USB 3.0 necessary on a new router?


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I'm looking to replace my router.  Some offer USB 3.0 ports for NAS support.  If using a standard 7200rpm hard drive, will I see a performance increase using USB 3.0 as opposed to a gigabit Ethernet or USB 2.0 connection?  Thanks in advance!

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Yes, you will see better speeds with usb 3.0. USB 2.0 only has about 35 MB/s bandwidth, tops, which will bottleneck a modern 7200rpm hdd.

 

Gigabit Ethernet vs usb 3.0 however you wouldn't see a difference, because the hdd can't saturate either.

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At a rate of 640 MB/s USB3 will definitely yield performance improvements even with a mechanical hard drive over USB2 at 60MB/s.

 

EDIT: Also gigabit ethernet maxes out at ~125MB/s so more than likely no it won't be a bottleneck unless you have a HDD capable of going above that. Though with most drives I know you'll just be hitting the top end.

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