• USB 3.0 vs. SATA 3.0

    USB 3.0 vs. SATA 3.0

    Jayesh Limaye, Mar 25, 2010 1144 hrs IST

    Two new interfaces for storage devices make big promises. Let's find out which one really delivers.

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For years we have been stuck with slow data transfer speeds between storage devices, and now suddenly we have two new interface standards that promise to make slow data transfers a thing of the past. Enter USB 3.0 and SATA 3.0. We have tested both these interfaces and already have the results ready for you to decide which one is truly revolutionary and to be looked forward to. But first, let us look at what exactly these two new technologies are all about.

SuperSpeed USB or USB 3.0

After the agonizingly slow speeds of USB 1.1, USB 2.0 was a huge leap, as it increased the data transfer speeds by almost three times. USB 2.0 has a maximum data transfer speed of 480 Mb/s. Now, USB 3.0 has a maximum data transfer speed of 4.8 Gb/s, which is ten times that of USB 2.0. This bandwidth is even more than that offered by the SATA 2.0 3 Gb/s hard drives currently available. Naturally, the fastest hard drives available today can achieve its maximum potential when used as an external hard drive with USB 3.0 interface.



USB 3.0 connector

Being backward compatible, USB 3.0 connector plugs can be easily used with older USB ports on PCs and laptops and the speeds will automatically drop back to that of the older interface. The connector plug looks similar to the older USB connector plug, but a closer inspection reveals the presence of five new pins alongside the original four. These extra data lanes enable SuperSpeed performance.

It goes without saying that due to the addition of five extra lanes, the USB 3.0 cable is different and thicker than its older counterpart. USB 3.0 ports work with older cables as well, thus allowing you to plug in an old USB 2.0 hard drive. However, one problem that you may come across is, a USB 3.0 cable cannot be plugged into a USB 2.0 device, but that is understandable. USB 3.0 plugs can be easily differentiated from USB 2.0 plugs because manufacturers color code USB 3.0 plugs with blue plastic. Note that a USB 2.0 micro-USB plug can easily be plugged into a part of the USB 3.0 port on devices and it works in the USB 2.0 mode.

SATA 3.0 (SATA 6 Gb/s)

The SATA interface has been getting comparatively regular upgrades as it progressed from SATA 1.0 or 1.5 Gb/s to SATA 2.0 or 3 Gb/s and now to SATA 3.0 or 6 Gb/s.  After taking into account SATAs 10-bit encoding overhead, the effective bandwidth of this latest interface comes to 600 MB/s, which is twice that of its predecessor. It would seem that with SSDs threatening the very existence of mechanical hard drives, SATA 3.0 is the savior it has been looking for. But we'll know about that only after going through the test results.


SATA 3.0 cable

SATA 3.0 is backward compatible with older SATA interfaces, thus you can use SATA 3.0 devices with your existing motherboards with older SATA ports. The resultant connection will be equivalent to the older SATA interface. Likewise, older SATA devices can be used with SATA 3.0 ports, but the connection will only be equivalent to the older SATA interface. To get true SATA 3.0 connection, the device, port, as well as the cable have to be certified SATA 3.0.


Availability




USB 3.0 card





SATA 3.0 card


USB 3.0 and SATA 3.0 add-on cards are available to allow easy and inexpensive upgrade to the new interface. These cards work with a PCI Express slot. The other, but more expensive way is to upgrade to a new motherboard featuring these interfaces, though there are not many around at present.

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Discussion Board
(15) Comments
Chandra
,Chennai, on Mar 25, 2010 12:26 PM
Quoting from above: "However, one problem that you may come across is, a USB 3.0 cable CANNOT be plugged into a USB 3.0 device, but that is UNDERSTANDABLE" How come??
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Rohitasch
,New Delhi, on Dec 29, 2011 01:32 AM
Lol! He's all mixed up between an e-sata and a USB 3.0 port, or perhaps an arse and a USB port!
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Jeremy
,Lancashire, on Mar 25, 2010 08:05 PM
clearly, you uneducated indian morons could not have the brain to understand that this article is not really a review or a speed race between these two interfaces, but rather a view about which of these two new technologies will have a higher impact on us
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P.S
,Chennai, on Nov 17, 2011 09:09 PM
HEY USB itself is first developed in INTEL by INDIAN AMERICAN AJAY V.BHATT.Dont call Indians uneducated
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Nihal Adsul
,Mumbai, on Mar 25, 2010 12:35 PM
Why not mention the price of the USB 3.0 & SATA 3.0 PCI-E cards. That would enable a majority of PC users to decide whether to upgrade & whether the price-performance ratio makes the upgrade viable enough.
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nik
,mum, on Mar 29, 2010 12:15 PM
last time i checked, a SATA 3 card was for around 900 rupees while USB 3 card was for 1300 rupees
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no one
,no where, on Mar 28, 2010 02:22 AM
@ Jayesh Limaye you wrote "The fact remains that while SATA 3.0 is faster than USB 3.0, it is still not really much faster than its predecessor SATA 2.0". And you used Seagate Barracuda XT 2 TB hard drive which is Disk based drive and limited by it read and write speed ;D . You should have reserved your conclusion for SATA 3.0 until you had tested it with SSD.
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sigmund
,helsinki, on Mar 28, 2010 10:14 AM
@no one, he does mention this fact in the article if you read it correctly. he also mentions that the price of the SSDs are prohibitive at present and so it is clear to me that this advantage is not to be considered
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Gadget Guy
,Hyderabad, on Mar 27, 2010 01:16 PM
Bahh... USB 3.0 & SATA 6Gbps devices are in their infancy at this point. It's best to wait a couple of months instead of getting these addon cards now. What many people fail to realize is that the core problem lies with the current Motherboards as most of them especially the Intel ones do not provide sufficient PCI Express bandwidth as they use PCI Express 1.1 links for USB 3.0 & SATA 6Gbps which lead to bottlenecked bandwidth. an x1 PCI Express addon card also wont serve the purpose as the 250 MB/s of PCIe 1.1 becomes the major bottleneck. Only few high end MOBOs offer PCIe switches for bandwidth management or employ a PCIe bridge like the Nvidia NF200
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cerebro
,chennai, on Mar 27, 2010 06:08 PM
what the hell have you been smoking out there? translation: you are out of your senses
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Manish Jeenwal
,New Delhi, on Mar 25, 2010 04:20 PM
the review should have been between esata interface and usb 3.0
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Dude
,Dude, on Mar 25, 2010 03:46 PM
He contradicts himself: "Being backward compatible, USB 3.0 connector plugs can be easily used with older USB ports and the speeds will automatically drop back to that of the older interface." "However, one problem that you may come across is, a USB 3.0 cable cannot be plugged into a USB 2.0 device, but that is understandable"
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Chetan
,Pune, on Mar 25, 2010 02:38 PM
This is a silly article. It doesn't matter if the ext hard drive is connected via usb3, the hard drive inside the case is still connected via a SATA interface to the cases logic board. While there's no arguing that usb3 is better than usb2, comparing it to sata is like comparing apples to oranges.
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anshu
,melbourne, on Mar 25, 2010 01:08 PM
@chandra: I guess the writer made a mistake here....The correct sentence should be: "However, one problem that you may come across is, a USB 3.0 cable CANNOT be plugged into a USB 2.0 device, but that is UNDERSTANDABLE"...
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zippo
,varanasi, on Mar 25, 2010 02:24 PM
i totaly agree with anshu , if i cant plug in USB 3 into a device having USB 3 what is the use of having a USB 3 cable and if i plug it in USB 2 device transfer speed goes down , still USB 3 ccable will be useless
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