USB 2.0 ... How do you know?

[Research]

I was wondering if you can tell whether a device, cable etc. is 'working' as usb 2.0 or not.

I just happened to transfer pictures from my 128 mb memory stick using a usb 2.0 memory stick reader. The total process took around 2 minutes. If it's usb 2, shouldn't it take 128 MB/440 MBps = 0.3 seconds approximately?

Even if we consider the 'slowness' of the memory stick ... the 2 minutes thing kind of seems hig. Is there a testing software which can tell us which ports are really working as usb 2?

 

[Anubis]

i can just tell you that was not usb 2 speeds, I can dump a 512 card in about 2 min running USB 2

 

[Steve]

Look in your Device Manager. Change View to Devices By Connection. Look for your USB controllers. Whichever is called "Enhanced" or something similar is 2.0, and you can see what devices are connected to it.

 

[LTC8K6]

How fast is your memory stick, though?

Probably slower than even USB1.1 speeds.

 

[tiap]

LTC8K6 is right. They usually just really mean thay are usb2 compatable. Most cameras and sticks won't transfer at 480

 

[Research]

Thanks a lot .. I did check the device manager and the memory stick reader seems to be connected to some Intel enhanced controller -> and the .. usb 2.0 hub.

This makes me believe that my memory stick ... (an old Lexar) might be the culprit. Do you agree?

 

[Cerb]

1. 480Mbps is total bandwidth. USB is made as a cheap solution for everything. For large amounts of data, it's just slow, no matter how you go about it. The best you can do is around 27MB/s, from an external USB HD to a good (in the case I've used, SiS 748 chipset) host controller.
2. Flash memory isn't speedy. Typically tops out aorund 6MB/s (some newer ones are allegedly doing better, but I don't know myself). If it's making around that, USB 2 is working fine--USB 1 tops out around 1.5MB/s.

 

[Research]

Thanks Cerb ..


I ran some quick experiments and found outh that my transfer speed is around 1.5 Mbs per second ... no matter how much data I tranfer from my memory stick to my computer through the new so-called usb 2.0 compliant memory stick reader. WHat do you guys think .. what's going on?

 

[Sid59]

i have a question ...

i just bought a Sandisk Cruzer Micro 256 and it's slower than my Ritek thumbdrive.

I positively know my ports are USB2.0 because my Ritek copies data lightning fast. Is there a way to verify if my Cruzer isn't performing 2.0 speeds?

 

[LTC8K6]

I just ran HD Tach on a 64MB Sony memstick on a USB2.0 port. Got around 1.1Mb/sec. average.

An external HD on the same port got 16Mb/sec. average.

 

[tiap]

Hey Cerb
Just for the fun of it check the itunes speed test site for downloading to an ipod over usb2 Most everyone tests at over 95 as did a friend of mine with onboard usb2 on a tyan mb. Didn't keep track of the stats to calculate personally

 

[LTC8K6]

256MB Lexar 12X CF card gets 3.5MB/Sec.

 

[LTC8K6]

Memory sticks are just slow. I don't know if the Pro ones are any faster.

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
256MB Lexar 12X CF card gets 3.5MB/Sec.

The two I've dealt with were a Lexar and Viking. Same exact thing aside from capcity. Don't recall the 512MB, but the 256 got about 6MB/s (rounded up).
Also, in my research on enclosures, I've found a lot of difference in transfer rates with host controllers. Intel, AMD, and SiS chipsets seem to get what is advertised for HDs--25-30MB/s, with VIA (mobo, not discrete) and NVidia not faring so well (15-22MB/s typically). Who knows? It could go to all transfer devices--and who knows what's on the cards and such?
Still, 3.5MB/s is more than USB 1 can offer, so it's good . And they are handy little gadgets!
One thing to remember is that USB is designed to work for everything and be everywhere--to be everywhere, it needs to be cheap to do...which means it can't do it extremely well. USB vs. Firewire = IDE vs. SCSI.

 

[Chaotic42]

With my scanner:

300MB image in two minutes vs about thirty.

 

[wfbberzerker]

dont forget, that "theoretical" bandwidth of 480mbps is Mb(megabits) not MB(megabytes), which equates to only 60MBbps. and thats theoretical - you're always going to be limited by the read/write speeds on both ends.