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Hard Driver Connecting Options…. USB3 vs eSata vs FW800
I have just migrated from a 2008-era MBP to the latest MBPr.
On my last laptop, I invested heavily in eSata – I got an eSata Xpress Card, and got several docks (“toasters”) that held Sata internal drives and connected to the computer via eSata and USB 2.0. I then invested the money in the best 7400 Western Digital Drives with big caches etc. I found this solution to be cheaper than buying lots of big Gtech drives, and found a slight performance boost with eSata over FW800. So basically I was swapping a stack of WD internal drives in and out of my docks. I was also using eSata on the ubiquitous G-Tech drives with eSata and FW800 that clients provided.
Now, I have a new conundrum. My new MBPr doesn’t have an express slot, nor eSata. And connecting my docks with USB 2.0 is stupid.
So I have two options:
1 ) Invest in the Lacie eSata hub for nearly $180. + $30 cable
https://www.amazon.com/LaCie-eSATA-Hub-controller-eSATA-300
So I connect the computer to the hub via thunderbolt, then eSata from the hub to the docks.OR I buy a USB 3.0 dock for $54
2 )https://www.amazon.com/Cavalry-Retriever-EN-CAHDD2BU3C-ZB-Standalone-Duplicator/
And for the client G-tech drives I just use FW800.My question is, what is the real world performance of eSata vs USB 3 vs FW800?
Is USB 3 a good platform to edit from? I know back in the day USB 2 was always unfavored over FW400 because USB had latency issues. Would I get better performance, despite speed benchmarks, editing via eSata with option 1, or plugging USB 3 and saving all the intermediate connections with option 2?
I also have a mini Hard Drive with FW800 and USB 3. Will I get better performance with the USB 3, or with FW800 via the thunderbolt adaptor?
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4 Replies
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[Brian Sarfatty] “My question is, what is the real world performance of eSata vs USB 3 vs FW800?”
If you’re talking about individual mechanical drives: eSATA and USB 3.0 are about the same since they’ll be both limited by individual drives’ performance: 130-150MB/s when empty, down to 50% of that when full.
FW800: 70-80MB/s.
USB 3.0 has the advantage of (a possibility of) using a hub.
With SSDs or arrays, the picture changes a bit: eSATA may have the advantage, USB 3.0 is slower unless UAS is used. FW800 remains the slowest one.
HTH.
Alex Gerulaitis
Systems Engineer
DV411 – Los Angeles, CA -
Thunderbolt is the way forward.
Chris
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I had the same issue when I moved to a newer MPB with no ESATA connectivity. Chris is correct. Staart migrating everything over to TB. If you still need the ESATA connectivity on of the mini TB to ESATA adaptors or the TB dock from sonnet may be worth looking into
“Think of everything in terms of building capacity.”
Kris Merkel
twitter: @kris_merkel
Product Manager, Flanders Scientific Inc.
http://www.shopfsi.com
Co-Founder, Atlanta Cutters Post Production User Group
http://www.atlantacutters.com2.2Ghz MBP core i7
16Gb RAM
CS6/FCP7
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FSI LM-2461W/CM-170W
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OK, Thunderbolt is the way forward, but consider the following:
From what I understand, thunderbolt only makes a difference for SSD. For a 7200 RPM spinning disk, I don’t think it’s super necessary (yet), considering how expensive SSD thunderbolt storage is. Also, as a freelancer, I don’t typically buy drives, usually the production company I’m working for does.
I have a stack of existing 7400rpm SATA drives I was using with my eSata dock for my old computer. These are mainly archives, not worth porting over. And as cheap form of storage, when I need to supply it myself, I may continue to buy spinning disk SATA drives for archive and editing.
There is a thunderbolt / SATA dock in the work (rocketStor 5212), but not out yet. Obviously this would be the ideal solution, but not sure if it’s worth waiting for… This was announced last June as being out “later in the year” of 2012, and still not out. So maybe just around the corner, may be a long way out or not ready for primetime. But then I could drop in SSDs or spinning disks and save costs over the pre-enclosed drives.
In practical terms, I can spend $40-50 on a USB 3.0 dock and connect them that way, and for the last generation G-tech drives my clients still give me I just use the FW800 port.
OR, I get the Lacie eSata / THunderbolt device for $200, and then I can connect it to my existing eSata/SATA docks for my stack of OEM internal SATA drives. And then get the added bonus of connecting via eSata for the client drives. Though I suspect computer > Lacie device > eSata Dock is slower than Computer > USB 3 dock just because of the number of connections.
I guess I’m just having a hard time justifying an extra $150 for eSata on what seems to be an obsolete technology to get that bit of extra performance for the legacy client drives.
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