Is a USB portable SSD viable?

[mohab]

I mean the speed that an SSD has is accessed through the SATA connexction, but having a portable SSD means using a ISB to connect, will the USB be a huge bottleneck, hugely slowing the transfere rate down?

 

[alphanumeric]

Even if the USB port slows it down, its going to be considerably faster than a spinner drive in the same enclosure. If you can go USB 3 I'd do it.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Yep usb 3.0 will deliver top speeds
Being a ssd it would be much faster and more reliable than a flash drive more storage as well,

Can be used as internal or external,
Not to mention you can install an os on it and travel with it and connect it to any hot swap device to another computer.

 

[alphanumeric]

Should be a lot more reliable than a spinner in an external enclosure. Will take knocks etc without much issue. I wouldn't drop it on the floor, but moving it while its running won't bother it like it will a spinner drive. Lighter, draws less power, generates less heat, much faster, etc. All pluses if its plugged into a laptop that's running on battery.

 

[Berton]

Only downside I see is the External 2.5" drive cases for PATA or SATA drives, like the ones I use, require 2 USB ports, one for data and power and the other for additional power. It may be possible an SSD will need only one USB port. The cases come with a Y-cable for the purpose.

 

[alphanumeric]

My USB 3 external enclosures only have the one USB connector. You, likely can get away with just the one connector with an SSD. Just figure out which one is the power plus data one.

 

[strollin]

If your computers support it, an enclosure with eSATA will be faster but will require a USB connection in addition to the eSATA connection for power.

If you get a USB 3.0 enclosure, you will need only 1 USB connection and the transfer speeds should be acceptable.

 

[GokAy]

Isn't 1 usb connection enough for 5400 rpm disks and 7200 need 2? Or this information is wrong?
I remember reading that you need powered ESata, and since usually drives need 12V a usb connection doesn't cut it (being 5v).

Need correction on above though. Thanks!

 

[whs]

I use an open eSata enclosure that has it's own power. I run virtual systems from a SSD in there and the performance is only very slightly slower than if I run it from the internal SSD.

USB3 is pretty good too but that depends on how well USB3 was implemented in your mobo micro program. There is a great spread of performance. The USB3 standard was never finalized and the implementations can be erratic. I noticed that recently comparing my 4 year old Dell XPS that had cost $1000 to a brand new HP system for $300. The USB3 throughput on the recent HP system was a lot better.

USB2 will still give you better performance with the SSD as compared to a HDD, but that is solely based on the better access time of the SSD. It will make a significant difference when you run an OS (virtual) from USB2 but for streaming sequential data you will not see any difference. There you are limited by the 480 Mb/sec maximum throughput. HDDs can feed at that speed too.

 

[alphanumeric]

Isn't 1 usb connection enough for 5400 rpm disks and 7200 need 2? Or this information is wrong?
I remember reading that you need powered ESata, and since usually drives need 12V a usb connection doesn't cut it (being 5v).

Need correction on above though. Thanks!

That's one of those, your mileage may vary. I have an 80 gig 5400 RPM IDE laptop drive in a USB 2 enclosure that will not work when connected to my Raspberry Pi. It doesn't get enough current even with both plugs plugged in. A 60 gig 5400 RPM IDE laptop drive in an identical enclosure works fine though. The Raspberry Pi has current restrictions on the USB ports. 1.2 amps max across all 4 USB ports. It can't provide the full 500 MA per port like a PC can. The same 80 gig drive works fine on a PC. Haven't tried it with just the one plug though.

Anyway, one plug may or may not work, even on a 5400 rpm drive.

 

[strollin]

Isn't 1 usb connection enough for 5400 rpm disks and 7200 need 2? Or this information is wrong?
I remember reading that you need powered ESata, and since usually drives need 12V a usb connection doesn't cut it (being 5v).

Need correction on above though. Thanks!

It's more likely that 3.5" drives need additional power whereas 2.5" drives don't.

 

[alphanumeric]

USB 3 ports can provide more current than a USB 2 port, thus there is only the one plug on the end of the cable that plugs into the PC. The end that plugs into the device has the equivalent of two connectors. It's distinctly different from any other USB port I've seen. It looks like a micro B USB with an extra smaller one next to it. My guess is the second smaller connector is extra power pins. I'm to lazy to look it up at the moment. Too may other things on the go at the moment.

 

[alphanumeric]

Isn't 1 usb connection enough for 5400 rpm disks and 7200 need 2? Or this information is wrong?
I remember reading that you need powered ESata, and since usually drives need 12V a usb connection doesn't cut it (being 5v).

Need correction on above though. Thanks!

It's more likely that 3.5" drives need additional power whereas 2.5" drives don't.

The 3.5 inch drives will need more power for sure. Bigger platter(s) and a bigger motor. The current draw to get the motor running likely factors into it.

 

[GokAy]

Ah cool, thanks for the correction you two.

That should be indeed what I read, drive size instead of rpm

 

[mohab]

Thank you for the information everybody.