[ale] Microcenter Free USB sticks

[Ron Frazier]

This inspired me to do a bit of spur of the moment testing. I have a PNY 
Attache 4GB memory stick, which is supposed to be pretty good. I think 
it said high speed on the package, but don't remember for sure. I did 
some testing writing 5 Ubuntu ISO's to the memory stick and reading from 
the stick.

For Linux, I just dragged files in the file manager.

Linux - copy TO stick FROM internal HDD - 9.6 MBps
Linux - copy FROM stick TO internal HDD - 18.3 MBps

For comparison.

Linux - copy FROM internal sata 5400 RPM HDD TO same HDD different 
folder - ext4 -> ext4 - 29.4 MBps (It seems to me this should be much 
faster.)
Linux - copy FROM internal sata 5400 RPM HDD TO same HDD different 
folder - ext4 -> NTFS - 12.1 MBps (I found this interesting.)

I think about 30 MBps is as fast as I ever get on USB, even to / from a HDD.

Now, here's how Windows did. I used the Teracopy application to copy.

Windows - copy TO stick FROM internal HDD - 10 MBps (Slightly faster 
than Linux.)
Windows - copy FROM stick TO internal HDD - 15 MBps (Slightly slower 
than Linux.)

For comparison.

Windows - copy FROM internal sata 5400 RPM HDD TO same HDD different 
folder - NTFS -> NTFS - 18 - 23 MBps (Slightly slower than Linux ext4 -> 
ext4.)

Here's another interesting point. One other time, on another computer, I 
did some testing from ONE internal SATA 7200 RPM drive to ANOTHER 
internal identical drive on a different sata port.

Linux ~ 30 MBps
Windows ~ 60 MBps

Windows was twice as fast. Something other than the interface is slowing 
Linux down. However, I was thinking I should be over 200 MBps on both, 
considering the 3 Gbps interfaces. Also, none of these experiments even 
make the CPU breathe hard.

Sincerely,

Ron



On 02/21/2011 07:50 AM, Geoffrey Myers wrote:
> Chuck Green wrote:
>    
>> I've heard from many people that run linux off a usb stick that it can
>> take 2-3 minutes to boot.  I havent had that bad of experience though.
>>      
> My experiences with usb under linux is, it's bloody slow.  I don't get
> it.  From cheap usb sticks to pricey external drives.
>
>    
>>
>>
>>
>> On 02/18/2011 05:11 PM, Chris Fowler wrote:
>>      
>>> On Fri, 2011-02-18 at 17:00 -0500, Calvin Harrigan wrote:
>>>
>>>        
>>>> What did you expect for free?  Seriously though USB stick speed vary
>>>> significantly from manufacturer to manufacturer.
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>          
>>> Yea, I know.
>>>
>>> I'm putting a persistent UNR system on this stick for a friend.  It
>>> seems to be 2.0 but it is not very responsive.  I guess being on a slow
>>> stick and being a live image makes it worse.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>        

-- 

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier

770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
linuxdude AT c3energy.com