USB 3.0 Advice Needed

livEwirE

Hi all,

Is anyone using a usb 3.0 pci/pci-e(2.0) card at the moment in a desktop with a usb 3.0 2.5" hard disk? I am wondering if its worth getting both the card and drive for my pc which only has usb 2.0 on the board. I move a lot of data from USB drives back and forth from my pc, usually 50-100gb's at a time. Is performance really that much better over usb 2.0?

I have been looking at this card, any opinions welcome

Transcend PCI Express Interface USB 3.0 Dual Expansion Card
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transcend-Express-Interface-Dual-Expansion/dp/B003MVJG8Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288192114&sr=8-1


Can anyone find a 2.5" usb 3.0 hard disk enclosure on amazon, I couldn't! Anyone have recommendations for usb 3.0 enclosures not including the actual hard disks, as I have plenty of those?

Cheers in advance:D

Monotype

Are you not considering eSATA because you'd need a power cable?
eSATA enclosures are widely available and would give you the same speed increase as you'd see with USB 3.

livEwirE

No mate, USB 3.0 is what I am looking for. When you say I'd need a power cable, what exactly do you mean Where would this be used? I have used many usb 2.0 enclosures over the years and one usb cable usually does the job. It seems not many people have USB 3.0 enclosures so it is very hard to get information on them:(

Dravokivich

i think he means the usb card will also require power like a hdd \ optical drive.

VenomIreland

Let me clear up some confusion.

A 2.5 inch HDD in a USB 3.0 enclosure will not require external power.
A 3.5 inch HDD in a USB 3.0 enclosure WILL require external power.

Monotype

What I meant was that you'd need a power cable if you used eSATA, which would be as fast as USB 3 (as in as fast as you'd see given current drive speeds).

Some of them can get their power from USB.
http://www.dabs.ie/products/akasa-elite-2-5--esata-usb-black-leather-finish-enclosure-for-sata-hdd-ssd-5DDJ.html

So, as far as I know, you could get the speeds of eSATA, but you still need to plug it into a USB port or plug it in to a wall socket.

To answer the original question:
USB 3 is still very new. It's only recently appearing on motherboards. Don't buy an expansion card until you can find an enclosure, but if you're getting a new PC, it's worth having USB 3 included.
eSATA is still an excellent (and available) alternative and will offer a noticable increase if your drives are fast.

Edit: Looking at the akasa site for more details, I saw that they have a USB 3 enclosure listed. So maybe in another month or so...?

seraphimvc

the problem with usb 3.0 tho, is that you will want a 10k rpm sata hdiskto take full advantage of usb3.0.

livEwirE

@ VenomIreland, clears for clarifying, its as I thought, A 2.5 inch HDD in a USB 3.0 enclosure will not require external power. This is the solution I am looking for:D

@ Monotype, I've already been down the esata road mate. I am specifically looking at USB 3.0 right now. There no funds to get myself a new pc:( so the expansion card is the way to go.

I've seen some usb 3.0 drive enclosures here and am very tempted!

I've gotta say I'm stunned very few people on boards are not using some kind of usb 3.0 enclosure/hard disk at this stage:eek:

Monotype

It's a recession! People don't have the money for these luxuries.

As good as dealextreme is for many things, I would would not trust my data with their products - at least until usb 3 is more established. There were a lot of USB 1.1 cables around claimiing to be USB 2 when USB 2 came out.

BTW, you can get expansion cards for eSATA too (or even adapters).

IMO wait a bit until it's widely available (i.e., 2-3 months?).

livEwirE

@ Monotype, LOL, maybe you're are right about the recession:) I might hold off for a while until someone like amazon finally starts stocking USB 3.0 drive enclosures.

marco_polo

seraphimvc wrote: »

the problem with usb 3.0 tho, is that you will want a 10k rpm sata hdiskto take full advantage of usb3.0.

Perhaps for maximum advantage, however USB 2 such a bottleneck that no matter what your disks RPM are it will bring a huge improvement in transfer speeds .

Getting 10K disks on top of that is just being greedy.

seraphimvc

marco_polo wrote: »

Perhaps for maximum advantage, however USB 2 such a bottleneck that no matter what your disks RPM are it will bring a huge improvement in transfer speeds .

Getting 10K disks on top of that is just being greedy.

true:P i just thought a 5k rpm 2.5'' hdd is not worthy the hassle.