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General Support - USB 1.1 versus USB 2.0

vees - 06.07.2006, 22:06 Uhr
Titel: USB 1.1 versus USB 2.0

Hi,

I am now using Kanotix 2005-4. I use several usb devices including a mouse and a huge 250GB external hard drive. Yesteraday I backed-up about 40GB of data unto that hard drive. I had no illusions about the fact that it would take a long time, but the 12 hours or so it took was still a surprize to me.

I know that I should not expect speed with any USB device, but I was wondering whether I could somehow force the use of USB 2 which I hear is faster.

Does Kanotix use USB 1.1 or 2.0, how can I see that for myself, and can I make it use 2.0 (if it does not do this already).

Many thanks,

VS

devil - 06.07.2006, 22:13 Uhr
Titel: USB 1.1 versus USB 2.0

kanotix supports and uses usb2 by default, if your hardware (usb-hd, controller) supports it.
the hd will for sure, if its a 250 gig, but it could still run with usb1.1, if the controller dont do usb 2.0
you can check the drive speed with hdparm -tT /dev/sda1, if it is sda1, as root in konsole.
please paste output here.

greetz
devil

vees - 07.07.2006, 02:27 Uhr
Titel: Re: USB 1.1 versus USB 2.0

devil28 hat folgendes geschrieben::

HI Devil,

Here is my output:

Zitat:

/dev/sda1:
Timing cached reads: 344 MB in 2.00 seconds = 171.99 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 4 MB in 4.05 seconds = 1011.79 kB/sec
root@KanotixBox:/home/vees#

I should note here that this output was produced on another machine and not the one I did backup the 40GB on (but the usb external drive was - obviously - the same).

Any thoughts and/or suggestions?

Many thanks,

VS

PS: looking at your handle and avatar I just have to ask: are you also a FreeBSD user?

devil - 07.07.2006, 08:07 Uhr
Titel: Re: USB 1.1 versus USB 2.0

vees,
no, i am not and never was a freebsd user.
and the controller(s) in your boxe is certainly usb1.1.
just stick in a usb2 controller and gain up to 40x speed

greetz
devil

vees - 07.07.2006, 12:09 Uhr
Titel: RE: Re: USB 1.1 versus USB 2.0

thanks for the pointer - I did not even know that there is such thing as a usb2 controller. can any motherboard accomodate such a controller (my hardware is all old stuff)? does it fit into a regular PCI slot? is something like this:

http://www.compuplus.com/i-D-Link-DUB-A ... -635~.html

what I need?

thanks!

devil - 07.07.2006, 12:11 Uhr
Titel: RE: Re: USB 1.1 versus USB 2.0

yes, something like that.
if you have PCI, it will work.

greetz
devil

vees - 07.07.2006, 15:29 Uhr
Titel: RE: Re: USB 1.1 versus USB 2.0

great - thanks a lot for your help!

vees - 07.07.2006, 19:49 Uhr
Titel: RE: Re: USB 1.1 versus USB 2.0

I am having some doubts here, please let me know if I am mistaken, but a usb2 controller (which I can get for 30$ around here) will accelerate the link between the motherboard and the external usb storage device, but is that the cause of the slowness of my backup. I looked again at the date on the speed of my external hard drive:

/dev/sda1:
Timing cached reads: 344 MB in 2.00 seconds = 171.99 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 4 MB in 4.05 seconds = 1011.79 kB/sec
root@KanotixBox:/home/vees#

4MB in 4.05 seconds. That is awefully slow when compared to my other hard disks who show:

Timing cached reads: 344 MB in 2.02 seconds = 170.62 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 60 MB in 3.14 seconds = 19.11 MB/sec

Timing cached reads: 340 MB in 2.00 seconds = 169.99 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 10 MB in 3.66 seconds = 2.73 MB/sec

That is a HUGE difference in the 'time buffered disk reads'. How much improvement would a usb2 controller give me?

Thanks,

VS

devil - 07.07.2006, 20:24 Uhr
Titel: RE: Re: USB 1.1 versus USB 2.0

usb2 is about 40 times faster then usb1.1

greetz
devil

Kano - 07.07.2006, 20:53 Uhr
Titel: RE: Re: USB 1.1 versus USB 2.0

Addon USB2 controllers usally have about 10-11 MB/s speed at max.

vees - 09.07.2006, 17:12 Uhr
Titel: RE: Re: USB 1.1 versus USB 2.0

Hi everybody,

Well, thanks for the very good advice! I got a USB2 controller and look at the results:

/dev/hda:
Timing cached reads: 324 MB in 2.01 seconds = 161.02 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 54 MB in 4.69 seconds = 11.51 MB/sec
/dev/hdb:
Timing cached reads: 320 MB in 2.00 seconds = 159.67 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 70 MB in 3.05 seconds = 22.96 MB/sec
/dev/sda:
Timing cached reads: 336 MB in 2.00 seconds = 167.99 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 72 MB in 3.00 seconds = 23.97 MB/sec Cool

While my sda drive used to be the slowest it is now my fastest!

Thanks a lot for the pointer.

Kind regards,

VS

PS: one last question though: nest time I connect this drive to some other computer, say a laptop or whatever, who can I check whether it supports USB2 or not? Is there a command which allows me to check this? Thanks