usb 1.1 , how to improve speed

[T.N.G.O.G.]

Just a simple question, i am using a external HD, 500GB and i have it hook up to the back of my tower, in one of the USB ports, so i was curious can i improved the HD speed using a 1.1 slot, because this thing is slow, seems even slower then my internal HD.

I have a small mini 2.0 use device, but plugging it up the 1.1. port does not enable 2.0. I also have a PCI 2.0 high speed card, and when hook up to my external HD, the speed is fast, however game performance and overall system performance begans to become bottleneck. Just trying to find a secondary option.

[CoffeeFiend]

seems even slower then my internal HD.

Of course it's slower than your internal HD. USB 1.1 ports are VERY slow. 12Mbps tops, but in practice you get even less. Current SATA drives use a 3Gbps bus, or about 250x faster. Of course the platters aren't that fast, but a modern drive can still push data a LOT faster than a USB bus.

I have a small mini 2.0 use device, but plugging it up the 1.1. port does not enable 2.0.

Nothing will give you 2.0 speeds on a 1.1 port. It's not possible.

I also have a PCI 2.0 high speed card, and when hook up to my external HD, the speed is fast, however game performance and overall system performance begans to become bottleneck.

USB 2.0 ports are a lot faster (480Mbps, 40x faster), but faster transfer speeds mean higher CPU usage.

There is no "fix" here, as there is nothing to fix. USB 1.1 is pathetically slow, and *nothing* will ever make that fast. If USB 2 is too heavy for your CPU, it just means your CPU is very, very slow. Nothing will make faster transfers use less CPU power either. If anything, your fix is a modern CPU.

BTW, USB 3.0 controllers will start being available later this year.

Edited January 2, 2009 by crahak

[T.N.G.O.G.]

Wow, thanks for the indepth information.

Here is what i notice after messing around a bit.

When i plug in my External HD up to the back of my tower , which is 1.1 usb port, game performance and overall system performance gains a boost, no more bottlenecking in games, just overall fast now. However when i plug the device up to the my USB 2.0 PCI card, game performance drops about 60%, and there is major bottlenecking.

So i guess you are right, seems like the 500GB is too much for my USB 2.0 card, but works just fine in the 1.1, only thing even tho game performance is up and overall system is fast, however my External HD becomes slower now lol. Games work just fine, tho, depending on what they are.

The only option i have right now, because i have no plans to buy my secondary computer yet, i am just going to upgrade my Internal HD to about 80GB.

Peace and thanks.

Edited January 2, 2009 by T.N.G.O.G.

[DL.]

I see in your sig that you use a lot of external drives as regular storage.

It's not recommended to do so, you should rather replace your current internal drive or add more internal drives.

Even though most games depend more on other things than the HDD, you should still always install them on a relatively fast drive. Never install anything on an external, just use it as backup or to store files when you need to bring them with you.

Why just an 80 GB HDD when the price difference to 160/250/320 is quite small?

Also, a new drive will give quite a boost in performance for your daily use.

Better CPU:s for many older computers are dirt cheap nowadays (people even throw them away), so replacing your very old P3 600 with something faster (1 GHz or more) won't cost you much.

Getting 2x512 or even more RAM will also help a bit. Take a look at eBay.

Edited January 29, 2009 by DL.