Faster transfer, USB stick or NvME drive in enclosure

yodamin · 21 Jan 2024

I have carried Linux installed on both a USB stick (3.1) and NvME with an external USB 3.2 enclosure.
What I CAN remember is the BIG difference in boot up and operation in general when running Linux from the NvME with the external enclosure - definitely and quite noticeably faster than the USB stick. This is connected to the same PC's USB 3.1 port (my desktop)
and my T15 Lenovo laptop at work, I think they're USB 3 ports.

USB stick is a Samsung Fit 128GB

Samsung Fit Plus 128GB USB 3.1 Flash Drive | Samsung Canada

NvME is an Intel 660p NvME 1TB

NvME enclosure USB 3.2

NexStar SX

MisterEd · 21 Jan 2024

Do you know fast the USB 3.1 port is? The exact designation matters.

USB 3.0 = USB 3.1 Gen 1 = USB 3.2 Gen 1×1 = 5 Gbit/s
USB 3.1 = USB 3.1 Gen 2 = USB 3.2 Gen 2×1 = 10 Gbit/s

Gibbs · 22 Jan 2024

MisterEd said:

Do you know fast the USB 3.1 port is? The exact designation matters.

USB 3.0 = USB 3.1 Gen 1 = USB 3.2 Gen 1×1 = 5 Gbit/s
USB 3.1 = USB 3.1 Gen 2 = USB 3.2 Gen 2×1 = 10 Gbit/s

Is there an actual program one can run to check the speed of the USB port Read and Write?

MisterEd · 22 Jan 2024

Gibbs said:

Is there an actual program one can run to check the speed of the USB port Read and Write?

If the specs aren't clear then the only way to find out for sure is to test the port. I use CrystalDiskMark for testing external drives.

I have a laptop that has a USB-C port. Everything I read about it said it was USB 3.0 (5Gbps). However, testing showed it was actually USB 3.1 (10Gbps). You can see some the results that showed that in Post #8.

yodamin · 22 Jan 2024

Be careful testing as USB 3.1 and 3.2 may not be implemented on devices yet.
Ensure your device is REALLY 3.1 or 3.2 before suspecting the USB 3.1/3.2 port is flaky or not giving as much speed as it should.

USB 3.0 = 5Gbps
USB 3.1 = 10Gbps
USB 3.2 = 20Gbps

Snippet: USB 3.0 - Wikipedia

Therefore, two-lane operations, namely USB 3.2 Gen 1x2 (10 Gbit/s with nominal data rate of 1 GB/s after encoding overhead) and USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbit/s, 2.422 GB/s), are only possible with Full-Featured USB Type-C Fabrics (24 pins). As of 2023, USB 3.2 Gen 1x2 and Gen 2x2 are not implemented on many products yet; Intel, however, starts to include them in its 11th generation SoC processor models, but Apple never provided them. On the other hand, USB 3.2 Gen 1(x1) (5 Gbit/s) and Gen 2(x1) (10 Gbit/s) implementations are quite common now for some years.

- - - Updated - - -

Someone asked for applications that will benchmark USB:

USB UserBenchmarks - 639 USB Flash Drives Compared I have used this

CrystalDiskMark download | SourceForge.net (I use this)

Software -- the very first download is USB tester, other interesting downloads

MiniTool Partition Software Edition Comparison -Mini-tool partition wizard free edition -I have used this

View any installed/connected USB device on your system - never used it for speed test but, have used it to gather USB stick info - I heard it was very clumsy to do a USB speed test with it

MisterEd · 22 Jan 2024

It used to be so simple. Now its a mess. It seemed every few years they came with a new standard that replaces the previous one.

USB 3.1 Gen 1 = 5Gbps (replaces USB 3.0)
USB 3.1 Gen 2 = 10Gbps (replaces USB 3.1)

USB 3.2 Gen 1x1 = 5Gbps (replaces USB 3.1 Gen 1, USB 3.0)
USB 3.2 Gen 1×2 = 10Gbps
USB 3.2 Gen 2x1 = 10Gbps (replaces USB 3.1 Gen 2, USB 3.1)
USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 = 20Gbps (replaces USB 3.2)

Some PCs now have USB 4 so that confuses things even more. Some even have Thunderbolt which may be compatible with USB 4.

USB4 Gen 2×1 = 10Gbps
USB4 Gen 2×2 = 20Gbps
USB4 Gen 3×1 = 20Gbps
USB4 Gen 3×2 = 40Gbps
USB4 Gen 4 = 80Gbps
USB4 Gen 4 = 120Gbps

idgat · 22 Jan 2024

I've got several NVMe in enclosures, have to be sure they're thermal strip protected because they run super hot after a while. Wouldn't leave them plugged in overnight like you can with a USB stick

yodamin · 09 Feb 2024

idgat said:

I've got several NVMe in enclosures, have to be sure they're thermal strip protected because they run super hot after a while. Wouldn't leave them plugged in overnight like you can with a USN stick

Super agreed and apologies for forgetting to mention it

Ghot · 10 Feb 2024

Gibbs said:

Is there an actual program one can run to check the speed of the USB port Read and Write?

CrystalDiskMark, can benchmark the device that's attached to the port.
Download - Crystal Dew World [en] <--- the ZIP version is portable.

This is my USB stick compared to an internal 2.5" SSD...
USB port was... 3.2 gen 2