[Thinkpad] USB drive write performance (RE: HD Recommendation --Hitachi TravelStar?)

[Deanna Berman]

Didn't realize that. Thanks for pointing it out, Mike.

Deanna

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Geary" <Mike at Geary.com>
To: <thinkpad at stderr.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2007 10:13 AM
Subject: [Thinkpad] USB drive write performance (RE: HD
Recommendation --Hitachi TravelStar?)


> > From: Tim Semen
> >
> > I've been spinning the 120gb version of the Samsung Spinpoint
> > M series in this
> > http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817155704
> > external enclosure for about a year now for backups and
> > random storage.  It's attached all the time (yea, I should
> > probably consider swapping it with my CD drive since I use it
> > much more often).
> >
> > It's been flawless so far and seems to be very happy attached
> > via a single USB cable (just one plug of the double usb cable
> > the enclosure comes with) and being randomly shut down or unplugged.
>
> If Windows doesn't complain when you unplug the drive without using
"Safely
> Remove Hardware" first, it means that the drive properties are set to
> "Optimize for quick removal". This is fine if you want the convenience of
> being able to unplug the drive whenever you want. However, it also means
> that writing to the drive is slow because write caching is disabled.
>
> You have the option of setting the drive to "Optimize for performance",
> which makes writes to the drive go much faster, at the cost of having to
use
> Safely Remove Hardware before you unplug it.
>
> To change this setting, right-click any drive letter in Windows Explorer
and
> select Properties. Go to the Hardware tab, find your USB drive in the list
> and double-click it. This opens the hardware properties for the drive. Go
to
> the Policies tab and select one of the two options here.
>
> -Mike