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    USB 2.0 speeds only at 120 mbps to external hard drives! Help!

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by ivand87, Sep 25, 2007.

  1. ivand87

    ivand87 Notebook Enthusiast

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    OK so I have 2 external drives... Both USB 2.0... The computer is the one my signature.

    I can only achieve speeds of about 15 or 16 MBps, which is around 120 mbps.

    USB 2.0 is supposed to be 480 mbps which would be around 60 MBps.

    I just noticed this because Windows Vista lets you see the speed if you click on More Information when you're moving or copying files.

    What's going on??
     
    ivand87, Sep 25, 2007
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  2. By ToR

    By ToR Notebook Evangelist

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    480mbps is nominal interface throughput, it does not mean that devices connected to it will perform that fast. It will depend on your drive performance and other factors.
    Besides that Vista has weak performance with external devices, there are a lot of threads around asking the same. There are some patches out, look for them in MS download center.
    On XP Pro (sager np2090), my external HDD does around 25MB/s with USB and a little more using FireWire.
     
    By ToR, Sep 25, 2007
    #2
  3. ivand87

    ivand87 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Damn... OK I guess I'll look into it. Windows Vista SUCKS, I hate Microsoft.
     
    ivand87, Sep 26, 2007
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  4. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    First make sure that the policy for the external HDD is set to "Optimise for Performance" (under the HDD properties in Device Manager).

    What data transfer rates are you seeing if you test the external HDD with HDtune? The best I have measured are below 20MB/s for an external HDD through USB 2.0.

    eSATA seems to be the way forward for best performance if your external HDD has an SATA connector because the interface ceases to be the bottleneck. You will need a PCMCIA or ExpressCard eSATA adaptor and an enclosure with an eSATA connector (there are some withdual USB 2.0 and eSATA).

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Sep 27, 2007
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  5. R4000

    R4000 Notebook Virtuoso

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    Another option is to use a Firewire400 external, which is supposedly a bit better than USB 2.0.........
     
    R4000, Sep 27, 2007
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  6. moon angel

    moon angel Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

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    Theoretical max is indeed 48MBps but it's never practically that fast. 12MBps is pretty good for USB 2.0.
     
    moon angel, Sep 27, 2007
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  7. jessi3k3

    jessi3k3 Notebook Evangelist

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    Actually in Vista my Western Digital external HDD through USB 2.0 has HD Tune speeds of 23 MB/s while in xp it's 15 MB/s. Can anyone care to explain this? I created a thread about this issue but I got 0 replies.
     
    jessi3k3, Sep 27, 2007
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  8. R4000

    R4000 Notebook Virtuoso

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    Oddly I have experienced a similar situation. My first guess is that Vista's native USB drivers are 5 years newer than XP's (according to Device Manager).....

    :)
     
    R4000, Sep 27, 2007
    #8