{"id":1062,"date":"2018-11-15T07:00:55","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T12:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=1062"},"modified":"2018-11-14T14:08:35","modified_gmt":"2018-11-14T19:08:35","slug":"a-reader-asks-why-do-files-on-an-external-hard-drive-run-slower-than-files-on-my-internal-hard-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/15\/a-reader-asks-why-do-files-on-an-external-hard-drive-run-slower-than-files-on-my-internal-hard-drive\/","title":{"rendered":"A reader asks: Why do files on an external hard drive run slower than files on my internal hard drive?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A reader asks:<\/p>\n

“Why do files on an external hard drive run slower than files on my internal hard drive (not SSD)?”<\/em><\/p>\n

They use two very different means of connection, and the speeds aren’t even close.<\/p>\n

Internal drives usually connect directly to the mainboard via purpose-built high-speed interfaces meant specifically for moving hard drive data. For example, the common SATA 3.2<\/strong> hard drive interface is rated at 16Gb\/s<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Most external drives connect via a USB subsystem, which is a much, much slower means of general purpose data transport. For example, USB2.0<\/strong> maxes out at just 0.48Gb\/s<\/strong>; and the fastest available USB — USB3.1 Superspeed+<\/strong> — has a theoretical top speed of 10Gb\/s<\/strong>, or less than 2\/3rds as fast as SATA3.2<\/p>\n

Or, in shorthand:<\/p>\n

\u25cf<\/small> SATA 3.2<\/strong> = 16Gb\/s<\/strong>.
\n\u25cf<\/small> USB3.1 Superspeed+<\/strong> = 10Gb\/s<\/strong>.
\n\u25cf<\/small> USB2.0<\/strong> = 0.48Gb\/s<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Huge<\/em><\/span><\/strong> difference!<\/p>\n

More Info:
\nUSB: https:\/\/www.everythingusb.com\/speed.html<\/a>
\nSATA: https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Serial_ATA<\/a><\/p>\n

Permalink: https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-h8<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/small><\/small><\/p>\n

\n

Want free notification of new content like this? Click here<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Want to ask Fred a question? Click here<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reply to this item via the Comment box below.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A reader asks: “Why do files on an external hard drive run slower than files on my internal hard drive (not SSD)?” They use two very different means of connection, and the speeds aren’t even close. Internal drives usually connect directly to the mainboard via purpose-built high-speed interfaces meant specifically for moving hard drive data….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-reader-asks","category-science-and-tech"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-h8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1329,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/13\/a-reader-asks-my-pc-has-an-ssd-and-hdd-installed-will-adding-an-old-slow-hdd-make-my-whole-pc-slow\/","url_meta":{"origin":1062,"position":0},"title":"A reader asks: My PC has an SSD; will adding an old, slow HDD make my whole PC slow?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-12-13","format":false,"excerpt":"Nope --- not if you're smart about how you set it up! Older, slower drives are great for medium-to-long-term data storage --- files that you want to have handy and accessible, but that are not in constant use. Think of things like music, photo, or video collections; backup copies; system\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":782,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/19\/a-reader-asks-how-much-open-space-does-a-drive-really-need\/","url_meta":{"origin":1062,"position":1},"title":"A reader asks: How much open space does a drive really need?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-10-19","format":false,"excerpt":"Reader Liz G asks (via the CONTACT link) how much open space a drive really needs: I know installed hard drives need 15% breathing room. How about portable external hard drives? I have 7 Western Digital drives ranging in size from 500GB to 2TB and the only thing on them\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2125,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/22\/a-reader-asks-what-is-the-size-and-interface-of-the-oldest-hard-drive-not-ssd-you-regularly-use-and-why-do-you-still-use-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":1062,"position":2},"title":"A reader asks: “What is the size and interface of the oldest hard drive (not SSD) you regularly use, and why do you still use it?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-02-22","format":false,"excerpt":"How about four identical 14-year old, 250GB ATA\/EIDE hard drives? They're still in use and still run fine. I use them for archival\/backup storage of various photos, software, and virtual machines. These\u00a014-year-old\u00a0antiques still work just fine.\u00a0 Old-school ribbon cables, jumpers,\u00a0and power connectors... Date of RE-manufacture: Nov 2005 Those drives actually\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/20190211_095219.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/20190211_095219.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/20190211_095219.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/20190211_095219.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/20190211_095219.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/20190211_095219.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1969,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/11\/a-reader-asks-does-it-still-make-sense-to-buy-external-hard-drives-in-the-cloud-era\/","url_meta":{"origin":1062,"position":3},"title":"A reader asks: “Does it still make sense to buy external hard drives in the cloud era?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-02-11","format":false,"excerpt":"Reader Simone Paciaroni*\u00a0asks: \"Does it still make sense to buy external hard drives in the cloud era?\" I think so, yes. But not instead of cloud storage --- with cloud storage. Local storage gives you immediate access to everything, regardless of the size or number of files you're accessing. When\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":911,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/02\/a-reader-asks-how-can-i-reset-my-smartphone-without-losing-data-it-keeps-restarting\/","url_meta":{"origin":1062,"position":4},"title":"A reader asks: How can I reset my smartphone without losing data? It keeps restarting.","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-11-02","format":false,"excerpt":"Reader Aaron used the Contact link to ask: \"How can I reset my smartphone without losing data? It keeps restarting.\" You\u2019ll have to temporarily move the data to another device (eg your PC; or a cloud-based file storage service like Drive, OneDrive, DropBox; etc.) How you do this depends on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1697,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/21\/a-reader-asks-i-thought-an-old-external-drive-was-full-but-it-shows-up-as-empty-and-needing-format-when-i-plug-it-in-is-it-really-unused-or-broken\/","url_meta":{"origin":1062,"position":5},"title":"A reader asks: “I thought an old external drive was full, but it shows up as empty and needing format when I plug it in. Is it really unused, or broken?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-01-21","format":false,"excerpt":"Badly scrambled, is my guess. An error during shutdown, or storage, or reboot, may have damaged the disk's MBR or Boot Sector or GUID table (depending on how the disk was set up). If there were files on the disk, they're still there, but the OS can't see or access\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1062"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1075,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062\/revisions\/1075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}