Hi-Speed USB ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jeff
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J

Jeff

I attached an external HD to the USB of a laptop running XP Home, and XP
tells me
"The USB Mass Storage Device is a HI-SPEED USB device and will function at
reduced speed when plugged into a non-HI-SPEED port"
"There are no HI-SPEED host controllers installed on this computer"

Does this mean the USB ports on this laptop are USB 1 while the external HD
is a USB 2 or is this a matter of installing a different driver?

Would I get faster speed if I connected the external HD to another PC with a
USB2 port and connected the 2 PCs with a 10-100 cable. They are on the same
cabled network.

Thanks
 
Jeff said:
I attached an external HD to the USB of a laptop running XP Home, and XP
tells me
"The USB Mass Storage Device is a HI-SPEED USB device and will function
at reduced speed when plugged into a non-HI-SPEED port"
"There are no HI-SPEED host controllers installed on this computer"

Does this mean the USB ports on this laptop are USB 1 while the external
HD is a USB 2 or is this a matter of installing a different driver?
Click to expand...



It could be either. Check your computer specs to find out what you bought.




--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
well, it means that hte HD is UBSB2. it also means that you either have usb2
port, but no drivers or more likely no usb 2 port.
 
Richard said:
It could be either. Check your computer specs to find out what you
bought.
Click to expand...

No can do. Bought it 3 years ago and do not have them anymore - which is
why I suspect it is USB1 rather than USB2. It's a Dell Inspiron 8100.

I'm surprised that My Computer/properties/Hardware/Device manager does not
indicate whether it is USB 1 or 2. It is listed simply as "Intel(r) 8280
1BA/BAM USB Universal Host Controller - 2442". Belarc, FreshDiagnosis,
Everest, and AIDA32 did not tell me either whether this is a USB 1 or 2.

Isn't there a software way I can find out which one it is?

Jeff
 
Proper enumeration depends on the Chipset driver. If no "Enhanced"
controller appears then it is only USB1(.1) The message received
about increased performance is a XP based message as the device
identifies itself as USB 2 compliant from the VID string.
 
Thank you. That helps. I checked on my other PC that has a USB 2 and
Properties does list it as "enhanced" while this older Dell laptop does not.
So I assume I was right in guessing it only had USB1 ports.

Thanks for helping.

I need all the incentives I can collect to get a new laptop <grin>

Jeff
 
To answer the last question. It may speed the transfer of data but what
happens if you want to use the USB drive without the system with USB 2?

You can purchase a PC Card (PCMCIA) adapter from most computer hardware
stores (Best Buy, CompUSA and MANY others) that will allow USB 2.0 function
on your older laptop. Many of these devices will normally will work with
self power from the PC card slot but if you plug in more than one device to
it at a time, use the supplied power cable. I have an older system and am
able to add 4 USB 2.0 ports simply by plugging in the card. I use a Buslink
model UII-CB4 which can be purchased for about $40.00 or less.
 
Jeff said:
I attached an external HD to the USB of a laptop running XP Home, and XP
tells me
"The USB Mass Storage Device is a HI-SPEED USB device and will function at
reduced speed when plugged into a non-HI-SPEED port"
"There are no HI-SPEED host controllers installed on this computer"

Does this mean the USB ports on this laptop are USB 1 while the external HD
is a USB 2 or is this a matter of installing a different driver?
Click to expand...

Ports may be USB 1.1, but could be 2.0 if the proper driver is not installed
for it if USB 2.0 capable. Doubtful though. USB 1 went away quite sometime
ago. Era windows 95.
Would I get faster speed if I connected the external HD to another PC with a
USB2 port and connected the 2 PCs with a 10-100 cable. They are on the same
cabled network.
Click to expand...

User realized Read/write speed on a externally USB2 connected hard drive
accessed over a LAN is controlled by the lower LAN speed at that point. You
need a crossover cable when connecting two PCs directly on a LAN port,
straight cable for interim hub connection. CAT5 cable should be fine for
100. Not much difference in realized read/write speed, just a tad slower on
100 type LAN adapters.
 
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