[geeks] The new IPC/LX, from Dell?

[nate at portents.com]

> USB 2.0 may be about half the speed, but if it were me doing this, I'd
> want to know why the eSATA wasn't past 3x and closer to 4x the speed of
> USB 2.0

The year a drive comes out (i.e. platter density) makes a big difference
in the performance, especially average throughput, and would need to be
accounted for in any interface test, as would the make and model of the
USB/Firewire bridge chip, especially with regards to Firewire, where
Oxford bridge chips can lend a significant performance lead.

To get a sense of what platter density can mean for average drive
throughput, just take a look at how a very recent 500GB per platter drive
like the 7200RPM Samsung Spinpoint F3 performs to older drives:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2009/10/06/samsung-spinpoint-f3-1tb-review/3

(Note that average read rates even on the Samsung Spinpoint F3 are still
below the first generation peak throughput of SATA.)

- Nate