USB Vs IDE

YellowMenace · November 1, 2013

For something like a HTPC, how will a spare USB 2.0 flash drive compare to an old IDE drive in terms of read and write speeds and for running Ubuntu?

Also: Please don't just say "jus go by ur self a new hdd" these are just spare things I have laying around and can't find the speeds.

pcexplosion · November 1, 2013

wouldn't the ide be faster because its using a controller.

TheForbis · November 1, 2013

For something like a HTPC, how will a spare USB 2.0 flash drive compare to an old IDE drive in terms of read and write speeds and for running Ubuntu?

Also: Please don't just say "jus go by ur self a new hdd" these are just spare things I have laying around and can't find the speeds.

There are different IDE transfer modes, each mode generally having a different capable speed. An IDE Drive running at Ultra DMA can reach speeds up to 167 MB/s, but USB 2.0 can only do 480 mbps (mega BITS per second). There are 8 mega bits in ONE mega BYTE, so if you divide 480 by 8 you get 60 mega BYTES per second for USB 2.0. It really depends on what you're going to be using this computer for, a USB flash drive will probably work for normal day-to-day use like web browsing and maybe light gaming, but you're just not going to get the capacity or the speed you need for anything else other than that. If you're using it for a HTPC, and you're streaming media off of a network server or something, it should work fine just to have the OS on a flash drive. Boot times would be a little slower than an internal drive, but that's about the only difference you would see. You most certainly wouldn't be able to store any movies/media on your flash drive though. Streaming would work.