External HDD

[elton]

Originally Posted by Gasjatt

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?

Hi Gasjatt... mainly now the enclosure meet the mobility purpose... not into the speed yet

[zy]

i'm using a eSata/USB enclosure on of my WD2500KS 7200rpm 16mb cache

[steventsc]

Just a quick question. I'm using a 3.5" USB 2.0 enclosure for my maxtor 200GB HDD. I noticed it can get quite hot. Also transfering large files to it 500mb-2gb can cause lags during the transfer process. Any solutions?

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by steventsc

Just a quick question. I'm using a 3.5" USB 2.0 enclosure for my maxtor 200GB HDD. I noticed it can get quite hot. Also transfering large files to it 500mb-2gb can cause lags during the transfer process. Any solutions?

Yeah, most enclosures do not come with fans (which I think is a mistake). Hence, I personally do not keep them running for long. Just enough to backup my data and then I turn it off.

If you really want to keep them running for longer periods of time, I would advice getting an enclosure with an integrated fan. This is important as USB drives do not automatically spin down like hard drives in the PC.

As for the lag for large files, well, that depends on the platter-to-buffer transfer rate, as well as the USB transfer rate. Check to see if you have it hooked up to a USB 1.1 port. It's possible if your system is rather old.

If your enclosure has a Firewire or eSATA option like the VIZO Luxon, you can use that to improve the transfer rate. Both Firewire and eSATA have much higher transfer rates than USB 2.0.