USB2 vs FW vs GbE for external drive enclosure?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Al Dykes
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A

Al Dykes

Can anyone compare speeds and client CPU overhead for USB2, FW, and
GbE for a connection to an external disk used as working storage for
something computationally intense such as a Photoshop work disk?

Thanks
 
Can anyone compare speeds and client CPU overhead for USB2, FW, and
GbE for a connection to an external disk used as working storage for
something computationally intense such as a Photoshop work disk?
Click to expand...

CPU overhead is negligible for all options. You didn't mention eSATA, though
you should have. In order of potential speeds:

1) eSATA
2) GbE
3) FW (400 or 800)
4) USB 2.0

There are a number of enclosures that include several interfaces. I have one
that does eSATA and USB 2.0, and another that does FireWire 400 and USB 2.0.

Here's one I found with a quick search that does USB 2.0, eSATA, and GbE:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817810014

The eSATA/USB enclosure I have does >100MB/sec on eSATA, and <25MB/sec on USB
2.0. The FW/USB one does ~34MB/sec on FW, and ~27MB/sec on USB.
 
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