USB 2.0 Transfer Issues with Vista & External Drive

Guest, which answer was the most helpful?

If any of these replies answered your question, please take a moment to click the 'Mark as solution' button on the post with the best answer.
Marking posts as the solution will help other community members find answers to their questions quickly. Thank you for your help!

Posted July 4, 200717 yr

I just purchased a Seagate FreeAgent external hard drive with USB 2.0. When

I hook it up to my system (nvidia 680sli motherboard) the transfer speed is

only 28.5-29 MBs. The documentation that comes with the external drive says

that USB 2.0 can transfer at a rate of 400 MBs.

Why the extreme discrepency between what is written on the docs and actual

use with Vista Ultimate? My machine has 4GB of RAM, a 2.4 GHz dual core

processor, so it is fast enuf. Anyone have an explanation?

Thanks

Quote

Mark as Solution

July 5, 200717 yr

Remember that transfer rates depend on the entire path of transfer. Disk

access time, bus speeds etc. The intent of USB 2.0 is not to be the limiting

factor.

Paul

"Fyvush Finkel" wrote:

> I just purchased a Seagate FreeAgent external hard drive with USB 2.0. When

> I hook it up to my system (nvidia 680sli motherboard) the transfer speed is

> only 28.5-29 MBs. The documentation that comes with the external drive says

> that USB 2.0 can transfer at a rate of 400 MBs.

> Why the extreme discrepency between what is written on the docs and actual

> use with Vista Ultimate? My machine has 4GB of RAM, a 2.4 GHz dual core

> processor, so it is fast enuf. Anyone have an explanation?

> Thanks

Quote

Mark as Solution

July 5, 200717 yr

The motheboard has an 800MHz FSB. The SATA drives have at least a 100MBs

transfer rate and the bus is extremly fast. I can't believe they are

restricted to 29MBs when data from the SATA drives transfer across the same

bus at many times the speed of the USB device. What else could be the

problem?

"PaulB" wrote in message

news:AD28060C-8B38-4BB0-ACF1-AA7B2B7BBDC9@microsoft.com...

> Remember that transfer rates depend on the entire path of transfer. Disk

> access time, bus speeds etc. The intent of USB 2.0 is not to be the

> limiting

> factor.

> --

> Paul

> "Fyvush Finkel" wrote:

>> I just purchased a Seagate FreeAgent external hard drive with USB 2.0.

>> When

>> I hook it up to my system (nvidia 680sli motherboard) the transfer speed

>> is

>> only 28.5-29 MBs. The documentation that comes with the external drive

>> says

>> that USB 2.0 can transfer at a rate of 400 MBs.

>> Why the extreme discrepency between what is written on the docs and

>> actual

>> use with Vista Ultimate? My machine has 4GB of RAM, a 2.4 GHz dual core

>> processor, so it is fast enuf. Anyone have an explanation?

>> Thanks

Quote

Mark as Solution

July 5, 200717 yr

USB external drives will likely never exceed a sustained throughput

beyond 30.0 Megabytes per second. Note the 480 Mega is rated

in "Bits" not Bytes. For true external performance similar to internal

drives you'd need to use an External or eSATA drive. External USB

drives are convenient, but not known for their speed.

"Fyvush Finkel" <fyvush@imdbhost.com> wrote in message

news:u0J3bGqvHHA.4528@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

> The motheboard has an 800MHz FSB. The SATA drives have at least a 100MBs

> transfer rate and the bus is extremly fast. I can't believe they are

> restricted to 29MBs when data from the SATA drives transfer across the

> same bus at many times the speed of the USB device. What else could be

> the problem?

> "PaulB" wrote in message

> news:AD28060C-8B38-4BB0-ACF1-AA7B2B7BBDC9@microsoft.com...

>> Remember that transfer rates depend on the entire path of transfer. Disk

>> access time, bus speeds etc. The intent of USB 2.0 is not to be the

>> limiting

>> factor.

>> --

>> Paul

>> "Fyvush Finkel" wrote:

>>> I just purchased a Seagate FreeAgent external hard drive with USB 2.0.

>>> When

>>> I hook it up to my system (nvidia 680sli motherboard) the transfer speed

>>> is

>>> only 28.5-29 MBs. The documentation that comes with the external drive

>>> says

>>> that USB 2.0 can transfer at a rate of 400 MBs.

>>>

>>> Why the extreme discrepency between what is written on the docs and

>>> actual

>>> use with Vista Ultimate? My machine has 4GB of RAM, a 2.4 GHz dual

>>> core

>>> processor, so it is fast enuf. Anyone have an explanation?

>>>

>>> Thanks

>>>

Quote

Mark as Solution

July 5, 200717 yr

Thanks for the clarification. That makes more sense and I now I think I'll

return it for an eSATA drive. One question. How would I connect the eSATA

drive to the system?

"R. McCarty" wrote in message

news:edmLQPqvHHA.784@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

> USB external drives will likely never exceed a sustained throughput

> beyond 30.0 Megabytes per second. Note the 480 Mega is rated

> in "Bits" not Bytes. For true external performance similar to internal

> drives you'd need to use an External or eSATA drive. External USB

> drives are convenient, but not known for their speed.

