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    How to tell if transferring at USB 2.0?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by techNOguy, Jun 29, 2008.

  1. techNOguy

    techNOguy Notebook Consultant

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    I have an external harddrive that is USB 2.0 capable. However, I have several USB cables, some of which might not be 2.0. How can I tell if I'm transferring at 2.0 speeds? For example, how long would it take to transfer 60GB at 2.0 and 1.1, in practical terms? I'm assuming if it takes less than an hour, it is 2.0?
     
    techNOguy, Jun 29, 2008
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  2. flipfire

    flipfire Moderately Boss

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    If its transfering faster than 1mbps then its USB2.0 . I though all USB cables had enough bandwidth to support USB2.0
     
    flipfire, Jun 29, 2008
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  3. Andy

    Andy Notebook Prophet

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    try software such as USBInfo & SiSoftware Sandra....!!
     
    Andy, Jun 29, 2008
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  4. tumnasgt

    tumnasgt Notebook Evangelist

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    USB 1.1 can only transfer about 7.5GB and hour, so if you are moving more than that, it is definitely USB 2.0
     
    tumnasgt, Jun 29, 2008
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  5. techNOguy

    techNOguy Notebook Consultant

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    Do I really need all that? I'm just asking if that transfer rate sounds about right for 2.0 (60GB in about an hour). I recall my old digital camera was 1.1 and it took about 10-15 minutes just to transfer a few pics (less than 50MB).

    Thanks tumnasgt. I guess the cable is 2.0 then.
     
    techNOguy, Jun 29, 2008
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  6. Nirvana

    Nirvana Notebook Prophet

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    I think I can do way more than 60GB in an hour, maybe 600GB
     
    Nirvana, Jun 29, 2008
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  7. flipfire

    flipfire Moderately Boss

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    Download HDtune and do a speedtest. It should show transfer rates around 20mbps
     
    flipfire, Jun 29, 2008
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  8. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    Real life performance will depend on file sizes and operating system (Vista is slower at copying files than XP). Also whether the external HDD profile is set to optimise for safe removal or best performance.

    200MB to 1GB / minute should be possible with USB 2.0. I've just copied 2.3GB of photos (average size about 4MB) in about 3 1/2 minutes. Small files can be much slower to transfer.

    USB 1.0 is 1/40th of the nominal speed of USB 2.0, so the likely speed range is around 5 to 25MB/minute.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jun 29, 2008
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  9. K-TRON

    K-TRON Hi, I'm Jimmy Diesel ^_^

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    It is very obvious the difference between Usb 2.0 and 1.1.
    1.1 will transfer nominally around 3mb/sec and its usually slower than that.
    Usb 2.0 can run at speeds of around 35mb/sec
    The hard thing is telling the difference between Usb 1.0 and 1.1 cause you need to use jumpers to shut the usb hubs off to enable pci to usb 2.0 ports :D

    K-TRON
     
    K-TRON, Jun 29, 2008
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  10. swiego

    swiego Notebook Consultant

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    USB 2.0 performance is very chipset-dependent. This is one of the great mysteries of modern chipset design, that an ages-old protocol like USB 2.0 has performance that varies so wildly. I've used USB 2.0 hardware that transfers anywhere from 15MB/sec to 35MB/sec given the same USB device and same OS platform. I would expect USB 2.0 to realistically give you anything in that range depending on what hardware you have.
     
    swiego, Jun 29, 2008
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