USB Upload Speeds

alinia · #1 (**permalink**) 10th Dec 2006, 11:30 am

Hi, just a general question

I've tried the stopwatch method to get my USB transfer speed - uploaded a 1MB file to my MP4 player in 11 seconds - not good, since that makes it about 90kBps.

So I wanted to ask - what should the speed be? And, if it should be higher, what could be the reason - the cable, the port (I've tried all of them

)...

Well... maybe I'll live with 90kBps, maybe not - the product description sure said USB 2.0 ...

tadad1 · #2 (**permalink**) 10th Dec 2006, 2:23 pm

alinia, The USB 2.0 specification, meaning it works with USB and Hi-Speed USB systems, cables, devices and peripherals, not that it runs at those higher speeds. Because of this compatibility, weasely manufacturers will apply the USB 2.0 description to their product, when what they mean is that the product is "compatible with USB 2.0".

I did a SiSoft Sandra benchmark on 2 of my players:

The ATJ2085 player which appears in Device Manager as a Generic USB Disk Device
2MB File Test
Read Performance: 1024kB/sec
Write Performance: 751kB/sec

The CTW500 player which appears in Device Manager as a USB2.0 (HS) Flash Disk (the newer chips CTW500, ATJ2091, ATJ2097 support HS high-speed transfer)
2MB File Test
Read Performance: 44885kB/sec
Write Performance: 36557kB/sec

Hope this helps.

admin · #3 (**permalink**) 11th Dec 2006, 8:48 pm

When people say "USB 2.0" there are actually two very different variations.

* Full-Speed USB, which is essentially USB 1.1 relabelled and called "USB 2.0". Full Speed USB is only 12Mbits/second.

* Hi-Speed USB mode is capable of a much faster 480Mbits/second.

More information here: http://www.everythingusb.com/usb2/faq.htm

Hope that helps.