external HDD

[AnalCobra]

I need an new external HDD. I saw some new external cases of raidsonic for sata hdd's.
So now i've the choice between sata and ide.
The cases supports sata hdd's and you could connect these with usb and sata to your pc.
ATM i've an icy box ib-350u with an seagate 200gb hdd (IDE).
With this case i've a speed about 30 mb/s tested with hd tacho.
My question:
Has somebody of you an external sata hdd and is the speed much faster if i use an sata hdd connected with the sata slot of the external case?
With the usb port it would have the same speed like the case i use ATM.

[kukubau]

[With the usb port it would have the same speed like the case i use ATM.[/QUOTE]

The last line is a question or a statement?

I'm pretty sure it would have similar speeds or better, identical speed. It is known that SATA and IDE are similar concerning transfer rate, despite the 150 mb/s thing. The speed increase it's obvious when we talk about 10000 rpm hdd. I don't have the time now to go into technical "stuff", but if your question was "What to buy IDE or SATA?", I'd say buy whatever you fancy, with a + for SATA. Reason: thin cable

[AnalCobra]

The last line is a question or a statement?

It's both. A statement and the question if i am right!
Normally the most ide HDD's has a speed of 70mb/s but an external (usb) normally has 30mb/s because of the converter chip.
So if i use an sata and connect it with the chip (external case) and then with
sata slot of the chip into my notebook it should have some more speed because the converter chip has nothing to convert and so he couldn't take down the speed.
But if i connect it with the chip and then with usb to my notebook it should have a slower speed about 30mb/s.

If somebody has some experiences about this he
could post.:wink:

[Nikos]

Buy whatever is cheaper. My current ATA drive gives about 60MB/s. When put inside a USB case, it goes down to about 50MB/s, because that's the limit with USB 2 (400Mbps, which translates to 50MB/s).

With SATA, if the disk is able to do 60MB/s, it will maintain that speed even in the external SATA case. Also, with USB you have to consider CPU usage; it's somewhat higher with USB.

Personally, I prefer USB right now, because it's cheaper.

EDIT
@kukubau: Now that's what I call a nice avatar. Is that you? Can I have your phone number?

[AnalCobra]

You're right, it's cheaper.
I'll look a bit around, if could find a cheap sata i think i'll choose it, if not i'll choose an ide with usb or firewire.
I saw tests of some external drives and there the firewire port was in the speed tests a little bit faster but theoretical it must be slower (usb=32mb/s, firewire=38mb/s).
Does usb have 400mbps, i think it's 480mbps and firewire has 400mbps.
And the newer firewire (don't know how its called) has 800mbps.

[Methadon]

And the newer firewire (don't know how its called) has 800mbps.

Yes FireWire800 has 800 Mbps = 100 MB/s.

[NetSoerfer]

At Toms's Hardware you'll find a good comparison of different external storage options... I was going to post the results but it would have been too much for one post. Just have a look, hope it helps!

[AnalCobra]

At Toms's Hardware you'll find a good comparison of different external storage options... I was going to post the results but it would have been too much for one post. Just have a look, hope it helps!

Thanks that's really helpful