2.5 hdds with enclosure ok for this?

[TheGlow]

Just wondering, I dont have a large 8gb+ thumb drive yet but do have some spare 20 and 80gb laptop size hdds.

Could I just use an enclosure? Would it load off a 7200rpm 80 faster than a thumb drive?

[jaclaz]

Just wondering, I dont have a large 8gb+ thumb drive yet but do have some spare 20 and 80gb laptop size hdds.

Could I just use an enclosure? Would it load off a 7200rpm 80 faster than a thumb drive?

Sure it will, NOTICEABLY.

The theoretical bottleneck of USB 2.0 is around 50 Mb/sec.

A typical USB stick will reach anything beteween 10 and 20 Mb/sec.

A typical disk in an external enclosure will be more in the 25÷30 Mb/sec range.

Some (completely random) tests I made:

http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=9347&st=14

And some more:

http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=11644&hl=

jaclaz

[Ponch]

Be aware that older HDDs (even some sold less than 3 years ago) were a bit thicker than those sold now. Be sure it fits the enclosure you buy.