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Usb 3.0

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mattpreston11

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 9, 2007
731
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Anyone tested out USB 3.0 on the new MBA v 2.0?

I have a 500gb 2.0 drive but unsure if I should pull the trigger on a 1TB 3.0 drive?

In real world use is it that much faster?

Is a realistic option to run a Win7 VM off?
 
I did a comparative test on my 2012 base 11" MBA by doing consecutive Time Machine backups. The TM data was 48 GB. On my new Seagate USB 3.0 drive, it took 38 minutes to complete the backup. On my Toshiba USB 2.0 drive, it took 49 minutes.

I think because of the TM compression and the tons of small files, the speed wasn't as impressive. I did run a BlackMagic DiskSpeedTest on the 3.0 drive and it got between 80-85 MB/s on both read and write which I think is pretty good.
 
In copying large files, USB 3.0 was about twice as fast as the same drive (WD Passport 2TB) on a USB 2.0 port. Definitely worth it.
 
mattpreston11 said:
Anyone tested out USB 3.0 on the new MBA v 2.0?

I have a 500gb 2.0 drive but unsure if I should pull the trigger on a 1TB 3.0 drive?

In real world use is it that much faster?

Is a realistic option to run a Win7 VM off?
Click to expand...

It depends on the 1TB drive. Is it a 5400 RPM or a 7200 RPM one? is it 2.5" or a 3.5" drive.


A 2.5" 7200 RPM drive is capable of around 70-90 MB/s. A 5400 RPM version will be around 50-60 MB/s, if I recall correctly.
A 3.5 7200 RPM drive is capable of around 140-180 MB/s

USB 2 can transfer data at a maximum rate of 35 MB/s in sequential reads or writes so it's clearly a bottleneck. Using USB 3 will allow the drive to reach its full native speed.

Running windows off a USB 3 mechanical HDD drive will work exactly like it would if the drive was connected internally so it's very realistic. How painful it will be depends entirely on the HDD itself. I can't remember if bootcamp allows you to install Windows to an external drive though.
 
So it would appear upgrading to a 2.5'' USB 3 wont result in a huge gain?
Unless I'm buying a more expensive 7200 drive?

BTW from my understanding Windows can't be run from an external drive in bootcamp, although you can run a Windows VM from an external.
 
theSeb said:
It depends on the 1TB drive. Is it a 5400 RPM or a 7200 RPM one? is it 2.5" or a 3.5" drive.


A 2.5" 7200 RPM drive is capable of around 70-90 MB/s. A 5400 RPM version will be around 50-60 MB/s, if I recall correctly.
A 3.5 7200 RPM drive is capable of around 140-180 MB/s
Click to expand...

Wow, is this true? That's a huge performance bump! I like the Seagate GoFlex 3.0 that I got because it does not require an additional power adapter and is much smaller than the larger drives. But for about double the transfer speed it may be worth considering.
 
dmk1974 said:
Wow, is this true? That's a huge performance bump! I like the Seagate GoFlex 3.0 that I got because it does not require an additional power adapter and is much smaller than the larger drives. But for about double the transfer speed it may be worth considering.
Click to expand...

Yes, it is true, but it all depends on what drive the Seagate GoFlex 3.0 is using. They could be using a cheap slow model or a decent faster model.

----------
mattpreston11 said:
So it would appear upgrading to a 2.5'' USB 3 wont result in a huge gain?
Unless I'm buying a more expensive 7200 drive?

BTW from my understanding Windows can't be run from an external drive in bootcamp, although you can run a Windows VM from an external.
Click to expand...

Oh yes. I haven't considered that option. I normally keep my VMs on the SSD boot drive.
 
glen e said:
So would this make a USB thumb drive faster if you were trying to retrieve a file after plugging it into the 3.0 port
Click to expand...

It depends on the thumb drive. If the drive was a cheap USB 2.0 model and had write/read speeds of 20 MB/s, then it wouldn't make it faster.

My little Samsung M2 Portable 3 is a USB 3 drive. When I connect it to a USB 2 port, then I can copy a large file off it at about 30 MB/s. Using USB 3 I get 78 MB/s, which is the maximum performance this little drive can achieve. USB 3 can obviously send data faster, but the drive itself cannot.

A connection protocol, like USB, is just a road. Some roads are designed to be travelled safely at 200 MPH, but if you tried 200 MPH on a twisty road on the side of a cliff, then things wouldn’t work out so well. By that same token, just because a road is safe for 200 MPH, it does not mean that your Trabant with 30 HP and a 65 MPH top speed can suddenly reach 200 MPH on this amazing autobahn.
 
I got a USB3.0 box and installed an SSD inside. (From a 2010 MBP). The speeds are pretty impressive. Haven't tried it out with a USB2.0 interface though...

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