Transfer Time for USB and SATA Drives

[johnnymk]

I have transferred data from USB 2.0 to USB 2.0, USB2.0 to internal SATA and internal SATA to internal SATA.

Fpr 365 GB, the first method took approx. 7 hours, the second 4-1/2 hours and the last took 2 hours and 10 minutes.

I am truly amazed at the difference!!

[Hoser]

External firewire drives would be faster than USB 2.0 drives.

[ray]

i've also found the transfer rates on built-in SD card readers is pretty fast...especially when i am transferring a full 8GB card.

[johnnymk]

External firewire drives would be faster than USB 2.0 drives.

Firewire 400 is only slightly faster than USB 2.0

[nate el bueno]

I believe USB 3.0 is coming out very soon if it's not already out

[InfiniteNothing]

Firewire 400 is only slightly faster than USB 2.0

In theory, it should be 400mbps which is ~50 MB/s maybe a bit of overhead so 40MB/s or about 2.5hours for 365 GB. I think going from FW to FW drive should half the bandwidth of each so 5 hours FW drive to FW drive.

Of course, it all depends on what your sending, fragmentation, the speed of the drives themselves, and the operating system

[Airencracken]

Why not go external SATA? That'd probably be your fastest bet, that or Firewire 800. Too bad really that firewire never gained more adoption, it's a better choice for this sort of thing. USB has too much overhead.

[johnnymk]

Most external hard drives charge more for eSATA, plus the computer requires an external SATA connection. For a one time copy for my data, it's not worth the price or the time configuring everything.

[Airencracken]

Ah, well, I can't imagine an esata card is too expensive, nor the drive that more expensive. I didn't know it was a one time deal though. If it were a drive I used regularly, it would be worth the expense I think.