USB 3.0 Speed?

undies1993 said:

What kind of drive is in the Buffalo Extreme?

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The drive inside Buffalo Extreme is 5400 RPM. Check this review out: http://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/feature-usb-30-1tb-portable-25-inch-hdd-shootout

Btw all WD Portable Drives are 5400 RPM for 2TB and only 5200 RPM for 1TB.

undies1993 said:

I am now getting speeds around 20. Is that because it is filling up?

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No, you are getting the slower speed because the drive is actually connecting at USB 2.0 speeds.

I get about 40mbs on a usb 2.0 connection and 70 on a usb 3.0 connection i think. if its a 5400 drive anyway. the usb 3.0 drives that have the 7200 rpm hard drives are the best. As someone posted like 150 mbs.


these slow drives is the reason why the only thunderbolt device i will buy is one with a ssd. there is no point buying a thunderbolt device with a 5400 or 7200 rpm hard drive in it because the drives themselves cant reach high speeds. Instead of wasting my money on a thunderbolt drive with those drives your essentially better off getting a usb 3.0 drive with a 7200 rpm drive in it. it would be just as fast.

I know thunderbolt wasnt mentioned but it suffers from the same drive dependent speed restrictions.

rookpsu said:

I'm not exactly sure although I saw a review on Amazon where the manufacturer - replying to one disgruntled owner - said that they do exclusively use 7200 RPM drives in the desktop externals.

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with the backup versions of the seagate goflex desktop drives, they often use their 'green' series drives which are the lower power consumption drives. They won't have quite the performance of their main line or enterprise game desktop drives which is why you may see a slightly lower speed with them.

I have a USB3 drive which seems to read/write at 68 MB/s. But the main Fusion dive in my iMac is much faster at 315 write, 415 read. Can I expect more from the USB drive? Wonder if it needs a firmware update?

benjanos said:

I have a USB3 drive which seems to read/write at 68 MB/s. But the main Fusion dive in my iMac is much faster at 315 write, 415 read. Can I expect more from the USB drive? Wonder if it needs a firmware update?

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If it is a normal hard drive hooked up to USB3, then No. The reason your fusion drive appears so fast is because it is reading/writing to the SSD portion of the drive. USB3 is capable of much higher speeds than 68 MB/s transfer, so that is the max speed of your hard drive.

Thx. It's a regular HDD.

Going external, but don't know what to buy...

Hey... I would like to know what thing should I buy; if eSata, usb, fireWire or what? Also, I have to transfer about 20 GB of pictures to another computer. I have FireWire 800, Ethernet and... nothing more. Which one works best for transferring big amount of files?

Thanks,

Ø3

I had poor speeds over USB 3 today, when I first plugged in my Guardian Maximus... 25 r/w avg. I messed around and figured out the plug was not seated in 100%. New machines, new cables...

Now I'm getting nearly 200 r/w

Check your cables

"I have a USB3 drive which seems to read/write at 68 MB/s. But the main Fusion dive in my iMac is much faster at 315 write, 415 read. Can I expect more from the USB drive? Wonder if it needs a firmware update?"

Relevant issues:
- what make/model drive do you have?
- what controller chip is in it?
- are there firmware updates available, and have you installed them?

I have had at least one USB3/SATA dock (Other World Computing) that will NOT connect to my Mac Mini (with USB3) ports except at USB2 speeds. I'm guessing that it's due to a controller chip (in the dock) that is not compatible with the Mac implementation of USB3.

On the other hand, I picked up a Plugable USB3/SATA dock (with an ASMedia 1053 controller) that yields (with an Intel 520 series SSD) write speeds of 247mbps and read speeds of 410mbps.

I'm guessing the problem is with your drive (or dock). Take the SSD out of the drive or dock you're currently using and put it into a drive enclosure (or a dock) that has either an ASMedia 1051e or an ASMedia 1053 controller chip. Then let us know what kind of speeds you're getting….

EDIT -- ah, wrote my reply before I discovered that you're using an ordinary HDD. In that case, the r/w speeds you're getting are to be expected. Actually, they're not that bad at all...

Checkout this: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5172

I was losing my mind as my USB 3.0 WD 1TB external was getting 30 MB/s read/write on the right USB port on my rMBP. After connecting it to the left USB, verifying a read/write of 100 MB/s, and reconnecting it to the right USB port, I was getting the appropriate speeds again. You can also checkout the system report and make sure the device appears under "USB 3.0 SuperSpeed" and not "USB 3.0 Hi-Speed". See screen shots below (both are testing the same external HDD on the right USB port).

