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Last post Author Topic: Is my pen-drive performing okay?  (Read 11676 times)

kyrathaba

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Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« on: September 18, 2012, 09:34 PM »
I have a 16 Gb Sandisk Cruzer pen-drive, on which I have a suite of portable apps, plus many docs I use at my place of work.

I'm just wondering if the following benchmarking results I got are decent. I know it's not gonna perform like a USB 3.0 device, because it ain't (it's 2.0).

flashBenchmark.png

^ results from Flashbench Benchmarking portable app

roadkillDskSpeed.png

^ results from Roadkil's Disk Speed portable app

kyrathaba

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2012, 07:08 AM »
Should this be moved to another area? Just wanting feedback on this device, because I'm considering ordering a couple more.

f0dder

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #2 on: September 22, 2012, 07:05 AM »
Doesn't seem too bad to me, for a pendrive. The theoretical speed limit of USB2 is 480mbit/s, which would translate to 60MB/s (and that's excluding stuff like ATA protocol overhead - dunno if the USB protocol overhead is included?). Even for harddrive enclosures, I've never had better than close to 30MB/s, leading me to think that the 480mbit/s is marketing snake-oil, and they should be saying 240mbit/s full-duplex? :)

Also: never use those drives for primary storage of anything. They go flaky without warning.
- carpe noctem

kyrathaba

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2012, 07:40 AM »
Also: never use those drives for primary storage of anything. They go flaky without warning.

Absolutely. I backup (2 x weekly, to multiple locations) my pendrive that I use at work.

Can you explain to me the difference between mbits, MiB, MB, etc, and how to convert amongst them?  I know the basic conversions (think I'm accurate on these):

1 Kb = 1024 bytes
1 Mb = 1024 Kb
1 GB = 1024 Mb

But I don't understand the mbits, MiB, MB differences.

40hz

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #4 on: September 22, 2012, 07:46 AM »
Doesn't seem too bad to me, for a pendrive. The theoretical speed limit of USB2 is 480mbit/s, which would translate to 60MB/s (and that's excluding stuff like ATA protocol overhead - dunno if the USB protocol overhead is included?). Even for harddrive enclosures, I've never had better than close to 30MB/s, leading me to think that the 480mbit/s is marketing snake-oil, and they should be saying 240mbit/s full-duplex? :)

Also: never use those drives for primary storage of anything. They go flaky without warning.


+1 x 10 on all of the above.

Especially the part about these things going bugger all with no warning.

If you have important docs on the drive, set it up to auto sync with something (preferably both your home and work machine) and make sure it does. I love keys.  I have a half dozen set up for various tasks when I'm at a client site.  I've had three different premium quality USB keys from two different "name" manufacturers die on me to date. None gave a hint of any problem before doing so.

Sync those puppies regularly.  :Thmbsup:


---

Addendum: oops! I see you posted while I was composing.

Never mind! ;D

kyrathaba

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #5 on: September 22, 2012, 07:50 AM »
I have an AutoIt script I wrote that syncs my pendrives to:

(1) a 500 GB external Memorex drive
(2) a location on my C:\ drive
(3) my Dropbox (sensitive stuff on the pendrive is encrypted)
(4) my SkyDrive (see #3)
(5) a location on my wife's laptop via our home network (if her laptop is actively connected to the network)
(6) a location on my secondary desktop-PC via our home network)

Additionally, I occasionally FTP backups to my DC space.
« Last Edit: September 22, 2012, 07:56 AM by kyrathaba »

f0dder

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #6 on: September 22, 2012, 08:04 AM »
But I don't understand the mbits, MiB, MB differences.
Well, it didn't get easier after the opensores world decided to go all SI-nazi... back in the olden days, in the context of computing, our 'k' meant 1024 (2^10), 'm' was 2^20, et cetera. People generally weren't confused - and we all knew the harddrive manufacturers used the normal-world convention when stating drive sizes, those weazely scumbags ;)

Today, pretty much all you can say for certain is that... if you see somebody using the terms KiB, MiB, kibibyte, mebibyte... then you're dealing with the old 1024-based numbers (and a basement-dwelling pedantic idealist that you shouldn't ever try having a rational discussion with). Anywhere else, you'll have to study context and guesstimate. So much for standardization.

mbit/s or mbps ought to mean the same - megabits per second - but whether they're talking about 2^20 or 10^3 depends on context. Also, you'll see the basement-dwellers claiming that zomg-it-should-be-capital-M, totally ignoring that outside extremely specific and rare situations, talking about millibits just doesn't make sense.

(I'm generally in favor of SI, because the units tend to simply make sense, compared to legacy crap like pounds and yards and inches and whatnot, I'm just not convinced in the context of computing. Especially since their 2^n unit names are so ridiculous).
- carpe noctem

kyrathaba

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #7 on: September 22, 2012, 08:09 AM »
So have I been correct in my understanding of the following, or is it only correct depending on who you talk to?

