Fastest ? IDE 7200rpm vs. USB2.0 5400rpm external

Computer Hardware SSDs, Hard Drives and NAS
#1

Using an old 500mhz CPU / 100mhz bus speed PC, why is it that Nero determines that a faster burn can be made from an external USB2.0 HD running at 5400rpm over an internal IDE 7200rpm drive ?

This is the situation I have come across. The USB external appears to operate x2 as fast at supplying the data compared to the faster spinning, larger buffered IDE internal.

This PC is using a USB2.0 card on the ancient motherboard but I would have thought the maximum burn speed would have been determined by the processor and bus speeds along with the other resources associated with PC processing power.

Can someone explain to me why this is so ?

#2

I guess it’s the UDMA mode of the internal HDD that’s giving you problems. Check it in Device Manager. If it’s UDMA3 or below or even worse PIO the USB drive can transfer the data much faster.

#3

It’s running UDMA2.

So that’s the bottleneck then ? Not the ancient CPU / Motherboard / RAM or the (much more modern) internal HD which it seems is getting strangled to death within the chain.

Nothing I can do to improve this with the hardware in question ?

#4

Not really. The IDE Controller is just old and can’t handle the data you’d like to get from it :slight_smile:

The CPU is fast enough and RAM isn’t really needed when you transfer files. It’s send directly to the burner and isn’t held in RAM.

What you could do is buy an IDE controller card which should improve the situation but don’t expect miracles from it.

#5

An IDE controller should be cheap enough

I got FIVE of them (Promise ATA133) a couple years ago
for $30 plus shipping.

Any “Deal” on ebay that doesn’t get you a card delivered
for $12-$15 is a bad deal.

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