External HDD

Twist86

Twist86

Active Member
So I am looking for a 750GB - 1TB external drive for back ups when I format and for stuff I wish to store and access on occasion...such as games I made ISO to music when I want to sync my Sansa Fuze or my girlies Ipod with Itunes.

My question is fairly simple but I noticed that they use USB 2.0....are the speeds going to be as slow as my flash drive? 8-12mb transfer rates? I mean its not that slow but my 500GB drives usually push 60-70mb. I just wanna be prepared for it if it is.

Also what is a good quality unit? I wont use it every day but I will use it a few times a month depending on what I want to save. First transfer will be 300GB or so. I also know I will have to format it once I get it as its FAT32 by default on a lot of them.
 
The transfer speed of USB2.0 usually ends up being around 33MB/s max. If this is going to be a major problem you may consider an eSATA drive.

As for what brands, that's difficult to say... I'd just look at which ones have the best ratings and all on Newegg within your price range and capacity. It's really not a good idea to be biased towards drive brands as each may have their own set of lemons.
 
Well then that makes me wonder is it not considered write when you transfer files from 1 HDD to another?

Because with my flashdrives I only get 8mb write speeds but when taking things off from them I get 22-23mb transfers. These are off 2.0 drives.
 
Devices almost always read faster than they write. As for the HD to HD, of course one will be reading and the other writing. But in general, USB is usually capped at 33MB/s speeds due to hardware limitations and such.
 
33mb speeds include write or only read though? Better yet you have any external drives or flash drives that do those speeds?
 
Last edited:
you can get external HDD's with 2 or more USB connectors, so it is going down several paths at once, sort of like it is running in parallel rather than linear, so you have several 33mb/s routes at once.

And that would depends on the process you are doing for the 33mb/s I'd imagine. Honestly, I only know that is the figure, however I'd imagine that it could probably do both at those speeds, if not, then it would be read at 33mb/s, write at less
 
Aastii said:
you can get external HDD's with 2 or more USB connectors, so it is going down several paths at once, sort of like it is running in parallel rather than linear, so you have several 33mb/s routes at once.
Click to expand...

Not true. At least all the ones I've seen are for extra power because some older computers don't support enough amps using a single USB port.

Aastii said:
And that would depends on the process you are doing for the 33mb/s I'd imagine. Honestly, I only know that is the figure, however I'd imagine that it could probably do both at those speeds, if not, then it would be read at 33mb/s, write at less
Click to expand...

I can not say for sure, but I know most USB devices essentially emulate ATA33. Since the interface is much slower than the actual drive, it may be capable of reading and writing at 33MB/s.
 
The_Other_One said:
Not true. At least all the ones I've seen are for extra power because some older computers don't support enough amps using a single USB port.
Click to expand...

I had an external HDD (now dead, but never mind :P) that has 2 USB cables, to power it obviously, but it also put stuff to and from my system a hell of alot faster than any USB storage device I have ever used since. Obviously the speed will vary by device, but I mean seriously quick for a USB device
 
I see so this is a useless thing to own then. Will just buy a 1TB and put it in my system and leave it unpowered when not using it. I gotta say not impressed with this tech at all :P
Thanks for answering the question...sadly if its like my flash drives which I am getting a very eerie feeling it is then a 250GB transfer is going to take freaking forever to do at 10mb speeds. Id rather buy a quality drive then leave it up to external drive companies.
 
The only advantage external hard drives have over internal in my opinion is not having to pull open a computer and go thru the pain of having to unscrew and unplug everything to transfer the hard drive to another location.

Maybe with Univeral Serial Bus 3.0 in the future external hard drive transfer rates will be a lot higher.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top