Speed of USB 2.0

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bobby77501
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Bobby77501

I just installed a Belkin PCI card that is supposed to upgrade my USB 1.1 to
USB 2.0 - but it doesn't seem to be much faster - if at all. I have three
Maxtor USB 2.0 external drives connected to the card. How can I tell what
the transfer speed is and if I'm getting what I paid for?
Thanks............

Bobby
 
The first generation USB is 1.1. It moves data at 12
megabits per second. That was speedy in its day. But
Apple overwhelmed it with Firewire. (Firewire's technical
name is IEEE 1394 Serial Bus. Is it any wonder Apple
renamed it?) Firewire transfers data at 400 megabits per
second. It is made for both Apple machines and PCs.

Then, along came USB 2.0. That's actually faster than
Firewire, running at 480 megabits per second. Most new
PCs now have a mix of USB 1.1 and 2.0 connections. Some
things, like mice and keyboards, have no use for 2.0's
high speed, so 1.1 is sufficient. But if you're
downloading video from a camcorder, you'll need all the
speed you can get. Those are big, big files! USB 2.0
ports can handle 1.1 devices, but they run at 1.1 speed.

Of course, the Firewire folks aren't resting. They're
working on a version that will move up to 3.2 gigabits of
data per second, eventually. Presumably, we'll get a
faster USB someday, too.
 
Firewire 800 is out in some high-end macs.... It uses a fibre-optic cable from
what I've seen, and as you might guess, runs at 800mbps.... so much for USB
2.... ;)
 
I just installed a Belkin PCI card that is supposed to upgrade my USB 1.1 to
USB 2.0 - but it doesn't seem to be much faster - if at all. I have three
Maxtor USB 2.0 external drives connected to the card. How can I tell what
the transfer speed is and if I'm getting what I paid for?
Thanks............

Bobby
Click to expand...
Even though it's USB 2.0........... don't expect IDE DMA
speeds......... ain't gonna happen. USB 2.0 is fast, but not THAT
fast.
If you really want to know for sure HOW fast your drives are..... try
running a benchmark tool on it. My favorite is "SiSoft Sandra", it
can be downloaded as shareware here:
http://www.sisoftware.net/index.html?dir=dload&location=sware_dl_x86&langx=en&a=


§kullywag©-
 
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