USB 2.0 vs. USB 3.0 SATA Dock Performance

Posted on 14. Jun, 2011 by in Windows

The theoretical speed of a bus like USB is different from what devices are able to achieve in practice. USB 2.0′s theoretical max is 480Mbps, while USB 3.0 jumps that up to 4.8Gbps.

Today we’re benchmarking the Plugable USB 3.0 HDD Docking Station, which is capable of running on either USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 systems, to show what to expect in terms of performance.

While the low-level Windows drivers are different for USB 2.0 (Microsoft EHCI) and USB 3.0 (NEC/Renesas XHCI), above that layer, everything is common, using the drivers already present in Windows. This includes the existing Microsoft USB Mass Storage class driver that does much of the heavy lifting for USB-attached disks.

About the test platform:

Programs used:

HDTune (USB 2.0)

HDTune (USB 2.0)

HDTune (USB 3.0)

HDTune (USB 3.0)

CrystalDiskMark (USB 2.0)

CrystalDiskMark (USB 2.0)

CrystalDiskMark (USB 3.0)

CrystalDiskMark (USB 3.0)

ATTO Disk Benchmark (USB 2.0)

ATTO Disk Benchmark (USB 2.0)

ATTO Disk Benchmark (USB 3.0)

ATTO Disk Benchmark (USB 3.0)

Conclusion:

HDTune reports an Average Transfer Rate increase from 36.4MB/sec to 97.9MB/sec. This is about 168% faster than USB 2.0

CrystalDiskMark reports a sequential Read increase from 38.43MB/s to 107.6MB/s and a Write increase from 36.61MB/s to 88.75MB/s. That’s a 179.9% increase for Reading and a 149.2% increase for Writing.

ATTO Disk Benchmark reports a Read increase from 38402 to 105268 (KBytes/sec) and a Write increase from 35696 to 85762 (KBytes/sec) . Those are  174.12% increases for Reading and 140.25% increases for Writing accordingly.

Summary of Results

Summary of Results

If we were to get the average of the 3 tests we would get an average speed increase of 162.2%. A transfer that would take about 5 minutes on USB 2.0, would complete in roughly 2 minutes on USB 3.0.

These numbers may increase slightly in the future with USB-attached SCSI support, USB 3.0 streams, and other driver/firmware updates. But 2-3 times faster in practice is a good baseline for expectations.

We welcome any comments, corrections, or your own benchmark results.

Plugable USB 3.0/2.0 SATA Hard Drive Docking Station (LucidPort chipset) Product Details $28.95

Firmware Update for the Plugable USB3-SATA-U3 Hard Drive Docking Station

Posted on 08. Feb, 2011 by in Windows

[Updated Aug 8, 2011 to provide support for 3 TB+ drives]
[Updated July 13, 2011 to latest LucidPort firmware version 2580]

You can update the firmware of the Plugable USB3-SATA-U3 SATA dock to gain a number of features and fixes, especially for improving interoperability with the evolving set of USB 3.0 host controllers, cables, hubs, and other USB 3.0 devices on the market.

In particular, if you have a unit that works fine over USB 2.0, but drops from the bus or experiences transfer errors on USB 3.0, newer firmware may help in many situations by improving error tolerance.

Steps to update

You will need a Windows PC on which you have administrator access.

  1. Download the version 2580 firmware package for the Plugable U3, and unpack these files to their own directory
  2. Open a command prompt as administrator (see below for steps) and go to the directory where you unpacked the files
  3. Connect the Plugable USB3-SATA-U3 with a USB 2.0 cable (not a USB 3.0 cable, since if you’re seeing a problem, USB 3.0 may generate errors when talking with the device), a SATA drive must be in the dock, have the dock turned on (green LED lit), and no copy operations in progress.
  4. type “update” and hit enter to start the update.bat file to bring up a list of possible devices to update
  5. Select the “USB 3.0 LucidPort USB300″ or “USB 3.0 MassStorage” device (which is the Plugable USB3-SATA-U3)
  6. The new firmware will download to the device within a few seconds
  7. The command prompt will say “success” and go green when complete. Flip power to dock off/on at any time to reboot the dock with the new firmware

Let us know if any USB 3.0 specific problems remain after the firmware update. Visit plugable.com/support anytime.

Background on firmware changes

This firmware is for the Lucidport USB300 chipset, firmware version 2580, customized for the Plugable USB3-SATA-U3

See the LucidPort site for chip details and firmware revision history.

Here’s how to check what version of firmware your dock currently has to see if a later firmware is available.

Running a Command Prompt as an administrator

Click the Start button. In the search box, type command prompt

In the list of results, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator. If you’re prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

DisplayLink and nVidia Driver Compatibility Update

Posted on 15. Nov, 2010 by in Windows

[updated 12/3 - DisplayLink has released driver version 5.5 M1 (Dec 3, 2010) which appears to resolve all these outstanding nVidia issues. See details ... ]

nVidia’s latest Win7/Vista drivers (October 18, 2010 and later) conflict with existing DisplayLink drivers (version 5.5 Sept 29th and earlier), causing video playback and some 3D applications to not function. These problems apply to all DisplayLink-based USB graphics products, including ours.

DisplayLink is working to fix the conflicts. They’re trying to roll out updated drivers as quickly as possible, but have some work to do yet.

On Nov 15 they made available a maintenance release of the older DisplayLink driver version 5.4, called “5.4 M1″, which resolves some of the conflict, but not enough to make the solution workable.

Our recommended solution for now is to use the latest DisplayLink drivers, and stay on or move back to nVidia drivers version 258 or earlier. For Windows 7 and Vista 32-bit, you can find the nVidia drivers here. For 64-bit, find them here. These drivers do not have any of these these 3D & video playback conflicts.

Our apologies to users affected by these conflicting drivers. We hope this information helps. Feel free to email support@plugable.com or visit http://plugable.com/support/ and post a question if you have any remaining problems. Again, thank you!

[updated 11/23]

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