Morning all. Opinions needed, please...
Is it best to simply install a USB 3.0 card into my computer (connect various USB drives to it), or buy a QNAP TS-231P for storage and backups?
The USB 3.0 would be quicker for data transfer, versus the QNAP over LAN, no?
PS: I already bought the QNAP and 2 x 1TB IronWolf drives. But, I have a strong feeling that data transfer via the USB 3.0 would be quicker than network transfer. Hence my question(s).
Someone on another forum made a very good point. Since the motherboard does not already have USB 3.0, adding a PCIe USB 3.0 card, would still limit the bus controller to USB 2.0 speeds.
So, there's that...
Also, if I did add a PCIe to my HP Z600, AND connected power to the card, too (obtaining a USB 3.0 PCIe card with power), that would help with obtaining near USB 3.0 type speeds, no?
If you transefering from HD that may be the limiting factor is it SSD?
After quite a bit of research and testing, I went with a USB 3.1 PCIe card, by SIIG.
I decided to return the QNAP, along with the IronWolf drives. After reviewing my data, I only have 200GB. And even if you think long term, I would end up with around 1TB over the next 1-2 years.Anyway, all that to say, the 2TB LaCie USB 3.0 drive, connected via the new SIIG USB 3.1 card, is fast, and suitable. See images...
An "ordinary", low grade SSD Kingston A400 of 120 GB on run of the mill SATA to USB3 adapter.
Someone on another forum made a very good point. Since the motherboard does not already have USB 3.0, adding a PCIe USB 3.0 card, would still limit the bus controller to USB 2.0 speeds.
This is not true. If you put some cheap pci-express usb3 add-on card into slot of usb2-only mobo, you can expect read/write speed approx. 120 MB/s on usb3 external non-ssd disk.
Nas device connected to gigabit ethernet should reach about 90 MB/s speed.
Those are some impressive numbers!
At this point, I am just happy to get the numbers I am getting, versus 34/27. After all, this connection is merely for 'backups' of data. So the transactions should only be happening around once a week, or so...
It seems you are virtually spot on. Over the past few days, in the review of my motherboard, I noticed that I had a few free SATA connections.
An idea I have is to buy a large SSD drive, and merely connect it to the motherboard directly, and use that as my 'backup', versus the 2TB USB 3.0 LaCie drive. I bet the data transfer speeds would be through the roof...! :)
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