Hi all!
I've swapped some 1,8" 5400rpm SATA disks (Toshiba MK2529GSG and MK1229GSG) with some Intel X18-M SSDs, and now I would like to use these "spare" drives as external storage for backup purposes on my laptops, banking on their extremely quiet operation. So I'd need a portable enclosure for each of them.
Now I'm wondering which interface to use: I've already USB 2.0 and FW400, but I also have spare ExpressCard slots, which I could use for an eSATA, or FW800, or USB 3.0 card, if in case.
Have you either any experience to share, or any advice to give about, and eventually is there any dependable source of information about real throughput for such a combo (an 1.8" SATA drive with any of the above mentioned interface)? I'm tempted to go straightly for USB 3.0, but I'm afraid it might turn out almost fruitless (with reference to throughput, both read and write, owing to backup purpose) with such a "slow" drive (presumably I would not reuse in other way those 1.8" enclosures, and currently any 3.0 solution would come at a sensible higher price because of the needed ExpressCards).
Quiet external notebook storage, which interface to choose?
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quest_for_silence
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Re: Quiet external notebook storage, which interface to choo
Using such drives for backup is a bit of a waste considering there are cheap larger drives which are next to silent and that backup drives can easily be stowed away where you won't hear anything unless they're very noisy.
But if you've got nothing else to do with them and don't want to give/sell them, why not?
USB2 may be OK for backup. These are not very fast drives. They will be slower when bottlenecked by USB2 but not by a whole lot. Aside from the matter of cost, USB2 is convenient and works well. Using an eSATA or USB3 card will cost you time and might end up causing problems.
main source of information: compare a benchmark of the drive in question (do it yourself if need be) and a benchmark of just about any drive (antiques need not apply) through USB2
Last time I did something like that, I got 25-30 MB/s through USB2. Only part of your drive may be bottlenecked by USB2. Firewire and especially eSATA (I don't know about USB3) should be slightly faster even at lower transfer rates but people rarely care about slightly faster.
But if you've got nothing else to do with them and don't want to give/sell them, why not?
USB2 may be OK for backup. These are not very fast drives. They will be slower when bottlenecked by USB2 but not by a whole lot. Aside from the matter of cost, USB2 is convenient and works well. Using an eSATA or USB3 card will cost you time and might end up causing problems.
main source of information: compare a benchmark of the drive in question (do it yourself if need be) and a benchmark of just about any drive (antiques need not apply) through USB2
Last time I did something like that, I got 25-30 MB/s through USB2. Only part of your drive may be bottlenecked by USB2. Firewire and especially eSATA (I don't know about USB3) should be slightly faster even at lower transfer rates but people rarely care about slightly faster.
Re: Quiet external notebook storage, which interface to choo
The best backup is the one you make. Put another way, don't give yourself excuses to NOT make backups, and having to plug an expresscard into the slot to do the backup is one extra reason to not do the backup.
Therefore, my first choice if you really want to carry up a drive is whatever is native on all your laptops, most likely USB2.
My first choice if you are willing to spend a little more money is ethernet/wifi/however you get to the internet and to build/buy a small NAS. That way the drives would be available for automatic backup whenever the laptop wanted and could be out of sight, out of sound, out of mind.
Therefore, my first choice if you really want to carry up a drive is whatever is native on all your laptops, most likely USB2.
My first choice if you are willing to spend a little more money is ethernet/wifi/however you get to the internet and to build/buy a small NAS. That way the drives would be available for automatic backup whenever the laptop wanted and could be out of sight, out of sound, out of mind.