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    External SATA Hard Drive on a USB connection - Pointless?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Playmaker, May 23, 2007.

  1. Playmaker

    Playmaker Notebook Deity

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    I'm thinking of making my own external hard drive with a bare hard drive and an external enclosure. The serial route will cost more, with a more expensive enclosure, than the paralell option. I'm wondering whether or not going SATA is even necessary- will the speed advantages offered by SATA even be exhibited on an external USB connection?
     
    Playmaker, May 23, 2007
    #1
  2. Pitabred

    Pitabred Linux geek con rat flail!

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    Not one bit. I have on because I initially bought my notebook with a 100GB internal drive, and then upgraded to a 160GB internal, and put the 100GB into an external enclosure. For the power usage, it's better to have the larger storage as the main drive. If you're just looking to buy a drive to go into an enclosure, there's no reason to go with SATA over PATA. Just make sure your enclosure fits the size of the drive. Many enclosures have limits. Mine has a limit of 100GB, it won't work with drives larger than that, and I'd hate to have you waste your money or time on something like that ;)
     
    Pitabred, May 23, 2007
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  3. Sir Punk

    Sir Punk Notebook Deity

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    I kinda have a similar problem. I have an ASUS with an internal 100GB which is a SATA. I want to get an internal + enclosure. I am already using my expresscard for a firewire for an audio interface. So I have left the motherboard firewire or the usb2. Would getting a SATA be pointless since it will run at the firewire400 speed or at the usb2 speed? is sata to firewire a bottleneck for the sata?
     
    Sir Punk, May 24, 2007
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  4. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    The high speed of the SATA interface only really comes into play for any data going to/from the HDD cache. For large data transfers it is the read / write speeds that matter. This review at Tom's Hardware includes speeds for some current HDDs. The head data transfer rates exceed the theoretical USB 2.0 / Firewire data transfer rates, but not by a massive margin. However, these interfaces rarely achieve the theoretical rates.

    I attach the HD Tune plot for a Samsung HD501LJ in a Freecom USB 2.0 enclosure. The actual data transfer rate is only about half of the theoretical USB 2.0 speed. However, this is still 1.2GB/min which is fine for what I want (backups). Also attached are plots for a Hitachi 100GB 2.5" ATA 5400 in an unbranded USB 2 enclosure and a Fujitsu 120GB 2.5" SATA 5400 in a Transcend USB 2 enclosure. All these USB 2 HDD enclosures have a transfer rate between 20 and 25MB/s.

    What speeds are other people measuring for HDDs in external enclosures?

    John
     

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    John Ratsey, May 24, 2007
    #4