Portable hard drive. 2nd question

[Metspitzer]

I plan to get a USB 2 portable hard drive.
One of my XP machines only has USB 1 ports.
Do USB 2 devices work more slowly or not at all?

 

[Z]

I plan to get a USB 2 portable hard drive.
One of my XP machines only has USB 1 ports.
Do USB 2 devices work more slowly or not at all?

Yes, it will work at an ultra low speed of USB 1.0 or 1.1. You could
have a PCI card offering USB 2.0 interfaces, or whatever other
hardwares that connect your machine with a high speed transfer rate
interface such USB 2.0 interface or IEEE or eSATA or 1000M bps
ethernet etc.

it seems that USB 3.0 would be implemented not long after.

You could get more info about your desired hardwares at "NewEgg":
http://www.newegg.com/

it is like I'm advertising again and again for that NewEgg.

 

[Paul]

I plan to get a USB 2 portable hard drive.
One of my XP machines only has USB 1 ports.
Do USB 2 devices work more slowly or not at all?

You can get PCI USB2 cards. The driver for it,
should be available in WinXP SP1 or any later
Service Pack. A card costs about $10. Check inside
the computer, to see if there is room for
a card.

With USB2 working for you, the transfer rate to
a hard drive, will be 30MB/sec. With USB1.1, it
would be roughly 1MB/sec or a bit more. It
would take a long time to do a backup at that
rate.

Paul

 

[Metspitzer]

Yes, it will work at an ultra low speed of USB 1.0 or 1.1. You could
have a PCI card offering USB 2.0 interfaces, or whatever other
hardwares that connect your machine with a high speed transfer rate
interface such USB 2.0 interface or IEEE or eSATA or 1000M bps
ethernet etc.

it seems that USB 3.0 would be implemented not long after.

You could get more info about your desired hardwares at "NewEgg":
http://www.newegg.com/

it is like I'm advertising again and again for that NewEgg.

Thanks

 

[david]

I plan to get a USB 2 portable hard drive. One of my XP machines only
has USB 1 ports. Do USB 2 devices work more slowly or not at all?

USB 2.0 devices will opearate with USB1.1 ports. However the maximum
speed will be 12 Mbps, quite a bit slower than the high speed available
with USB2.0 (480 Mbps).

You should buy a cheap USB2.0 interface card and plop it in one of your
open slots.

 

[Z]

I plan to get a USB 2 portable hard drive.
One of my XP machines only has USB 1 ports.
Do USB 2 devices work more slowly or not at all?

"Newegg.com - PCI to Serial Port Card, PCI to USB Card, Firewire PCI
Card, PCI to 1394"
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=73&name=Add-On-Cards

 

[Metspitzer]

"Newegg.com - PCI to Serial Port Card, PCI to USB Card, Firewire PCI
Card, PCI to 1394"
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=73&name=Add-On-Cards

I have no need for a Firewire connection.

I guess all PCI cards are not created equal. I wonder why the first
card listed cost almost 3 times as much as the second card listed?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=usb+2+pci&x=0&y=0

 

[Z]

I have no need for a Firewire connection.

I guess all PCI cards are not created equal. I wonder why the first
card listed cost almost 3 times as much as the second card listed?http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias=aps&field-key...

Better, More Cost

 

[Z]

I have no need for a Firewire connection.

I guess all PCI cards are not created equal. I wonder why the first
card listed cost almost 3 times as much as the second card listed?http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias=aps&field-key...

one apple make you not hungry, one hundred make you full. apparently
one hundred apples cost more than one.

 

[Paul]

I have no need for a Firewire connection.

I guess all PCI cards are not created equal. I wonder why the first
card listed cost almost 3 times as much as the second card listed?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=usb+2+pci&x=0&y=0

They use common chips. So if you have some preference in
which chip you want in your PC, there is that consideration.

The size of the PCB should not matter. The card needs enough room
to house the components, and offer sufficient conduction on
the power planes. One of the "L" shaped cards, may make room for
more airflow in the case, if no other cards are present.
A full card may have better mechanical strength, important
if the card is resisting efforts to insert it.

Some chip brands are NEC and VIA. VIA is probably on the
cheapest of the cards. NEC has the reputation, of being
the chip vendor the original USB2 driver was tested
against. NEC is also known to blow out ports due to
static discharge, and may lose ports one at a time.

The best way to pick them, is probably to check the
reviews.

There are some PCI card makers, who have too high a
dropout rate in the products they make. It should
not be hard to spot them, if you look at add-in
cards long enough.

In some cases, add-in cards are poorly designed, and
the outline of the card is wrong. In the reviews, if
there are complaints the "card does not fit in the slot",
and you see a lot of complaints, then stay away. While
some users, have not adjusted the position of the motherboard
for best fit, when a lot of people report problems, it
means the card is at fault. I have a couple PCI sound
cards here, which have incorrect dimensions, and I had
to "adjust" them to get my money's worth.

For some cards, you're paying for a brand name.
Siig cards use the same chips as everyone else,
but they like to cover the chip part number with
a big sticker. I don't see any reason the cards
deserve a higher purchase price, as it is not like
they're designing custom chips.

Paul

 

[Z]

Better, More Cost

Amazon.com:
Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers,
Books, DVDs & more

Newegg.com:
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital
Cameras and more!

 

[John Doe]

Metspitzer wrote:

You can get PCI USB2 cards. The driver for it, should be
available in WinXP SP1 or any later Service Pack. A card costs
about $10. Check inside the computer, to see if there is room
for a card.

With USB2 working for you, the transfer rate to a hard drive,
will be 30MB/sec. With USB1.1, it would be roughly 1MB/sec or a
bit more.

That sounds like a handy solution for an older PC that is
otherwise fast enough for the user. Thanks.

 

[Paul]

Perhaps because of what this reviewer found out.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815104306
&Tpk=USB%202.0%20PCI%20Card%20%28GIC251U%29

"Pros: One of my buds got this card in a B&M store after a salesdroid
told him that PMac systems like his Quicksilver G4 and my MDD G4 will
deep sleep properly with this card installed. El generico USB cards
require disconnecting all attached devices or the system will hang
when they go to sleep. I believe Apple documentation says that cards
have to remove power from devices properly in order to allow sleep,
and none of the cheapie cards out there do it apparently. This card
does as he found out when he tried one and I decided that I needed to
try it."

s

It could be, that the card in question uses a NEC chip.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1074149

But I can also find other web sites, where NEC based cards
prevented deep sleep, so I'm not sure this information comes
with guarantees.

When I look at a picture of the above IOGear card, I don't see
any additional hardware components of note. In card design,
someone could do something different with a choice of power
rails (+5, +5VSB, standby voltage etc), but that wouldn't
show in an obvious way. It could even amount to whether
PME is connected up (which would be used if you wanted a
card to be able to wake the computer).

Another thing to note, is some companies have a bad habit of
changing the card design, and keeping the same part number.
So one year, the card may have a NEC chip, and a year later,
they've switched to VIA. The PCB needs to change, for that
to happen, but the SKU on Newegg would remain the same. And that
kind of thing is a source of irritation to both Mac and PC owners.

Paul