USB 3.0 anyone? [SOLVED]

[dougal]

I bought myself a USB 3.0 Express card slot device with two ports for USB 3.0 flash drives as I do a fair bit of transferring .iso images and folders full of photos but, hey wait a minute it ain't showing up when I connect it all. Any ideas guys or am I being to premature in thinking my Linux install could handle everything?

Look forward to your thinking. Do I need a package or two?

Thanks in advance.

[dathem]

I bought myself a USB 3.0 Express card slot device with two ports for USB 3.0 flash drives as I do a fair bit of transferring .iso images and folders full of photos but, hey wait a minute it ain't showing up when I connect it all. Any ideas guys or am I being to premature in thinking my Linux install could handle everything?

Look forward to your thinking. Do I need a package or two?

Thanks in advance.

Hello, I did a google search and found this;

41 down vote accepted


Yes, Ubuntu supports USB 3.0.

Linux started supporting USB 3.0 in the September 2009 release of the 2.6.31 kernel, and Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala was the first version of Ubuntu to support USB 3.0.

Bug Alert (This bug has been fixed in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal):
In Ubuntu releases older than Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal, there is a bug in the XHCI (USB 3.0) kernel module that prevents suspend: Bug #522998.

I also found this;

USB 3.0 problem
Hi,

I found a problem with my notebook about USB 3.0 ports. Normally, if I don't connect any device to USB 3.0 during boot, they won't work. But if I connect sth at the beginning they works fine. I didn't check the speed if they work faster or not.

No solution was mentioned..................dathem


Other than the suspend issue, it shouldn't be a problem.

[pclinuxguru]

yes linux supports USB 3.0.

Yes I own a USB 3.0 1 TB HDD.

I see around 78 to 80 mbps transfer rates.

Installing Linux to it has proven a bust.

[dougal]

Well it seems I have a problem getting any benefit from the USB 3.0 setup. The system has picked up the Flash Drive I have connected through an Express Card slot in the Dell laptop but, I think the Transcend Express Card with the USB 3.0 ports may be the bottleneck. I don't think my system recognizes it as a USB 3.0 device. If it does then it is not utilizing it.
I did some speed tests by transferring the same bunch of video files to both a USB 2 drive and the USB 3 drive. The USB 2 drive was on it's own USB 2 port so as to be completely seperate.
The time difference was only a few seconds. Not what I wanted, big disappointment.
Oh well another part going up for sale unless there is some way to get the Express Card to work properly.
I did try to contact Transcend in Taiwan but, their website link is pathetic, just pushing me back to a product page instead of connecting me to email.
I look forward to any other thoughts you guys might have.

Thanks again,

Dougal.

[Niteflyte2]

yes linux supports USB 3.0.

Yes I own a USB 3.0 1 TB HDD.

I see around 78 to 80 mbps transfer rates.

Installing Linux to it has proven a bust.

A bust...eh?

OTH esata works just fine here with 100+ mbps transfer rates and HD OS installations are a treat within esata external docks and racks. Appears that USB 3.0 becoming established is lagging way behind compared the way USB 2.0 did. Could be Solid State everything will be the way.

[dougal]

Still no thoughts on the Transcend Express card guys?

[dougal]

I have done some more experimenting and found that the USB 3.0 does indeed work well and shows a significant speed increase over USB 2.0 but, only in one direction, atleast for file transfers that is. The direction of FROM the USB device to the hard drive is fast but, just USB 2.0 speed from the hard drive TO the USB device.

I presume there will be advances along the way so that the same goes for both directions... or maybe not.

Oh well not sure if this USB Key will really benefit me now, tuh!!

Thanks for all inputs on the subject.

[pclinuxguru]

Curious, thinking it is the device.

Showing 87 mbps from PC to device.

84mbps from device to pc.

USB 2.0 external showing near half that.

Perhaps it has more to do with the device ?

I know my USB 3.0 cable has the added ground (5 pins and not 4) and is quite thick and heavy.

[dougal]

That's interesting Guru although, I have no cables except the one feeding extra power through to the Express card from a USB 2.0 socket. There is a fair bit of heat comes off the USB 3.0 key too so the extra speed must really tell on the compnents.
I work with electronics and I would have thought that the people developing the USB 3.0 might have been able to keep the heat down but, maybe they can't if they want to keep the transfer rate up.

It would be interesting to see USB 3.0 in action on a desktop machine.
Not sure whether to go down the USB 3.0 or eSata route for a back-up device at work - probably eSata as it is easier to fit. I don't think there are many external drive enclosures that are USB 3.0 just now. The eSata I have at home can double to USB 2.0 if it needs to hook up to a machine without eSata connection too.

Thanks again for the input. Off for a cup of tea now. Till next time...