If you want reasonable speed out of USB3.0 and not pay too much (and don't want expensive enclosures) run two external USB 3.0 drives that have 7200rpm drives inside through Apple RAID 0 in the OSX Disk utility.

AKA: Apple Software RAID. This is different to a hardware RAID where the enclosure controls the RAID setup.

I run two Seagate 4TB (Backup Plus drives) USB3.0 drives with each plugged into a Kanex USB 3.0 hub (so I only take up one port on the Mac mini. You join them in a RAID 0 stipe array through the Disk Utility to create one drive.

I get 260-280 MB/S read and write from that array, and it is 8TB.

Seagte produces cheap 3TB drives that have 7200rpm Barracudas inside.

Even RAID 0 on 5400's would still be well over 100MB/s

Striping in short allows the OS to send/receive data to two drives instead of one, effectively doubling the write and read speeds.

Yes if one drive fails you lose the data. ANY drive setup is only as good as your backup strategy.

opinio said:

...

Yes if one drive fails you lose the data. ANY drive setup is only as good as your backup strategy.

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RAID levels above 0 don't require going to the backup for a single drive failure.

If you're willing to go that route you better have a very solid strategy.

John Kotches said:

RAID levels above 0 don't require going to the backup for a single drive failure.

If you're willing to go that route you better have a very solid strategy.

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Most RAID arrays are only as good as the controller. If the enclosure or controller fails you're most likely in trouble even if the drives are ok. Although obviously RAID 1 is the easiest to recover. Also you have breakage, children, fire, theft, flood, terrorist act, most natural disasters, force majure and the rest. All levels of RAID require a very solid backup strategy, not just RAID-0.

I'm surprised you're willing to put all your data at risk with a with a potential RAID controller failure.

Wow!

These are my USB 3.0 Speeds I get.

2 by 4TB (8TB) Seagate Backup Plus w/ Barracuda 7200rpm drives inside running through Belkin USB 3.0 cables to a Kanex 4 port USB 3.0 hub set up as RAID-0 through OS X Apple RAID.

233/264 write/read

1 3TB Seagate Backup Plus w/ Barracuda 7200rpm drives inside running through Belkin USB 3.0 cables to a Kanex 4 port USB 3.0 hub (No RAID)

192/201 write/read

And for comparison to the 8TB USB 3.0 RAID:

2 by 4TB (8TB) Barracuda 7200rpm drives running as RAID-0 in an OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual (Oxford 846 chip) through eSata via a Lacie T-Bolt eSata Hub.

221/230 write/read

If I run the Apple RAID setup directly to the Mac mini via two dedicated Belkin cables (not through a Hub) I get a few more MB/s, but the Hub is more convenient for the slight loss in speed.

Couple of point I have noticed:

Quality cables can make a difference. I noticed someone on page 1 on this post is using the identical 3TB drive I have but is getting 25% less in speed to me. The only difference I can see is I have thrown the stock cable and used the belkin ones. Also I tried 3 metre cables and got far far slower speeds. My current cables are these:

http://store.apple.com/au/product/HA942ZM/A/belkin-micro-usb-30-cable-1m

My Kanex hub is this one:

http://www.kanexlive.com/usb3hub4x

Also the Seagate Backup Plus 4TB drive do not all have 7200rpm drive in them now unfortunately. Seagate has started putting 5900rpm 3 platter drives in them I believe (from searching the web). If you want the 7200 you need to make sure the box it comes in is the one with the Win 7 logo on it and you can see a Win 8 sticker has been put over the old Win 7 label on the side. Apparently the 5900rpm drives have a Windows 8 logo and no sticker. In other words you need the slightly older drives.

From what I have seen (buying 4 of them over the last 6 months), the 3TBs are all 7200rpm.

For those with slow speeds, you lose a massive amount of speed by running low rpm (5400) energy saving USB powered portable drives. If you need portable that's fine, but if you want capacity and speed make sure you get 7200rpm drives.

Also as John Kotches said, if you start using RAID-0 you need a backup plan as the drives are pushed to their limits and if one fails the array goes down. You can replace the broken drive but you have to rebuild the array so you lose all data.

