Two companies are using the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) as a platform to demonstrate storage devices based on the new USB 3.0 format. Seagate and Symwave worked together to have the first application of the "SuperSpeed" USB 3.0 technology in a real product.
"Symwave is honored to be working with Seagate in this show of the first USB 30 solution in a real world application of data backup, storage and media streaming," Symwave president and CEO Yossi Cohen said in a statement.
The Seagate display shows an external FreeAgent HDD supported with USB 3.0 with the speed results of a read/write test on the screen. Smywave promises 5 Gb/ps transfer speed for all streaming data, with transfers from a PC to an external HDD.
USB 3.0 promises a 10x speed increase and will be backwards compatible with the older USB 2.0 format. A 1GB file can be transferred via USB 3.0 in about 3.3 seconds, while a regular USB 2.0 1GB file transfer takes 33 seconds.
USB has had to compete against SATA, Ethernet and FireWire, though USB 3.0 supporters believe the new format will be able to trump all competitors. Microsoft, Seagate, Symware, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, NEC, NXP Semiconductors, and several other companies are on the USB 3.0 bandwagon.
The current USB data connectivity protocol hasn’t had a significant upgrade in about 10 years, and around 90 percent of all storage devices used are USB-powered devices. Even though more products are finally USB 2.0 compatible, USB 3.0 devices will first begin to surface sometime in 2010, manufacturers predict.
12 Comments
- guest
- Posts: 15288
- Posted on: 07 Jan 09 18:59
Same speed as E-SATA. Where is the improvement ?
E-Sata is not backwards compatable with USB1 and 2.
E-Sata is not a popular consumer port used by many different manufactures for many different uses
E-Sata cables are not really ment for constant movement. They are way to thin and unprotected.
eSata drives are usually connected to the motherboard like any internal SATA drive, using a standard SATA cable from the PC backplane to the motherboard, the external connection is just an extension of a that SATA cable from the motherboard. At least that is my understanding.
Maybe the software is deactivating for the same reason Windows sometimes deactivates when you change your hardware. It thinks you are on a different computer because you modified the hardware. That is lame...
The software is Phase One Capture One a professional RAW digital image conversion tool. It deactivates because it sees eSATA as a change in hardware. It is a problem in the software I have been talking with them about for many months. It would work fine if I left the external eSATA drive on all the time. However, I have 11 external hard drives with almost 200,000 high resolution digital images on them. I only spin up the drive I need for the time I need it. I use firewire and USB 2.0 because Capture One does not de-activate. I also have problems with PhotoShop...however that is quickly fixed...Phase one is not.
Now all we need is hdd's that can push past sata's limitations and can actually provide speeds that would require USB 3. Unfortunately we'll have to wait until USB 4 to come out before hdd manufacturers can fully utilise USB 3. Maybe they should have just made USB 2.5!
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