I just got a new hdd to store my libs on and was wondering if it'll read/write slower if it is connected thru a usb docking station instead of hooked up internally, any of you wonderful people know?

 

not a prob if usb3

 

so it is a prob since it's usb 2.0?

 

Yes. USB2 speed in practice is about 35 MBytes/sec and a modern HDD easily passes 130 MBytes/sec max.

If you don't have USB3 both on the computer and dock station get an eSATA dock station. I discovered them several years ago, one of the best inversions of my life.

 

Or just upgrade to USB 3 with a PCIe card. That's what I did, and it's worth every cent.

 

I've got USB 3 within my PC, but my docking station doesn't support it.
Would there really be a difference when running Kontakt libraries? I suppose I'll just hook it up internally.

 

Yes, definitely. Libraries with samples packed in bigger files (forgot the extension) will load much faster, libraries with tons of separate samples will still load noticeably faster too. Only thing to improve loading times of the latter would be a SSD as they have much shorter access times, but defragmenting the HDD can help too.

 

eSata is the most reliable connection for external drives, its actually (almost) the same like connecting it internally. When you have the eSata i/o on your mainboard i'd prefer it over usb 3. Maybe get yourself a eSata/USB3 dock

usb 2 isnt meant for this purpose.

 

This is my docking station:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182221

I guess I got it years ago cause it was so cheap and I needed something from an hd I had

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1DS28Y2007&Tpk=esata dock - ignore the guy who tells he cant get this to work with the wd drives as its very unlikely

2bay USB3 only : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1DS3CG5700

 

Last edited: Jan 4, 2016