Hardware Why you should insist on USB 3

Ignore the USB 2 hard disk bargains - go for USB 3 instead

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2012/03/21/why-you-should-insist-on-usb-3/1

 

How about eSATA? I for one have an eSATA dock (has usb2 as well) and the necessary port is found on most machines. Since the disk is attached directly to the chipset, its basically running as fast as it will ever run.

 

To be honest, I've never really bothered with external hard disks. I've always preferred an internal disk, even for backup purposes. I don't really share files large enough to warrant a USB hard drive; a flash drive has always sufficed.

USB3 is far better, but USB2 is so ubiquitous that it'll take an awful long time for people to switch.

And by the way...

That should be: a huge boost over their USB 2 counterparts, which can barely manage 20MB/sec

You're and your - learn the difference! *wanders off somewhere to seethe with rage*

 

Sorry, don't mean to be picky!

 

I find it perfectly fine on the laptops with integrated esata/USB combo ports. If anything, I find them too stiff and unwilling to come out... I personally doubt I'll be abandoning eSATA in the near o medium future, especially since you can happily get SATA to eSATA cables and with some help from a PSU with power, easily bypass the dock completely.

 

There's not many devices out there that are USB 3

 

I have found that most retailers have completely phased out their stock of USB 2 external HDDs. There are still quite a few USB 2 flash drives though.

 

I'm the old guy here (can remember CP/M) and I think usb is one of the GREAT pc innovations. Faster, more power, and backwards compatible - what's not to like? Can't wait for the increase in true usb 3 peripherals though, so where are the HD webcams? The quad tuner DVB-T HD sticks? It's not just about hard drives...

 

I recently built an HTPC which happened to have USB 3 on the motherboard and I also picked up an external 2Tb drive for my media because the htpc is offline. It allows me to rip/download on my main pc and transfer the content more easily. I have to say that transferring to the htpc is much quicker than transferring from my USB 2 PC. My only gripe is that the external drive's USB cable has a weird non standard looking connector at the end going into the drive. If all the manufacturers are using that connector then that's fine, but if not that will put me off USB 3. I'm not a fan of proprietary connectors at all - there is no need for it.

 

I only transfer files to a back up once in a while, so the speed really doesn't make much difference to me. I do like the idea of increased power though, the more I can plug in without using external power the better.

 

It's a shame Apple haven't adopted USB 3 or... it's a shame the PC world hasn't jumped on Thunderbolt.

Even though Thunderbolt is the better tech (IMO) I don't mind which gets adopted as the new standard as long as one of them does!

Thunderbolt has the edge because it's based on PCIe and therefore allows use the use of external PCIe devices in an enclosure. It also carries video, eight channel audio and will allow connections over extreme distances (Using 'smart' cables of extreme price!)

 

The slow take up is likely related more to the slow take up from chipsets on motherboards. Even Z77 isn't all USB 3 ports, its mostly USB2 with 4 USB 3 ports thrown in. The X78 motherboards all added USB3 ports with external controllers, but often those don't perform as well as Intel's chipset controller.

This revision in the specification seems to be quite costly to the chipset and motherboard manufacturers. They are trying to provide ports without replacing all the USB 2 ports. USB is a great advance from all the different ports we had for different devices and its made many things much easier. But has this step finally broken the economic model under which the ports are produced and now we are in real danger of getting stuck?

 

USB 3.0 is faster than eSATA in every test you care to mention. That said, people just don't CARE about the increase as it is to the consumer every bit as the same as USB 2.0. The jump from USB 1.0 was much more significant. Much like every thing in the industry right now, it's just a stepping stone.

 

Nice sound-bite but not entirely accurate. There's very much mixed results when comparing eSATA to USB 3.0

EG: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqlqCoQMLsQ

EDIT:

Old link, but bit-tech also said that eSATA was faster

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2010/02/08/benchmarks-show-esata-still-king/1

But at the end of the day it doesn't make much of a difference, they are so close to each other I'd wager that differences are more of an issue with drives, caching, chipsets and drivers than which interface is actually faster.

If you want to argue over which interface is faster then you have to go with Thunderbolt!

 

Is it? Oh well, I'm not switching anytime soon, since on a desktop I just plug in drives directly. Needless t say, I have/need no external enclosures.

 

Oh don't get me wrong, I have an E-SATA dock and E-SATA hdd. No USB 3.0 devices at all currently.


@ Guinevere, at which point in that video should I start caring? His voice is annoying me and I have work to do That article is pretty old, controllers have come a way since then

 

Manufacturers need to phase out USB 2.0, saturate the motherboards with USB 3.0 connectors, make it impossible not to use USB 3.0.

As soon as this happens people will start adopting the devices.

Before mechanical storage had its massive price hike i got a WD Elements SE Portable 750 GB USB 3.0 for £48!

The crazy thing was it was priced a good £10-15 under its USB 2.0 counterpart at the same capacity!

 

Using a USB3 2.5" external caddy I am able to write to a 640GB 5400rpm drive at around 70-80MB/s.

http://www.everythingusb.com/targus-usb-3.0-dual-video-adapter-21477.html - interesting.