Intel and others plan to release a new version of the ubiquitous Universal Serial Bus technology in the first half of 2008, a revamp the chip maker said will make data transfer rates more than 10 times as fast by adding fiber-optic links alongside the traditional copper wires. Intel is working with fellow USB 3.0 Promoters Group members Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Texas Instruments, NEC and NXP Semiconductors to release the USB 3.0 specification in the first half of 2008, said Pat Gelsinger, general manager of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, in a speech here at the Intel Developer Forum.
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Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2005-11-10
Member since:2005-07-11
USB is a horrible interface for external harddrives. IEEE1394 (Firewire) and eSATA are much better suited to these uses.
The main problem with USB is that is requires shuffling all data through the host CPU. Transferring data to an external harddrive can send your CPU usage spiking. Yet transfers between internal harddrives doesn't (as IDE/SATA/SCSI doesn't require the host CPU to be a traffic cop).
Use the right bus for the job. USB is good for devices without processing power (cameras, mice, keyboards, gidgets and gadgets, mp3 players, etc). For larger devices or devices that need fast transfers without bogging down the host system.
Member since:2005-11-10
It is not THAT bad, please: it depends on what you're doing. If you're copying many not-that-big files, you'll have no problems. At least I didn't. Nothing really worth complaining.
But, if you need to move, for example, 10 GB of data to external drive (including, for example, 5 files that are close to 1 GB in size each), then it gives horrible experience on Windows 2003 server (Vista is handling this *MUCH* better).
So I started thinking of eSATA. It would solve freezing problems and it is faster too.
Member since:
2005-11-10
Most users don't need such a speed of a serial bus, neither hardware would utilize it.
The question is: what's that for?!
External (hard) drives, for example. I use them a lot and USB 3.0 definitely is something I'm looking forward to.