Esata or no Esata?

[imran999]

Hi,

I am purchasing a media player soon and my options are either the Acer Revo R3610 or R3700. The secondary use of this machine would be to act as a NAS drive.

The R3610 has an Esata port but slower processor n lower spec graphics where as the R3700 has faster processor and higher spec graphics but only has usb2.0 connections. Both machines feature gigabyte ethernet port.

My dilemma is this, if i attach a 2TB drive to either of the machines via the external ports,

would i see a difference in transfer speeds over wired LAN to and from the machine whether it be USB2.0 or Esata?

 

[imran999]

Also, does it make a difference to speeds to which type of enclosure I get for the 2TB drive?

 

[thiggins]

Transfer rate to a USB 2.0 drive will top out around 25 MB/s. eSATA should get you twice that.

I doubt you'll see any performance difference between single-drive eSATA (or USB) enclosures.

All this assumes you are using Gigabit Ethernet. 100 Mbps Ethernet will limit your transfer throughput to 12.5 MB/s.

 

[imran999]

I am just using ethernet Lan at the moment, so 12.5mb would be max transfer rate either way.

My setup at the moment is, Router linked to 85mb homeplug, which then goes to either the main pc upstairs (connected via homeplug) or to the homeplug behind the TV/PS3/Dreambox/XBOX360/Revo unit.

The only main benefit of gigabyte ethernet i guess would be faster transferring of data between the planned Revo Nas unit and my main pc.

To make use of the gigabyte port, would i require to upgrade my router and 85mb homeplugs?

 

[thiggins]

The powerline connections are limiting your performance. Even if you upgraded to HomePlug AV (200 Mbps) you would see best case only 40 Mbps / 5 MB/s.

So it doesn't matter if you use USB or eSATA drives unless you use Gigabit Ethernet to connect.