join Date: 16 Dec 2002 Location: Penang,Malaysia - Buffalo,New York Posts: 12,835 Reputation: 1998 Rep Power: 37	yea.. USB is slower than SATA .. & if i'm not wrong, USB actually consumes more CPU resources compared to SATA __________________ current: P4-3.2\|P4P800-Deluxe\|512x4-DDR\|NV6600 WD2500KS\|WD5000AAKS\|AD-7191A\|1860NX\|Z2300\|MP470 home (malaysia): P4C-2.6@3.1-StockHSF\|AI7\|256x2-BT-D43\|512x2-DT-D43\|A9600XT-VIVO WD1200JB\|2xWD2500KS\|DRU-800A\|DVD-E616P\|LTR-52327S\|152x\|V.S.4121\|iP1500 laptop: M1210\|T7200\|2GBDDR667\|160GB5K160\|GO7400

25th Dec 2006, 11:09 PM	#16 (permalink)
zy Dead Join Date: 16 Dec 2002 Location: Penang,Malaysia - Buffalo,New York Posts: 12,835 Reputation: 1998 Rep Power: 37	i know there are combo drives which support eSATA like coolermaster & vantec getting the card for Esata will be expensive for laptops __________________ current: P4-3.2\|P4P800-Deluxe\|512x4-DDR\|NV6600 WD2500KS\|WD5000AAKS\|AD-7191A\|1860NX\|Z2300\|MP470 home (malaysia): P4C-2.6@3.1-StockHSF\|AI7\|256x2-BT-D43\|512x2-DT-D43\|A9600XT-VIVO WD1200JB\|2xWD2500KS\|DRU-800A\|DVD-E616P\|LTR-52327S\|152x\|V.S.4121\|iP1500 laptop: M1210\|T7200\|2GBDDR667\|160GB5K160\|GO7400

26th Dec 2006, 12:21 AM	#17 (permalink)
Adrian Wong Da Boss Join Date: 10 Oct 2002 Location: In front of my BenQ Joybook 7000 notebook! Posts: 29,959 Reputation: 2958 Rep Power: 65	Getting eSATA support on the external HDD enclosure is pretty easy. But getting eSATA support on the PC or notebook is a totally different story. For most PCs, you will still need to get an eSATA adaptor card, while notebooks will need a pretty expensive and rare eSATA expansion card too. __________________ Dr. Adrian Wong Tech ARP \| Blog @ Tech ARP \| The Free Trade Zone DYKT : The only offshore account I have is at the sand bank? Keep Tech ARP free! Visit our sponsors! We need PROGRAMMERS and TECHNICAL WRITERS! Contact us if you are a hot shot programmer or technical writer! My items for sale : 50x SD Card \| Memory Stick PRO \| Cyclone Energy Saver \| Seiko SS watch \| Tiger/Carlsberg beer jugs \| Travel Speakers \| Motorola V600 \| Nokia N90 SOLD! \| New Lowepro Mini Trekker AW Other items for sale @ the FTZ : Zalman CNPS9500 LED @ $20 \| Zalman CNPS7700 Cu @ $20 \| Zalman CNPS7000 Cu @ $20 \| Swarovski bracelet watches \| Dell 17" LCD \| Hi-Fi speakers \| English DIVX movies \| HP LaserJet toners! \| Office chairs

26th Dec 2006, 01:18 AM	#19 (permalink)
zy Dead Join Date: 16 Dec 2002 Location: Penang,Malaysia - Buffalo,New York Posts: 12,835 Reputation: 1998 Rep Power: 37	you have to find eSata PCMCIA or ExpressCard which is not easy to get & it is expensive __________________ current: P4-3.2\|P4P800-Deluxe\|512x4-DDR\|NV6600 WD2500KS\|WD5000AAKS\|AD-7191A\|1860NX\|Z2300\|MP470 home (malaysia): P4C-2.6@3.1-StockHSF\|AI7\|256x2-BT-D43\|512x2-DT-D43\|A9600XT-VIVO WD1200JB\|2xWD2500KS\|DRU-800A\|DVD-E616P\|LTR-52327S\|152x\|V.S.4121\|iP1500 laptop: M1210\|T7200\|2GBDDR667\|160GB5K160\|GO7400

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25th Dec 2006, 02:39 AM	#11 (permalink)
Gasjatt Warming up Join Date: 10 Nov 2004 Location: Penang, M'sia Posts: 134 Reputation: 104 Rep Power: 6	Is the USB transfer speed faster than SATA? If not, it would make no sense in using a SATA disk in the enclosure, it'll just slow down to the USB's speed (when connected to the computer through USB)... What is the transfer speed of IDE, SATA and USB?

25th Dec 2006, 03:05 AM	#12 (permalink)
SAMSAMHA Super Active Join Date: 13 Oct 2004 Posts: 2,356 Reputation: 197 Rep Power: 8	nope, sata offers far better transfer speed than usb (1.5Gbit/s or 3.0Gbit/s for sata vs 400Mbit/s for usb 2.0). Adrian, actually benchmarks have shown that esata performs fairly close to sata. If you have a choice, I would suggest go for esata if you plan to boot off external storage, you probably have a better chance use esata.

25th Dec 2006, 10:59 PM	#15 (permalink)
sbrehm72255 Warming up Join Date: 6 Dec 2006 Posts: 90 Reputation: 99 Rep Power: 0	Only problem with esata is that there's not alot of systems MoBo/cases that support it yet. I've only seen on case that has native esata support and it was from Thermaltake.

26th Dec 2006, 01:11 AM	#18 (permalink)
SAMSAMHA Super Active Join Date: 13 Oct 2004 Posts: 2,356 Reputation: 197 Rep Power: 8	the nice thing about these esata enclosure is that most of them do come with usb or firewire, so they should be fine as you can use either esata or usb. For notebook it might be tougher as I am not sure there's even a esata notebook hd enclosure.

26th Dec 2006, 04:02 AM	#20 (permalink)
CALLOFDUTY05 I'm a regular Join Date: 7 May 2006 Posts: 367 Reputation: -118 Rep Power: 0	Ya though it's possible 2 find an eSata PCMCIA card,it's very tough to get an ExpressCard based eSata right now.