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    Transfer speeds from external hard drive?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by 72hundred, Jan 11, 2009.

  1. 72hundred

    72hundred Revolutions-Per-Millennia

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    Hi,

    I'm getting 15 Mb/s when moving big files to/from external hard drives to my laptop.

    This seems a little slow and I'd of thought I would have gotten faster. The laptop is using two 7200RPM's with RAID0 set-up. Currently I'm moving 75Gb and its says it'll take 2 hours!

    Is there anything I can do to try to get faster speeds?


    Thanks,
    72oo
     
    72hundred, Jan 11, 2009
    #1
  2. Greg

    Greg Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    I assume you mean 15 Mega bytes (MB) and not 15 Mega bits (Mb).

    Anyway, USB2.0 tops out at about 30MBps. Chances are that the USB port on your laptop is internally connected to a USB hub on the motherboard that divides up the bandwidth. Or the external drive's USB chip is not that fast.

    If you did mean 15Mb, you need to make sure that you are even using a USB2.0 port.
     
    Greg, Jan 11, 2009
    #2
  3. Nankuru

    Nankuru Notebook Evangelist

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    From your other figures I assume you're tranferring 15 MegaBytes/sec.

    Those speeds aren't unusual when transferring by USB2.
     
    Nankuru, Jan 11, 2009
    #3
  4. Tinderbox (UK)

    Tinderbox (UK) BAKED BEAN KING

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    Hi.

    I can get a average of 38mb/s according to HDtune on my Buffalo 1tb external USB2.0

    Regards.

    John.
     
    Tinderbox (UK), Jan 11, 2009
    #4
  5. David

    David NBR Random Reviewer NBR Reviewer

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    I was transferring files from a 160gb 7200rpm HDD in my laptop to a 500gb 5400rpm external 2.5" HDD and got about 14-15MB/second transfer rate with a USB 2.0.
     
    David, Jan 11, 2009
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  6. fusionsenses

    fusionsenses The Unbannable

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    it's about right.

    can't wait for the USB3.
     
    fusionsenses, Jan 11, 2009
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  7. shoarthing

    shoarthing Notebook Enthusiast

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    . . . for decent transfer rates you'll need to get a 1394b [Firewire800] or eSata expresscard; then obtain externals using one of these interfaces. USB2 simply can't hack it [there are various bridgesets of varying quality, allowing between 15~35 MB/s for sustained streams], & the superior 1394a [Firewire400] you have onboard tops out at around 40 MB/s in real-world use..

    1394b can just about handle the sustained streaming speed of yer average present-day 7200rpm HDD, & is very much the well-proven route, additionally offering bus-power should you prefer 2.5" external HDDs; but eSata is cheaper, more commonly available, & has ample headroom for today's (& tomorrow's) external storage.

    I use external storage every day for my work with large AV files; & get sustained streams of up to around 70MB/s between externals attached via the onboard 1394b, via another 1394b interface (expresscard), & this MBP's 7200.3 HDD. This is OK; but most folk in my business are now switching to eSata while awaiting USB3, expecting reasonably widespread availablity of devices using the latter interface in about a year from now.
     
    shoarthing, Jan 12, 2009
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  8. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    It may be worthwhile checking if the policy for the external HDD is set to Optimize for Best Performance.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jan 12, 2009
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  9. 72hundred

    72hundred Revolutions-Per-Millennia

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    Cheers all for the details. Good to hear that its the standard transfer rate.
     
    72hundred, Jan 12, 2009
    #9