any body use USB 2.0 external hard drives to back stuff up ?

[lotust]

Hey guys. Im looking to replace my older PATA drive with something. My new dell PC has only one PATA port/plug on it and its shared by the DVDRW. When i use both together things slow down alot!

I was thinking of just getting another SATA drive since I have 3 more open ports for that kind of drive. But there is a sale on a Seagate 160GB External USB 2.0 Hard Drive for 89$ Out the door.


Are these drives slow as hell? It would be used for backing up DVDs from DVD shrink and stuff like that.

 

[JasonE4]

They're not slow at all. In fact, they're almost as fast as internal drives.

 

[rpf717]

I use one to back up my photos etc. . .

I don't find it slow at all, I think that is a great option for backing up, its mobile, its easy. Can't go wrong.

 

[Akhen]

Originally posted by: JasonE4
They're not slow at all. In fact, they're almost as fast as internal drives.

I agree, USB 2.0 is allready fast
but firewire also good stuff.

 

[imhungry]

I have a 250GB external solely for ghosting windows and backing stuff up on.

Very very fast. Remember, usb 2.0 = FOH HUNNERT EIGHTEE PERR SECONN.

 

[LED]

USB Hi-speed comes nowhere close to IDE performance and Firewire 1394a will beat it in real life performance...Firewire 1394b is about even with IDE performance and SATA id hotplugable with the NVidia NF4 Ultra chipset..not sure about the others but but ULi's offering is not Hot plugable in the SATA flavor ...here's some benches (some synthetic) I did :

Firewire400-1394a (left) VSUSB HiSpeed)

Firewire800- 1394b

More Firewir800-1494b

I just have started using a SATA external and the speeds are similar to Firewire 800-1394b...so because of the vesitality/available outs I would opt for an Enternal Case that has both USB Hi-Speed/Firewire1394a and b options as that is what I use and it comes in handy with compatibility with OP Systems as most have @ least USB-Hi-speed.

 

[Jeff7]

Write speeds will likely be slower than an internal drive because Windows disables the write cache on the drive. Normally, data is plopped into the write cache and is then written to the disk. However, with a removable drive, there's a danger that the drive would be disconnected with data still in the write cache - power goes away, and the data goes away. This can be bad if it is important information, like maybe some update to the master FAT tables or something of that nature. Things like that can have Windows asking you "This drive is unformatted. Format it now?"
So the write cache is disabled for this reason. Read cache should be active though, so read speeds will be normal.

It may be possible to activate the drive's write cache - in Device Manager, right-click on the drive and select Properties. Under Policies, it might give you the option to enable the write cache. However, if you do this, be sure to disable it again before unplugging the drive. Or if you use the Safely Remove Hardware option, that should be ok too, but I don't know for sure - never tried it. I just do all my backups overnight, so it can take just about all the time it needs.
I've actually got a removable SATA drive, not USB. But it is still fairly slow when writing due to the same disabled-write-cache situation.

 

[lotust]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
Write speeds will likely be slower than an internal drive because Windows disables the write cache on the drive. Normally, data is plopped into the write cache and is then written to the disk. However, with a removable drive, there's a danger that the drive would be disconnected with data still in the write cache - power goes away, and the data goes away. This can be bad if it is important information, like maybe some update to the master FAT tables or something of that nature. Things like that can have Windows asking you "This drive is unformatted. Format it now?"
So the write cache is disabled for this reason. Read cache should be active though, so read speeds will be normal.

It may be possible to activate the drive's write cache - in Device Manager, right-click on the drive and select Properties. Under Policies, it might give you the option to enable the write cache. However, if you do this, be sure to disable it again before unplugging the drive. Or if you use the Safely Remove Hardware option, that should be ok too, but I don't know for sure - never tried it. I just do all my backups overnight, so it can take just about all the time it needs.
I've actually got a removable SATA drive, not USB. But it is still fairly slow when writing due to the same disabled-write-cache situation.

very nice info thank you very much. I will go internal then. SATA it is. Ebay has some deacent deals. better than the egg.

 

[foodfightr]

Originally posted by: JasonE4
They're not slow at all. In fact, they're almost as fast as internal drives.

QFT

 

[corkyg]

"It may be possible to activate the drive's write cache - in Device Manager, right-click on the drive and select Properties. Under Policies, it might give you the option to enable the write cache. However, if you do this, be sure to disable it again before unplugging the drive. Or if you use the Safely Remove Hardware option, that should be ok too, but I don't know for sure - never tried it. I just do all my backups overnight, so it can take just about all the time it needs. "

I don't recommend that. Enabling the write cache will frequently result in delayed write errors for an external drive. Best to leave the checkbox on "Optimize for Quick Release." The other checkbox, "Performance," turns on write caching.

 

[LED]

Originally posted by: imhungry
I have a 250GB external solely for ghosting windows and backing stuff up on.

Very very fast. Remember, usb 2.0 = FOH HUNNERT EIGHTEE PERR SECONN.

That is theoritical SHARED Bandwith...
A far as the write cache being on and off for performance increase...I have seen little improvement one way or the other so I just leave it off and agree with corckyg to "Best to leave the checkbox on "Optimize for Quick Release."

USB Hi-Speed (no longer referred to as USB2.0) does greatly improve over USB Low and Full Speed (no longer referred to as USB 1.0 and 1.1) but when compared to IDE/PATA or SATA ...even if it did 1/2 the performance (depending on the chipset) would make me smile :laugh:

 

[zephyrprime]

If you're really concerned about speed, get external SATA. Then it will really be fast.