Speed of USB flash memory

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ChechenPuppy · #1 Post by **ChechenPuppy** » Tue 16 May 2006, 02:12

After reading a bit from various Puppy sites, I have an impression that the issue of the SPEED of various USB sticks was not addressed yet.

I have done some research about the available USB sticks
in order to find those which I could expect to boot the fastest.
The information transfer rate of various USB sticks can vary between 1MB/s and 30MB/s. So, I think it is important to advice people about the best choice for booting purposes.

The fastest USB sticks I found are

Buffalo USB2.0 Stick FireStix R Read/Write is 32/27 MB/s
GEIL David Titan or Gold Series R/W 30/20 MB/s

Note, that all details in the name are very important.
For example, Buffalo USB2.0 FireStix S has only 28/14 MB/s.

The most reputable brands like Kingston and Verbatim
have their fastest sticks with 24/14 MB/s (e.g. Kingston Traveler Elite) while the low end ones may have only 6/3 MB/s (e.g. Kingston U3-data traveler). So, be carefull when chosing!

My own observation is that the funcy design oriented USB sticks are likely to be slow. Besides, the extras like the finger print reader may be an obstacle to making the stick bootable.

PS. Edited after the moderators have changes the thread title.

SnowDog · #2 Post by **SnowDog** » Tue 16 May 2006, 02:30

Amazing idea.
Incidentally, do you have such specs for Apacer handy steno HT202?
Just curious because I had puppy installed on it before but it was horribly slow to boot from so I kind of lost interest in that. Never occurred to me that there'd be faster ones.
Thanks for the brainfood.

ChechenPuppy · #3 Post by **ChechenPuppy** » Tue 16 May 2006, 02:49

Unfortunately, I don't have info about your stick and it is not that easy to find this information by googling.

In principle, it can be measured using the windows program HDtune but I don't know how accurate it is. I am getting lower values than expected if I use it to benchmark my GEIL USB stick.

There are seveal reviews of USB sticks:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/08/10/ ... sh_drives/

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=a ... =344&num=1#

http://www.hardware-test.dk/test_show.asp?id=4759
http://www.hardware-test.dk/ht/test_show.asp?id=4759

Add: "ATTO disk benchmark" is another windows program which enables ones to measure the speed of your USB stick.
Download the ATTO Disk Benchmark here:
www.hugesystems.com/supportspace/bench32.exe

ChechenPuppy · #4 Post by **ChechenPuppy** » Sat 20 May 2006, 07:41

I think "Puppy Foundation" could try to rise some money for development by offering fast booting USB sticks like those by Geil and Buffalo.

I actually had an opportunity to speak with Geil managers at the Cebit exhibition in Germany, and they have confirmed that they produce one of the fastest sticks on the market. They have actually turned my attention to Buffalo which has even slightly faster sticks!

BlackAdder · #5 Post by **BlackAdder** » Sun 21 May 2006, 00:05

There is a free Windows-based program called Sandra Lite from Sisoft that provides information on a number of hardware components and measure performance. It can measure the performance of an installed USB flash drive and compare it with benchmarks on several others. The result is a performance curve that shows the numbr of operations/min vs file size.
Might help you get an idea of USB flash drives that perform well.
Damn Small Linux already sell pre-loaded USB drives, and I seem to remember that a Puppy supporter did also offer USB drives pre-loaded with Puppy at one stage. No idea how popular the drives were/are.

CP · #6 Post by CP » Mon 22 May 2006, 19:12

Yes, I tried also Sandra but I was not able to make use of the information which it provides about the speed of USB drives. MB/s is more informative.

I also tried DSL before. It was easier to install but I was not impressed.
Puppy is much more interesting, though I have more difficulties with it.

I think that none of those who offered usb sticks with preinstalled OS have made a point from the booting speed. This is where Puppy could advance,
and to use the fastests USB sticks on the market!

Let it be my small idea for Puppy community!

ChechenPuppy

PS: I don't know how it could happen, but i had to reregister on this forum
from another IP in order to able to post again!

ChechenPuppy · #7 Post by **ChechenPuppy** » Mon 22 May 2006, 19:33

OK, the problem is solved (thanks to MU). I am back.

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Speed of USB flash memory

Speed of USB flash memory