USB 3.0 ... so slow???

USB 3.0's SuperSpeed rating is a dismal joke if magazine tests are anything to go by, with transfers at a laggardly 127MB/sec at best, only three to four times faster than good USB 2 products. So why is USB 3.0 so slow?

In theory, USB 2.0 runs at a maximum of 480Mbit/s, whereas USB 3.0 runs up to 4.8Gbit/s: ten times faster. It's generally thought that the fastest deliverable real-world USB 3.0 speed, after allowing for protocol overhead, would be around 400MB/sec. The first magazine benchmarks, of a Buffalo HD-HXU3 and a pre-production Asus device, show that realised real-word transfer rates tend to be a whole lot slower than this. A mere third of it, in fact.

What is the problem?

Either the USB 3 interface is not being run well because the driver is inefficient, or the connected disk drive is simply too slow to fill the USB 3 pipe, or both.
Craig Reid is Buffalo's Product Manager for direct-attached storage in the UK. He points out that the USB controller is actually a complicated piece of kit. It's not a dedicated storage controller like eSATA. The USB controller has to handle up to 127 connected devices, coping with anything from keyboards and mice to printers and webcams, as well as external disk drive products.
That means incoming data traffic from storage devices has to wait while the controller goes through a few hoops before passing it on. Buffalo has a TurboUSB facility which effectively switches off or bypasses some controller complexity and reduces traffic latency through the controller.
Buffalo says its HD-HXU3 external USB 3.0 hard drive offers: "SuperSpeed transfer speeds of up to 130MB/s, 3 times faster than USB 2.0."
Reid is pleased with this 130MB/sec figure, partly because it's faster than eSATA, which, like SATA II, runs at 3Gbit/sec, and because it is a lot faster than USB 2.0 devices. But the HD-HXU3 product can't run at full USB 3.0 speed, Reid says, because: "A single external disk drive cannot saturate the USB 3.0 link."
The disk drive used in Buffalo's HD-HXU3 is a single 7200rpm SATA II drive, with a 3Gbit/s interface - about 40 per cent slower than USB 3.0's 4.8Gbit/s. Buffalo doesn't specify which disk supplier it uses as that can vary with HD-HXU3 capacity level and market conditions.
We know available 7200rpm, 2TB drives come from Hitachi GST and Western Digital. Hitachi GST has two SATA drives offering 2TB: the UltraStar A7K2000 and; the DeskStar 7K2000, both spinning at 7200rpm and using the SATA II 3Gbit/s interface.
Western Digital's 2TB RE4 also spins at 7200rpm and uses SATA II, ditto its 2TB Caviar Black drive. So both the HGST and WD drives can pump data in and out no faster than 3Gbit/s.
Actually Seagate has a 2TB Barracuda XT also spinning at 7200rpm but using the 6Gbit/s SATA interface (SATA III), which is 20 per cent faster than USB 3.0 and could saturate it. Reid said Buffalo does not use this drive, indicating that it is too expensive.
Buffalo will likely go with the 6Gbit/s SATA III interface drives when they are available on the commodity drive market.
Reid said that we need multi-drive storage devices to use USB 3.0 at nearer its maximum speed, suggesting a 4-drive DriveStation Quattro, if it supported USB 3.0, would be able to pump data much faster through it than a single drive product.
Currently, the DriveStation Quattro is a USB 2.0/eSATA device. It transfers data at up to 100MB/sec with that technology. This product looks a prime candidate for a USB 3.0 makeover.

Top Gear Season 14 On Air

Top Gear Season 14 in on air from last 4 weeks. I will be updating the blog soon with the highlights of the first four episodes.

HTC Bravo Snapdragon Android

While there were several enticing models in the leaked HTC 2010 roadmap yesterday – it’s about time someone released an Android-based candybar with QWERTY, for instance – the most interesting was undoubtedly the HTC Bravo. The company’s first Android device to use a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, perennial leak grabbers ai.rs have managed to find a better shot of the AMOLED smartphone.

The Bravo has a 3.7-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen running at WVGA resolution, together with quadband GSM/GPRS/EGDE and dualband 900/2100MHz WCDMA/HSPA. Like the HTC HD2 there’s a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and a dual LED flash. HTC have squeezed 512MB of flash and 320MB of RAM inside, together with a 1,400mAh battery and a microSD card slot.
There’s also the usual WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, GPS, digital compass and g-sensor, together with an FM radio, microUSB port and 3.5mm headphones socket. OS is Android 2.0, though we reckon that might all change depending on what the current version of Android is when the Bravo reaches the market; that’s predicted to happen in April 2010.

