Laptop native USB3 Ports -- any good or just a gimmick

Hi there

It's good to see Laptops now being fitted with at least one Native USB3 port (usually coloured BLUE). Unfortunately the only way I can try these is to use the self powered USB3 passport type devices and while my laptop has a decent Samsung 840 256GB SSD data transfer to / from the external USB3 HDD is only around 30 - 35 mbs at max -- should be a lot higher. A USB2 device gives me up to around 20 - 25 mps -- so while there IS improvement it's nothing like the speed I would have expected.

What are the large powered 3 / 4TB USB3 devices like when connected to a USB3 port both on a Laptop and a desktop. Hopefully they should perform much more near the proper USB3 rated speed.

Anybody got some typical results.

Cheers
jimbo

I don't have access to the USB 3 cards and docking stations I used to have. On my desktop machines with SIIG USB 3 card and dock a 640 GB WD black typically benched at over 130 MB/s seq read and seq write in the 120s. My ADATA S102 USB 3 stick gets seq read about 65 MB/s and seq write of 38 MB/s on my Laptop. I seem to remember it getting seq write of about 35 MB/s when coping a GB file onto it from my desktop.

If you do a benchmark of your Laptop HD then it stands to reason it cannot feed the USB stick faster than it can read itself. The ADATA is not a very fast stick but I bought it for "bang per buck" value. I got an SSD and put it in my USB 3 dock. The seq read and write numbers were only maybe 20% faster than a WD 1 GB Black HD in the same dock. But of course the random read/write numbers kicked ass. They were almost as fast as seq for 512 KB random benchmarks. Great for video muxing.

I have limited hw to try but my feeling at least for Toshiba Satellite Laptop is that the HD limits it more than the USB 3. If someone has a Laptop with SSD maybe they will share their numbers.

Edit: I would say I'm not sure how good USB 3 is on my Laptop. But it's definitely not a gimmick. The same USB 3 stick in a USB 2 port gets about 24 MB/s seq write.

Jimbo,

Just tested tonight for you. I have a WD Elements 1TB portal hard drive. Part # is WDBPCK0010BBK-03. WD Elements SE 1TB USB 3.0 2.5" Portable Hard Drive WDBPCK0010BBK-NESN - Newegg.com
It's a 2.5" hard drive that powers off the USB 3.0 port.

I tested on my Dell Latitude E6430u. It has 3 Native USB 3.0 ports. My internal hard drive is a LiteOnIT-LMT256GB SSD. My laptop is running Windows 8.1 with update1.

I copied a file that is 7,553,744,896 bytes, and the copy finished in 72.288 seconds which works out to 104,495,142 bytes per second. So, I'm cranking at over 100MB/sec from my native USB 3.0 ports.

Just to be sure, you are using a USB 3.0 Cable, right? Should look like this;

Any chance you can test that external HDD all by itself, without going thru USB, directly on a computer ?. That would give you a benchmark to compare. I tried few USB3 memory sticks and some of them were actually faster on USB2. So much for marketing.

pparks1 said:

Jimbo,

Just tested tonight for you. I have a WD Elements 1TB portal hard drive. Part # is WDBPCK0010BBK-03. WD Elements SE 1TB USB 3.0 2.5" Portable Hard Drive WDBPCK0010BBK-NESN - Newegg.com
It's a 2.5" hard drive that powers off the USB 3.0 port.

I tested on my Dell Latitude E6430u. It has 3 Native USB 3.0 ports. My internal hard drive is a LiteOnIT-LMT256GB SSD. My laptop is running Windows 8.1 with update1.

I copied a file that is 7,553,744,896 bytes, and the copy finished in 72.288 seconds which works out to 104,495,142 bytes per second. So, I'm cranking at over 100MB/sec from my native USB 3.0 ports.

Just to be sure, you are using a USB 3.0 Cable, right? Should look like this;
View attachment 46041

Click to expand...

Hi there
Funny you should mention that drive -- I've ordered one to use with my docking station with the Surface Pro 3 I'm expecting today -- every time I hear a vehicle I'm looking out of the window to see if it's my Surface Pro delivery -- Can't wait to get hold of it. Will also try the drive too.

Hopefully I can relegate my laptop to just being an "Emergency Spare" once I've tested the surface Pro a bit -- I'll also back up the Surface Pro and install Enterprise on it providing I can extract any required drivers from the PRO edition the device comes pre-installed with.

(Y'ep I do use the proper USB3 cables -- I think those previous USB3 devices which had backwards compatibility with USB2 and were ist gen aren't as good as the newer ones.).


Cheers
jimbo

CountMike said:

Any chance you can test that external HDD all by itself, without going thru USB, directly on a computer ?. That would give you a benchmark to compare. I tried few USB3 memory sticks and some of them were actually faster on USB2. So much for marketing.

Click to expand...

When I look for USB 3 sticks I always read the user reviews. I see that comment often.