Speed of DVD/BD/USB2.0 comparison?

[mingsoup]

How do you compute the speeds of say an "8x" DVD or "2x" BD drive and then say compare it to the speed of USB 2.0? to the speed of a 5400RPM hard drive in a USB 2.0 enclosure.

I am assuming that all hard drives 5000rpm and up, easily exceed the speed of the USB 2.0 cable. I've never understood the 8x/2x media drive specifications or how they relate to actual hard disk/ USB speeds.

Thanks.

 

[fuzzymath10]

Just checked online:

1x CD ~150KB/sec
1x DVD ~1.3MB/sec
1x BD ~4MB/sec

I never get more than around 10-15MB/sec with optical drives on any interface so USB 2.0 is probably fine.

 

[mingsoup]

I guess I could check online too. :\

USB 2.0 is rated at 480 mbps (57.2 MB/s).

I checked a 5400 "Green" drive, which would probably have one of the slower sustained read speeds. It was spec'ed at 110 MB/s.

Thus it doesn't matter what you do to your SATA hard drive.....you are always gonna saturate the USB 2.0 cable.

Also USB 2.0 will always be faster than a 12X DVD drive.
It will also be faster than a BD drive. For example....a 2x BD is only ~9MB/s. Thus still slower than USB 2.0.

The end.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I had an external 16X DVD drive, that in several powerful machines with USB2.0, it would only burn/read at up to 4X.

 

[tweakboy]

Well USB 2.0 for a burner is fine. But USB 2.0 as a external hard drive is horribly slow. This is why you get a eSATA external drive.

It took 40 minutes to create a image of my drive on external with eSATA cable. I tried the USB 2.0 cable and same thing took about 4 and a half hours.

People look at the size of a external wow 1TB or 2TB USB drive for good price and get happy and get it not realizing its gonna perform horribly and probably doesnt have a off button.

firewire is slow too, your hindering performance.. eSATA will be same speed as your internal drive about.... Thanks gg and gb

 

[Soundmanred]

I had an external 16X DVD drive, that in several powerful machines with USB2.0, it would only burn/read at up to 4X.

Must have been the enclosure or drive. I use a USB2.0 burner exclusively and it hits AT LEAST 12x when burning.