1 Kb = 1024 bytes
1 Mb = 1024 Kb
1 GB = 1024 Mb

f0dder

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #8 on: September 22, 2012, 08:14 AM »
Depends on context :) - and I'm a bit surprised that you have Mb but GB in that table. If you're in a context where one could confuse bits and bytes, spell out bits in full.

Other than that, yes, you've got the 1024-scale right. And keep in mind that storage vendors use the 10^(3n) rather than the 2^(10n) scale.
- carpe noctem

kyrathaba

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #9 on: September 22, 2012, 08:51 AM »
Heh, confusing stuff... so the storage vendors using 10^(3n) system is why the 32GB microSDHC card I bought says on the packaging:

1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes

rather than what I was given to understand, which is that:

1 GB = 1024 x 1024 x 1024 bytes

tomos

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #10 on: September 22, 2012, 08:57 AM »
Heh, confusing stuff... so the storage vendors using 10^(3n) system is why the 32GB microSDHC card I bought says on the packaging:

1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes

that's a gigabit, isnt it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabit

"The gigabit has the unit symbol Gbit or Gb"
Tom

kyrathaba

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #11 on: September 22, 2012, 09:04 AM »
that's a gigabit, isnt it?

The gigabit has the unit symbol Gbit or Gb

The packaging text indicates GB, not Gb.

Here's a scan of the packaging text from the 32GB card (I've drawn attention to the area in question by circling it in red):

Gb_or_GB.pngIs my pen-drive performing okay?
« Last Edit: September 22, 2012, 09:14 AM by kyrathaba »

tomos

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #12 on: September 22, 2012, 09:13 AM »
that's a gigabit, isnt it?

The gigabit has the unit symbol Gbit or Gb

The packaging text indicates GB, not

Here's a scan of the packaging text from the 32GB card (I've drawn attention to the area in question by circling it in red):
 (see attachment in previous post)

it would look like they're misleading us then? Which I suspect is common...
Tom

kyrathaba

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #13 on: September 22, 2012, 09:16 AM »
it would look like they're misleading us then?

Either that, or they're like me, and just confused  ;D

f0dder

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #14 on: September 22, 2012, 09:23 AM »
it would look like they're misleading us then? Which I suspect is common...
It's been like that with storage vendors for many++ years. I've heard rumors that once upon a time, they used the 2^(10n) terms, but that's from a time I definitely can't remember (way before the mibibytes-style madness). And they can definitely use the SI excuse, where capital-G means 10^9.

Also, notice the "Go" in that picture? That's the wacky french - octets rather than bytes. BAGUETTE! CROISSANT! Lé hahaha!
- carpe noctem

kyrathaba

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #15 on: September 22, 2012, 09:29 AM »
Arrrgggghhhh! I want this stuff standardized!

Shades

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #16 on: September 22, 2012, 10:02 AM »
@f0dder:
Then you should tell them that they mention octets twice (on the same line even!).   :P

kyrathaba

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #17 on: September 22, 2012, 10:43 AM »
So, like, in the following screenshot of a backup I've got running, the MiB means mega-bits, not mega-bytes, right?

backupProgress2.png
« Last Edit: September 22, 2012, 11:11 AM by kyrathaba »

SKA

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #18 on: September 22, 2012, 11:07 AM »
In yr last picture I see no MiB yes i see it now MiB =megabytes.

1 mebibyte (MiB) = 1,024 KB = 1,024^2 B =  1,048,576 Bytes

The case of second character may indicate different things -
--- megabits written as Mb - the small case second character b indicates bits
--- megabytes written as MB - the big case  second character B indcates Bytes

For data transfer speed(network)     For storage          For flash/RAM memory ?
Kb = kilobits                                  KB = kilobytes       ?
Mb = megabits                              MB = megabytes    ?
Gb = gigabits                                GB = gigabytes      ?

ofcourse many people mix up kB,Kb, and KB or mB, Mb, and MB. 
I maybe wrong -just saw this :
http://superuser.com...lobit-and-a-kilobyte

Ska
« Last Edit: September 22, 2012, 11:57 AM by SKA »

kyrathaba

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #19 on: September 22, 2012, 11:11 AM »
@SKA:  ^ I've replaced my earlier screenshot with one that has red circles drawn around the areas of interest...

f0dder

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #20 on: September 22, 2012, 11:15 AM »
MiB == 2^20.
- carpe noctem

kyrathaba

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #21 on: September 22, 2012, 11:21 AM »
2^20 = 1048576 bits (not bytes) ?

f0dder

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #22 on: September 22, 2012, 11:22 AM »
Whoops, forgot the "byte" part :)
- carpe noctem

SKA

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #23 on: September 22, 2012, 11:25 AM »
kyrathaba> SKA:  ^ I've replaced my earlier screenshot with one that has red circles drawn around the areas of interest...

Ska> I think the MB circled in your pic means megabytes.

f0dder

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Re: Is my pen-drive performing okay?
« Reply #24 on: September 22, 2012, 11:36 AM »
Ska> I think the MB circled in your pic means megabytes.
It says "MiB", not "MB" - although both would be megabytes.

Using a super-insane high-res monitor, SKA? :)
- carpe noctem