> "Fyvush Finkel" <fyvush@imdbhost.com> wrote in message

> news:u0J3bGqvHHA.4528@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

>> The motheboard has an 800MHz FSB. The SATA drives have at least a 100MBs

>> transfer rate and the bus is extremly fast. I can't believe they are

>> restricted to 29MBs when data from the SATA drives transfer across the

>> same bus at many times the speed of the USB device. What else could be

>> the problem?

>> "PaulB" wrote in message

>> news:AD28060C-8B38-4BB0-ACF1-AA7B2B7BBDC9@microsoft.com...

>>> Remember that transfer rates depend on the entire path of transfer. Disk

>>> access time, bus speeds etc. The intent of USB 2.0 is not to be the

>>> limiting

>>> factor.

>>> --

>>> Paul

>>>

>>> "Fyvush Finkel" wrote:

>>>

>>>> I just purchased a Seagate FreeAgent external hard drive with USB 2.0.

>>>> When

>>>> I hook it up to my system (nvidia 680sli motherboard) the transfer

>>>> speed is

>>>> only 28.5-29 MBs. The documentation that comes with the external drive

>>>> says

>>>> that USB 2.0 can transfer at a rate of 400 MBs.

>>>>

>>>> Why the extreme discrepency between what is written on the docs and

>>>> actual

>>>> use with Vista Ultimate? My machine has 4GB of RAM, a 2.4 GHz dual

>>>> core

>>>> processor, so it is fast enuf. Anyone have an explanation?

>>>>

>>>> Thanks

>>>>

Quote

Mark as Solution

July 5, 200717 yr

I use an AcomData kit. It comes with a PCI card, External drive

(WDC 250-Gigabyte) and a cable. Because it's served from the

PCI bus it's speed gets caped at around 65 Megabytes a second.

I bought my kit from CompUSA, but they've closed or are closing

a large number of their stores.

Here's a link to the manufacturer's product page:

http://www.acomdata.com/hdp/fs.html

There are all kinds of other solutions, Tiger Direct has an Outlet

store where I live and they sell SATA-II expansion cards and

enclosures that you can build your own kit. ( Picking the drive to

use with it.) Many new motherboards come with a eSATA socket

on the pack panel to use an external drive.

"Fyvush Finkel" <fyvush@imdbhost.com> wrote in message

news:ujrNcZqvHHA.3524@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

> Thanks for the clarification. That makes more sense and I now I think

> I'll return it for an eSATA drive. One question. How would I connect the

> eSATA drive to the system?

> "R. McCarty" wrote in message

> news:edmLQPqvHHA.784@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

>> USB external drives will likely never exceed a sustained throughput

>> beyond 30.0 Megabytes per second. Note the 480 Mega is rated

>> in "Bits" not Bytes. For true external performance similar to internal

>> drives you'd need to use an External or eSATA drive. External USB

>> drives are convenient, but not known for their speed.

>> "Fyvush Finkel" <fyvush@imdbhost.com> wrote in message

>> news:u0J3bGqvHHA.4528@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

>>> The motheboard has an 800MHz FSB. The SATA drives have at least a

>>> 100MBs transfer rate and the bus is extremly fast. I can't believe they

>>> are restricted to 29MBs when data from the SATA drives transfer across

>>> the same bus at many times the speed of the USB device. What else could

>>> be the problem?

>>>

>>> "PaulB" wrote in message

>>> news:AD28060C-8B38-4BB0-ACF1-AA7B2B7BBDC9@microsoft.com...

>>>> Remember that transfer rates depend on the entire path of transfer.

>>>> Disk

>>>> access time, bus speeds etc. The intent of USB 2.0 is not to be the

>>>> limiting

>>>> factor.

>>>> --

>>>> Paul

>>>>

>>>> "Fyvush Finkel" wrote:

>>>>

>>>>> I just purchased a Seagate FreeAgent external hard drive with USB 2.0.

>>>>> When

>>>>> I hook it up to my system (nvidia 680sli motherboard) the transfer

>>>>> speed is

>>>>> only 28.5-29 MBs. The documentation that comes with the external

>>>>> drive says

>>>>> that USB 2.0 can transfer at a rate of 400 MBs.

>>>>>

>>>>> Why the extreme discrepency between what is written on the docs and

>>>>> actual

>>>>> use with Vista Ultimate? My machine has 4GB of RAM, a 2.4 GHz dual

>>>>> core

>>>>> processor, so it is fast enuf. Anyone have an explanation?

>>>>>

>>>>> Thanks

>>>>>

>>>

Quote

Mark as Solution

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

https://freepchelp.forum/topic/3467-usb-20-transfer-issues-with-vista-external-drive/

Followers

Go to topic listing

Sign In

USB 2.0 Transfer Issues with Vista & External Drive

Guest, which answer was the most helpful?

Featured Replies

Join the conversation

Account

Navigation

Search