USB 3.0 to SATA cable/ Transfer speed ?

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oakmead

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I have an old pc with a 80gb hard drive that I want to backup/copy to a USB 3.0 external hard drive; that I'm yet to buy.

My old pc only has USB 2.0 and SATA1.

Would it be possible and worth considering the use of a USB 3.0 to SATA adapter cable to transfer the data to the new external hard drive ?

I'm assuming the transfer speed of USB 3.0 via a SATA adapter cable will be much faster than using the pc's USB 2.0 port.
 
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popatim
Sata would be faster than USB2 but that doesnt make the drive run/transfer any faster.
Most of the 80gb 7200rpms peaked at about 60mb/s and dropped down the 40's range. Thats as fast as the drive will go no matter what you do or put it in so if you want to spend 20-30 bucks to save you 10 minutes* be my guest.


*estimate based on 70GB of data at 50MB/s over sata vs 35MB/s over usb2
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popatim

Titan
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nope, you cant exceed the native speed of the drive. Your old 80g'er isnt fast enough to warrant usb3 IMO, You dont say which model but it could be as low as 25MB/s (2.5") or as high as ~60MB/s (3.5" 7200rpm) but expect to see around 40 overall, which barely saturates usb2
 
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oakmead

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Thanks for the thorough and prompt response.

My current HD is an IDE 3.5" and bought roughly 6 years ago but I've no idea of its speed (rpm).


So, are you saying that the speed of my existing HD will restrict the transfer rate regardless of the connection used and USB 2.0 is my best and only option ?

I believed the SATA connection would be faster than USB 2.0.

 I also believed that rather than connect the new USB 3.0 ext HD via a USB port, it would be possible to use a SATA connection and WinXP would auto detect.
 
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popatim

popatim

Titan
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Dec 2, 2009
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980
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Sata would be faster than USB2 but that doesnt make the drive run/transfer any faster.
Most of the 80gb 7200rpms peaked at about 60mb/s and dropped down the 40's range. Thats as fast as the drive will go no matter what you do or put it in so if you want to spend 20-30 bucks to save you 10 minutes* be my guest.


*estimate based on 70GB of data at 50MB/s over sata vs 35MB/s over usb2
 
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oakmead

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I certainly wasn't planning to spend 30 bucks for a USB to SATA adapter to save 10 minutes.

I believed it was a matter of using a $8 connector cable.

I didn't realise there's only a difference of 10 minutes between the SATA & USB 2.0 file transfer rate.


Also, I was'nt trying to justify my theory by my additional answers or questions.
 
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