USB 3.0 external hard drive

wonderboy1953 · 11-04-2009, 12:39 PM

With USB 3.0, since it's 10 times faster than 2.0, would that mean an external hard drive would be quicker than an internal hard drive?

**raptor_pa** · 11-04-2009, 01:38 PM

Probably not, the speeds are only potential transfer speeds, you still have to be able to read the drive, and move the data off the USB and onto the computer bus. The cable between the drive and the computer is only one part of the speed equation. You also need to have the data translated from its native format in the drive to a protocol that will be transmitted across the USB, and then translated back to it's native format on the other end. I have yet to see a SATA2 drive that comes even close to being able to move data at the max SATA speed, no reason to think on USB the drive could get data onto the bus any faster.

11-04-2009, 12:39 PM	#1 (permalink)
wonderboy1953 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 1 OS: Windows7	USB 3.0 external hard drive With USB 3.0, since it's 10 times faster than 2.0, would that mean an external hard drive would be quicker than an internal hard drive?

11-04-2009, 01:38 PM	#2 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 4,786 OS: XP	Re: USB 3.0 external hard drive Probably not, the speeds are only potential transfer speeds, you still have to be able to read the drive, and move the data off the USB and onto the computer bus. The cable between the drive and the computer is only one part of the speed equation. You also need to have the data translated from its native format in the drive to a protocol that will be transmitted across the USB, and then translated back to it's native format on the other end. I have yet to see a SATA2 drive that comes even close to being able to move data at the max SATA speed, no reason to think on USB the drive could get data onto the bus any faster. __________________