Acer: We'll Be First to Launch a Chrome OS Netbook

Acer: We'll Be First to Launch a Chrome OS Netbook

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Seagate join the SSD train with new Pulsar drive

Seagate have finally joined the SSD segment with their first solid-state drive. The Seagate Pulsar packs up to 200GB of SLC flash memory into a 2.5-inch enclosure, and the company are claiming 240MB/s sequential read and 200 MB/s sequential write speeds.

The Pulsar has a SATA interface and Seagate have squeezed in some power loss protection so that, even if your system loses power, you’ll hopefully not lose everything you were working on. They’re also quoting a 0.44 percent AFR (average failure rate).
Seagate have been quietly sampling the Pulsar to OEMs since October 2009, but there’s no word on when you’ll actually be able to buy machines with the drive installed (nor separately as standalone storage). Also unannounced is pricing.

Press Release:
SEAGATE INTRODUCES ITS FIRST SOLID STATE DRIVE: PULSAR
First true enterprise-class SSD from the world’s #1 enterprise storage supplier
SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. — December 8, 2009 — Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) today introduced the Seagate® Pulsar™ drive, the first product in its new enterprise solid state drive (SSD) family. Designed for enterprise blade and general server applications, the Pulsar drive uses single-level cell (SLC) technology, delivers up to 200GB capacity, and is built in a 2.5-inch small form factor with a SATA interface. The Pulsar drive leverages Seagate’s 30 years of leadership in meeting large enterprise customer needs in product development, qualification, and support.
“Seagate is optimistic about the enterprise SSD opportunity and views the product category as enabling expansion of the overall storage market for both SSDs and HDDs,” said Dave Mosley, Seagate executive vice president, Sales, Marketing, and Product Line Management. “Our strategy is to provide our customers with the exact storage device they need for any application, regardless of the component technology used. We are delivering on that strategy with the Pulsar™ drive, and you can expect additional products in the future from Seagate using a variety of solid state and rotating media components.”
The Pulsar SSD delivers the necessary performance, reliability, and endurance to match the application environments of enterprise blade and general servers. It achieves a peak performance of up to 30,000 read IOPS and 25,000 write IOPS, 240MB/s sequential read and 200 MB/s sequential write. Its SLC-based design optimizes reliability and endurance and helps provide a .44% AFR rating with a 5-year limited warranty. As an additional safeguard, the Pulsar drive leverages Seagate’s enterprise storage expertise to protect against data loss in the event of power failure.
Seagate began shipping Pulsar units to select OEMs for revenue in September 2009. With Seagate’s enterprise knowledge and expertise, OEMs have peace of mind knowing that Seagate has the global enterprise systems, people and processes in place to support their largest requirements.
“To deliver and serve the enterprise SSD marketplace effectively, it is critical for suppliers to understand the needs of their storage system customers with respect to design, manufacturing, supply chain delivery, and support,” said Dave Reinsel, IDC group vice president. “With its well-established OEM and eco-system relationships and a long history of serving global storage OEMs, Seagate is in a unique position to fortify its leading enterprise storage position with its entry into the enterprise solid state storage market.”
As the worldwide market leader in enterprise storage and the first enterprise HDD vendor to deliver an enterprise-class SSD solution, Seagate brings credibility, experience and leadership to this new market segment.
“The enterprise SSD market is now primed and well-positioned for growth from both a revenue and unit perspective, with Gartner estimating unit growth to double and sales to reach $1 billion for calendar year 2010,” said Joseph Unsworth, research director at Gartner. “Superior enterprise SSDs provide transformational capabilities when optimized in storage and server environments.”
The Seagate Pulsar SSD is available to OEM customers for qualification. More information can be found at http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/servers/pulsar/pulsar/

DAWN.COM | Gallery | Is your degree branded?

DAWN.COM Gallery Is your degree branded?

Its getting cool in lahore

Hey fellas,
Its been a long wedding season and still going. Eid ul Azha is near. So it will be a busy winter.
I have been away for over a month now. Attended a lot of weddings. I am still out of touch from a few friends of mine. Anyway, just got back on my laptop so I thought to punch in a few lines.
Its getting cooler now as we are in the winter season. I hope thngs turn out real good this winter. The country is really facing some hard times. But it will be fine very soon, I Hope. I will be rearranging and managing my blog in the next few days. Still there will be posts covering the same topics that I had done. But there will a few new ones as well. I have a feeling that you people woulf like them. I will be categorizing stuff as well as distributing and feeding it so that I can share the word. Feel free to contact me and push in your suggestions.