Personally though, if i was going to buy a 4TB drive, I would buy 2 by 2TB 7200rpm drives and RAID-0 them. You get 4TB in volume with massive speed. If one of the 2TB drives goes you lose your data but you keep a spare 2TB. If you buy a single 4TB and it goes down, you lose the data and the drive. Obviously you lose the portability with RAID and you take up two ports and potentially a touch more space (unless you stack them).

Anyway, that is my 2c

opinio said:

These are my USB 3.0 Speeds I get.

2 by 4TB (8TB) Seagate Backup Pros w/ Barracuda 7200rpm drives inside running through Belkin USB 3.0 cables to a Kanex 4 port USB 3.0 hub set up as RAID-0 through OS X Apple RAID.

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Can you recommend a good USB 3 RAID0 enclosure for two 2.5 drives. I assume this is not necessary but it'd be nice to carry the drives as a single unit, and probably no need for the hub in that case.

bigcat said:

Can you recommend a good USB 3 RAID0 enclosure for two 2.5 drives. I assume this is not necessary but it'd be nice to carry the drives as a single unit, and probably no need for the hub in that case.

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Assuming they release it next month - looks outstanding - http://www.caldigit.com/VRmini2/

thedeske said:

Assuming they release it next month - looks outstanding - http://www.caldigit.com/VRmini2/

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That looks cool, maybe a bit bulky. But I wasn't very clear in my question; basically what I'd like is a dual-bay USB 3.0 enclosure where I can put two drives I have and run Apple's software raid as opinio mentioned, so the enclosure doesn't really have to have hardware raid built in.

EDIT: well, never mind, that probably doesn't make sense, as the OS would probably see the enclosure as a single drive.

bigcat said:

That looks cool, maybe a bit bulky. But I wasn't very clear in my question; basically what I'd like is a dual-bay USB 3.0 enclosure where I can put two drives I have and run Apple's software raid as opinio mentioned, so the enclosure doesn't really have to have hardware raid built in.

EDIT: well, never mind, that probably doesn't make sense, as the OS would probably see the enclosure as a single drive.

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Plug in 2 drive, USB3 raid over 1 channel in software? Hmm?

2 of these would fit the bill, but ya gotta have 2

http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/miniswap-u3/

thedeske said:

Plug in 2 drive, USB3 raid over 1 channel in software? Hmm?

2 of these would fit the bill, but ya gotta have 2

http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/miniswap-u3/

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Make sure you have 7200 drives inside though.

I use to use scorpio black and now I use HGST 7200s. The scorpio blacks are fast but not the fastest and old tech.

The new sata III HGST 1TB 7200 is the fastest 7200 2.5" I have ever had (in a HDD). I get in the 130MB/s on a single drive setup (I have never run it in RAID).

You can get Hitachi Touro Pro portable drives. They have the HGST 7200 inside. Make sure it is Pro.

http://www.hgst.com/external-drives/mobile/touro-mobile-pro

OWC even buys these portable USB drives just to get the drive from the inside to sell it seperately. You see them selling the 'broken' 2.5" enclosures for $3 now and then.



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bigcat said:

That looks cool, maybe a bit bulky. But I wasn't very clear in my question; basically what I'd like is a dual-bay USB 3.0 enclosure where I can put two drives I have and run Apple's software raid as opinio mentioned, so the enclosure doesn't really have to have hardware raid built in.

EDIT: well, never mind, that probably doesn't make sense, as the OS would probably see the enclosure as a single drive.

Click to expand...

OWC has a Guardian Maximum mini that I am sure can do that. Although it would not be run over 2 USB 3.0 channels, only one.

EDIT: Sorry I just realised the GMAX and OWC equivalent are only USB 2.0.

opinio said:

Make sure you have 7200 drives inside though.

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Agree - 7200s in that UASP enclosure will go fast - SSD even better. Bearfeats did some tests in Raid 0 with a pair. Impressive - http://www.barefeats.com/hard161.html

One of the very few who are not trying to sell you a drive with the case.

thedeske said:

Assuming they release it next month - looks outstanding - http://www.caldigit.com/VRmini2/

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That looks realy nice.

I like the monitoring tools too.

They suggest it has 5400 drives in it though? Meaning it may not come as a 'Drive-free' model

opinio said:

That looks realy nice.

I like the monitoring tools too.

They suggest it has 5400 drives in it though? Meaning it may not come as a 'Drive-free' model

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2 TB is sorta lame though.