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My question is: if I use an external USB 2.0 hard drive, how much slower is it in transferring data compared to my PC’s 5400 RPM hard drive? I’m not looking for exact figures, just an idea.
Also: will my three-year old Compaq support USB 2.0?
There is a big real world speed difference in utilizing the USB 2.0 full interface capability vs USB 1.1. with anm external drive. If performance is imporant to you per E-Sabbath’s suggestion get a 2.0 card. Walmart has them around $ 30.
USB 2.0 is quite fast. It has a bandwidth of 480 Mbps, so in many cases the speed is limited by the drive itself, not the interface. The last time I benchmarked my PC, the USB 2.0 drive was only about 25% slower than the internal drive. (Both are 7200 rpm drives, though other specs are different so don’t read too much into this result.)
Some external drives contain slow drives though. Many of the small porbable ones use 2.5-inch 4200 rpm drives, and those are noticeably slower than the full-size 7200 rpm drives.
The good news is that USB 2’s 480Mb theoretical max is going to be faster than any drive you’re likely to have in your desktop.
Unfortunately, there are a number of potential complications - the short answer is that it would probably be a good idea to check for reviews before buying anything since the market’s still relatively young.
The drive in the enclosure is the most obvious limit and that’s something which may not be advertised much - as pointed out earlier, those small laptop drives are more conveniently sized and quiet but you pay for that with speed.
The interface card and the enclosure controller may be another concern - I may be a bit cynical but I’d be surprised if we didn’t see a repeat of the firewire situation a few years ago where some manufacturers were selling products which significantly underperformed the rest of the market. If you’ve ever looked for a firewire drive enclosure, most of them make a big point of mentioning the “Oxford 911” chipset - that was one of the first available where the chipset wasn’t going to be the limiting factor.
You’ll almost certainly need a USB 2.0 card. Unless price is a major concern, I’d maximize compatibility by picking up one of those USB 2.0 / firewire cards since that’s what most digital camcorders use and the firewire drive market seems to be more mature. Plus, since it seems like Firewire tends to be faster, that gives you the ability to compare both.
Finally, if you don’t have the latest drivers and, frequently, the latest operating system, this may not matter. Windows 2k/XP tend to post signifcantly better transfer rates than Windows 98/ME.
Yeah, they are pretty fast, but it depends on your computer setup/OS.
You can if you want, use your own HD & buy an external FW or USB2.0 enclosure for it from ebay.com or computergeeks.com That way you can put any size HD you want in it, cool, huh?