So how much faster is the new USB 3.1 MiniMag reader?

[Alex_M]

If you haven't had a chance to try it yet, the new USB 3.1 reader maxes out the minimag transfer speeds. I tested it with a 512GB minimag and compared it to the previous USB 3.0 reader, both benchmarks were done on a new maxed out macbook pro. We need faster minimags

 

[Elsie N]

I've wondered about the difference. Thanks for doing this.

 

[Stacey Spears]

If you haven't had a chance to try it yet, the new USB 3.1 reader maxes out the minimag transfer speeds. I tested it with a 512GB minimag and compared it to the previous USB 3.0 reader, both benchmarks were done on a new maxed out macbook pro. We need faster minimags

Thank you for sharing. Would love to see the same data compared to eSata.

I had to readers arrive today. I always like to have a backup.

 

[Alex_M]

Not sure what you are trying to say. USB 3.0 can't keep up with the max speed possible on those red minimags, but usb3.1 can. That's all what this was supposed to verify. Speed gains are moderate but gaining another 100mb read average can make a huge difference when offloading media. USB 3.1 will not magically make the minimags perform faster, but it makes them perform as fast as the current gen can go.

What do people not understand about PCI-e architecture and shared I/O lane allocation, devices do not magically go faster because they're usb3 or usb3-C or thunderbolt or esata, next some one will ask how much faster FireWire is over Thunderbolt or how much faster a red cable is over a blue cable, by that logic I'm sure maybe the reader secretly replaces the red SSD controller firmware so it goes faster when you're not looking at it.

I am being humerously facetious, but in reality.....

The only reason it would go faster is if it's not sharing a lane with any other device, besides that USB-C is bi-directional and thunderbolt has multiple lanes, but the max achievable speed of the red media is the same for usb3, usb3-C, esata, and thunderbolt, and probably between 225 - 250 MB/s for most red SSD card controllers.

The speed test above isn't very indicative of usb3 vs usb3-C speeds because there's not any real comparison or notes about how/what was tested. So I'll just say 10 Gb/s is roughly 1,250 MB/s.

 

[Alex_M]

The only esata adapter I have handy is usb3.0 so that won't make much of a difference.

Thank you for sharing. Would love to see the same data compared to eSata.

I had to readers arrive today. I always like to have a backup.

 

[Mike P.]

At ~475mb/s that's roughly a ~8 mins per 256gig card (~240gb data)... not bad.

 

[Steve Conry]

I think that would be closer to 8-9 minutes for a 256GB card

 

[Tom Gleeson]

Another factor that should be taken into account is that most laptops only have the one bus so while a USB 3 may be capable of a theoretical 625MB (never seen it) if you have multiple devices like a Minimag Reader an external SSD drive and maybe even a few other devices no single port will be able to work at its maximum. Alternatively I would assume USB3.1 Gen2 with double the transfer rate should allow a Minimag Reader and a fast SSD drive to work closer to their maximum capabilities.

 

[Daniel Reed]

Another factor that should be taken into account is that most laptops only have the one bus so while a USB 3 may be capable of a theoretical 625MB (never seen it) if you have multiple devices like a Minimag Reader an external SSD drive and maybe even a few other devices no single port will be able to work at its maximum.

Well, for me with the original USB3.0 reader and 512GB MiniMags:

There is only a 10MB/s difference in both R/W between having no other USB devices plugged in and the reader connected straight to a USB3 port, verses two(2) additional USB3 volume devices plugged in and all connected via a powered USB3 hub.

 

[Tom Gleeson]

Daniel,

I assume just having other devices plugged in would have a limited affect but if you had a Redmag reader plugged into USB3 and you were transferring to a fast SSD external drive also plugged into USB3 on the same laptop you would likely exceed the maximum bandwidth as both devices are on the same bus. If you were on a USB3.1 machine you would likely see better results. If you are using bog standard spinning hard drives you are probably not maxing out a USB3 machine. My assumptions are just that and only based on first principles and so would love to see some actual tests. The devil is in the detail.