BIG USB Hardrives

[PAC]

There are a number of big USB HHD available for silly money; Maplin are doing one for £80 [400Gb].

What's going to be the limiting speed factor, the USB [2] interface or the HDD access time?

They quote 9ms for the drive. I've tried to compare this with other drives but strangely access time is not often quoted

I fancy one, but not if it's going to sit there wirring and clicking at me for 'hours'.

Thanks

Paul

 

[Sheds Moderator]

[computer numpty comment alert]USB 1 is dead slow ☹️ Silent though.

 

I don't think you would want to use this as a routine but they are great for music/films if this is your thing.

[/alert]

Someone more knowledgeable will fortunately be along soon.

[dannylt]

They are exactly the same hard drives as the sort in your PC. USB2 will definitely be the limiting factor for transfer speed, but depends what you want to use it for. For a backup device they are perfect. Mirror you internal drive, then hide the external one under a floorboard or a fire safe in case of PC theft/breakage.

 

[davef]

BOSS USB 1 is slow - however the current external hard drives use USB 2 which is much faster (12 vs 480Mb/s). Though slower than a current internal drive, they are fast enough for most purposes - you'll notice the speed difference only if you are moving large volumes of data aorund. 9ms access speed is typical - pretty much the same as an iternal drive.

 

For reference I have external USB storage on my server @ home - these are plenty fast enough to stream video (DVD ISO not mpeg 4 AVI) across the LAN.

 

Dave

[Sheds Moderator]

So 2 is 40x faster? Wow. No wonder it takes forever to transfer songs to an MP3 on USB1.

 

How do I check mine on my new/secondhand lappy is ver 2?

[DohNut]

 

Plug a USB 2 thing into the USB port and if you get an error message "You have plugged a USB2 device into a USB1 slot please use a USB2.....etc"

 

if not then you probably have USB2

 

N

[davef]

So 2 is 40x faster? Wow. No wonder it takes forever to transfer songs to an MP3 on USB1.

 

My first MP3 player had a parallel port connection - now that was slowwwww. Good job it was only 64MB

 

Dave

[PAC]

Thanks folks. Sounds like it's got to be done!

 

I'm mainly thinking of making a mega juke-box, but a total back-up would also be very handy.

 

Do you need an application to mirror a drive?

Paul

[millsn]

Is there any way to switch the "you should use a faster USB2 port instead of this slow old one" message off? It's very annoying

[Alex Wong1697456877]

I use a Lacie 500GB D2 big disk but I wouldn't recommend it. I have nearly 600 CD's, loads of photos and video clips on it and it does the job, but for some reason, my mac doesn't always mount the drive - this is a known problem and is due to the power supply for the drive not being powerful enough - also, it needs a good power supply from the USB2 socket. I'm getting a powered hub to see if that helps.

[Sheds Moderator]

Plug a USB 2 thing into the USB port and if you get an error message "You have plugged a USB2 device into a USB1 slot please use a USB2.....etc"

---

So, at the risk of starting a circular argument, how do I check that what I plug in is a USB2 AFAIK none of this gear is marked accordingly.

[Pooh_R]

Alex,

 

USB cables with 2 connections to the 'puter and 1 to the device are available. This allows double the power to be drawn from the usb power rail (500mA max per usb socket I think). My large drive works well with both plugged in, but as you say, doesn't mount with only 1 in use. For this to work both usb sockets must be powered.

 

Pooh

[Alex Wong1697456877]

Pooh - thanks for that. Will look for one of those if the powered hub doesn't do the trick.

[millsn]

Hijack alert: Is it possible to upgrade a laptop to USB2?

[davef]

There appear to be PCMCIA/USB2 adaptors available from about a tenner upwards, so yes you should be able to upgrade a laptop

 

dDve

[Dobuy]

Hijack alert: Is it possible to upgrade a laptop to USB2?

Yes you can, using something like this here or here

 

Duratec SV, built in Dubai

[davef]

Lacie 500GB D2

 

I had a Lacie external drive (firewire based, not USB). It failed twice (once in warranty), I think due to over heating. Though it looked like a metal case, it was plastic and I think the drive slowly cooked itself.

 

Dave

 

 

[millsn]

How cool is that?

[andycox]

I've been looking at a FREECOM drive which has USB2 and ethernet connection which claims to be able to plug into a hub/switch or direct into the PC LAN socket (with a x-over cable) with no configuration and work as network attached storage. Could be a nice alternative to USB.

 

Flying across the fens 😬 looking for an escape route.

 

[millsn]

1) Anyone still watching this thread? Just got USB 2.0 as a cardbus card plugin (thanks Blatchat). Question is, it states data transfer rates of 1.5/12/480 Mbps. Why does it state three different rates?

 

2) Interestingly, if you've a 2.3Mbps broadband link and you're using USB 2.0 (as I am) to connect your pc to the net, does this mean you're throwing away 1.9 odd Mbps download rate?

 

Nigel Mills - 2.0 zetec

[Top Hose]

1) It states these speeds because it supports USB1 low and full speed and USB2 high speed:

USB2 High Speed - 480Mbits/s

USB1 Full Speed - 12Mbits/s

USB1 Low Speed - 1.5Mbits/s

 

2) No. You have a theoretical 480Mbits/s between your PC and ADSL modem and only 2.3Mbits/s between modem and the exchange. Your phone line and exchange are really the limiting factors compared to USB2.

 

Alan

[millsn]

very concise, thanks