USB2 hard drive throughput

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CWatters

What sort of data rate would be deemed acceptable when writing to a USB 2.0
hard drive?

If I copy n save 17GBytes (28 x 600MByte files) from my C: to this drive it
takes around 30mins. That works out at around 1MByte/Sec which sounds like
USB 1.1 not 2.0.... or am I expecting too much from my PC which only has a
266Mz bus?

I added a USB 2.0 PCI card to my PC years ago and the device manager still
shows an NEC PCI to USB Enhanced Host Controller.

If I look at the Properties -> Advanced tab it says it's using 10% of the
system reserved bandwidth (while the copy is in progress, I haven't checked
at other times). Is it worth trying to turn that up? How?
 
CWatters said:
What sort of data rate would be deemed acceptable when writing to a USB 2.0
hard drive?
Click to expand...

Depends on the hard drive and your bus speed.
If I copy n save 17GBytes (28 x 600MByte files) from my C: to this drive it
takes around 30mins. That works out at around 1MByte/Sec which sounds like
USB 1.1 not 2.0.... or am I expecting too much from my PC which only has a
266Mz bus?
Click to expand...

More like 9.5 MB/sec. Probably can't expect much more than that for
writes, again, depending on your drives (both input and output) and bus.
 
CWatters said:
What sort of data rate would be deemed
acceptable when writing to a USB 2.0 hard drive?
http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/03/08/cheaper/page9.html

If I copy n save 17GBytes (28 x 600MByte files) from my C: to this
drive it takes around 30mins. That works out at around 1MByte/Sec
Urk.

which sounds like USB 1.1 not 2.0....
Click to expand...

Yeah, looks like it.
or am I expecting too much from my PC which only has a 266Mz bus?
Click to expand...

Nar, it should be able to do a hell of a lot better than that.
I added a USB 2.0 PCI card to my PC years ago and the device
manager still shows an NEC PCI to USB Enhanced Host Controller.
Click to expand...
If I look at the Properties -> Advanced tab it says it's using 10%
of the system reserved bandwidth (while the copy is in progress,
I haven't checked at other times). Is it worth trying to turn that up? How?
Click to expand...

Unlikely that is the problem.
 
CWatters said:
What sort of data rate would be deemed acceptable when writing to a USB 2.0
hard drive?

If I copy n save 17GBytes (28 x 600MByte files) from my C: to this drive it
takes around 30mins.
Click to expand...

30x60 = 1800sec
That works out at around 1MByte/Sec
Click to expand...

You think huh. (Uhm, doesn't that require having a brain?)
 
Steve Cousins said:
Depends on the hard drive and your bus speed.


More like 9.5 MB/sec.
Click to expand...

Oh bother I got the decimal point in the wrong place. 10MBytes/sec is a bit
more reasonable.
 
Folkert Rienstra said:
Yep, blame it on the decimal point, Watters. Nothing wrong with you.
Click to expand...

Actually decimal point wan't involved. If you ask him he'll deny it.
 
What sort of data rate would be deemed acceptable when writing to a USB 2.0
hard drive?

If I copy n save 17GBytes (28 x 600MByte files) from my C: to this drive it
takes around 30mins. That works out at around 1MByte/Sec which sounds like
USB 1.1 not 2.0.... or am I expecting too much from my PC which only has a
266Mz bus?

I added a USB 2.0 PCI card to my PC years ago and the device manager still
shows an NEC PCI to USB Enhanced Host Controller.

If I look at the Properties -> Advanced tab it says it's using 10% of the
system reserved bandwidth (while the copy is in progress, I haven't checked
at other times). Is it worth trying to turn that up? How?
Click to expand...

As noted before, you got about 544MB/min or 9.4MB/sec.

Google (or Google Groups) this: usb hard disk speed rienstra russell

Especially see the part starting on Aug 30, 2005.
544MB/min seems okay by comparison. My FSB is also 266MHz.
I doubt that a faster CPU or memory would help much, but I am no
expert. I have no experience with USB 2.0 PCI cards..

Raw USB throughput should be about 34MB/sec but properties of the
internal and USB drives and files can affect the overall rate, like
fragmentation and the number of folders and files copied. Real-time
antivirus software slows it down. Write caching (delayed write) might
be disabled for safety in a USB drive, which also slows its writing.

Russ
 
CWatters said:
What sort of data rate would be deemed acceptable when writing to a USB 2.0
hard drive?

If I copy n save 17GBytes (28 x 600MByte files) from my C: to this drive it
takes around 30mins. That works out at around 1MByte/Sec which sounds like
USB 1.1 not 2.0.... or am I expecting too much from my PC which only has a
266Mz bus?

I added a USB 2.0 PCI card to my PC years ago and the device manager still
shows an NEC PCI to USB Enhanced Host Controller.

If I look at the Properties -> Advanced tab it says it's using 10% of the
system reserved bandwidth (while the copy is in progress, I haven't checked
at other times). Is it worth trying to turn that up? How?
Click to expand...


I get between 30 and 35MB per second on USB or Firewire on the Mac, and
only 10MB on the PC.


Odie
 
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