Moving files quickly

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Sly

Supreme [H]ardness
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Aug 17, 2004
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My friend and i trade a lot of files and i've been wondering what's a good way to move files quickly.

Normally i just bring an external harddrive but moving files through that takes an hour.

So i was wondering if i could bring my netbook (LAN), the external drive (USB), and an SD card (USB Card reader). Then use all of that simultaneously and hopefully move files maybe three times faster.

Will that work? Or will his PC just choke?
 
I have an e-sata port, and considered getting an external drive for it, but the rest of my friends aren't exactly ahead of the technology curve, so having an e-sata isn't much help.

And my netbook doesn't have gigabit lan.
 
Does your friend have USB 2.0? If he's stuck on usb1 and your drive is usb2.0 capable then maybe have him get a usb 2.0 PCI card. I'm not sure but I think USB bandwidth is per usb controller, not per device. You probably won't see any advantage to using multiple devices at the same time.
 
Also, try the freeware lightweight copying / moving program known as teracopy. http://www.codesector.com/teracopy.php

It lets you tweak some cache settings to enhance copying, and is VASTLY superior to the built-in copying / pasting methodology. Its a lot faster, and is resumable in case of interruption. Works fantastic over a LAN etc.
 
Sly said:
I have an e-sata port, and considered getting an external drive for it, but the rest of my friends aren't exactly ahead of the technology curve, so having an e-sata isn't much help.
Click to expand...

There are a lot of eSATA/USB enclosures, so you can get the speed increase when available but still be compatible with older systems. eSATA won't help at your friend's if he doesn't have it, but it would at least speed up the copying on your end. Also, many come with an internal SATA to eSATA adapter. If you don't need it and he has an extra internal SATA port, you may be able to "add" eSATA to his PC. See http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817173043 for an example.
 
A year+ from now, your best option will/may be USB 3.0, assuming we get it by then.

Your best bet for now sounds like an enclosure that will do eSata or USB 2.0.

Either or.

So, at home, you have the speed of eSATA, and you can fall back on USB 2.0 on the road.
Many of them come with the "slot-cover adapter, piggtail widget thing" (whatever it is called).
You can take this widget with the enclosure on the road in case someone without eSATA is adventurous enough to let you plug the widget into a SATA port on their motherboard. Instant eSATA.

My only gripe with eSATA until now is that the connection to the port is not totally secure.
As in, the cable can fall out of the eSATA port.

So, using eSATA, make damned sure that the eSATA cable is plugged in snug as can be.

Bottom line: you get one of these external kits, and some kind of bag to carry it with all the USB and eSATA accessories you may need, and perhaps a small surge protector and you are done for about $50. (not including the bag or the surge protector)
 
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