USB2 VS SATA for file storage

[FnTm]

Hi!

So my question is this:

I've scouted some really good prices for 2 different HDD's.

WESTERN DIGITAL ELEMENTS 500GB USB2.0 7200RPM 8MB

and

SAMSUNG F1 750GB 3.5\" SATA2 7200RPM 32MB HD753LJ

I will use them mainly for data storage. Will the difference be big in performance? Or is it not important for this kind of a task?

I of course understand, that the External one will offer much more freedom, but will it work as good as the internal one while connected to pc?

 

[rozar]

Any device connected to USB 2.0 will be limited by the speed of a USB 2.0 port which is around 34-36MB a second. (its rated at 480mbps but Ihave never seen it) So its not the speed of the drive that would matter in this case. If you took the same drive and plugged it into a SATA port of course it would likely be much faster.

 

[X5-769]

The only difference i can think of is the transfer speed. I myself have 3 external HDD's because i had no room for internal HDD's in my previous system. I would advise you to go with the internal HDD since it's faster and bigger for roughly the same money. If i could do it all over i would have never got these external HDD's because there slow and they make a lot more noise than an internal HDD does. (for reference i have a lacie brick, lacie porsche and a lacie big disk D2).

 

[rozar]

Another thought if you want external, use eSATA if you can. I have a 750GB eSATA drive and it is faster than USB for sure and I get the benefit of it being portable. It also has a USB 2.0 connector for other systems if necessary.

 

[X5-769]

+1 on the eSATA. Only thing is that your MB needs to have eSATA support (connectors). But you can use the USB on other systems like rozar said. The external drives i mentioned were USB and there slow as hell especially when you are transferring big loads of data like i do. I use my external drives for backup by the way so i don't you them very often