Dennis, At 10:03 AM 8/9/2004 -0700, you wrote: >copying single files in the 200-600MB range >from local hard disk to USB2 is as fast or faster than >from one partition of the local drive to another via the parallel
Copying from one partition to another on the same drive is notoriously slow... it causes a massive amount of disk thrashing as the head moves back and forth across the partitions moving data from one area of the platters to another. MUCH slower than copying from drive to drive. (parallel) I could well imagine that USB2.0 can keep up with this situation. When I say firewire is fast, I mean it has times comparable to copying from drive to drive on my system, and these drives are modern 120gb fast drives (7200 Rpm) connected to an Adaptec 1200A Raid controller running Raid 0. This effectively makes the drive to drive copy process proceed at about double the speed of a plain-connected drive. I assume that since the external drive is not Raid 0, I'm really only seeing optimal transfer similar to a plain, parallel connection. This is all subjective of course. Again, I have not timed it. I don't actually own an external drive, but I have friends who do and they bring them over and plug them into the firewire port that is built onto my motherboard. We tried the USB2.0 connector one time just for fun (the drives have both, and so does my machine) and the difference was striking. 40 minutes vs several hours. These are Maxtor drives. (There was/is no hub) Note that firewire has a mass storage type just like USB2.0, and so you cannot tell any difference in usage between them. Well, I take that back, I did have to install the Maxtor USB driver to use it with the USB cable, and I did not have to do this with firewire. It got a drive letter immediately. After installing the USB driver, there was no difference in usage. It will be difficult for me to run timings since I don't have one sitting around right now. Frank Gilley Chief Design Engineer Dell-Star Technologies (918) 838-1973 Phone (918) 838-8814 Fax [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.dellstar.com * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To post a message: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * To leave this list visit: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/leave.html * * Contact the list manager: * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Forum Guidelines Rules: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/forumrules.html * * Browse or Search previous postings: * http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
