Subject: Re: Useability of NFS over USB disks
To: None <current-users@netbsd.org>
From: Martijn van Buul <pino@dohd.org>
List: current-users
Date: 09/19/2006 17:32:14
It occurred to me that joel@carnat.net wrote in gmane.os.netbsd.current:
> Anyone ever tried that ?
> Anyone knows if the USB driver on the motherboard (or on the disk rack)
> makes it better depending on the brand/version ?

It all depends on what kind of data you want to export, and on what kind
of disk you're doing that. USB2 cannot match the speed of modern (s)ata
disks, but the real issue is "will this make a real difference".

I've been using a fairly modern ATA disk in a USB2 enclosure on an 
Athlon64 over nfs (heh) and it actually outperformed the aging disk
I had in the same machine on a 'regular' ata channel. It was more than
fast enough for my purposes - mainly media shares and assorted stuff
like my (pkg)src repositories. In fact, I moved most of my media files
to an USB2 disk being served by my Asus router[1], which really isn't fast
enough to saturate the USB2 bus - but for mp3s, the +/- 3 MB/s it *does*
pump out is good enough for me, and at a considerably lower power bill.

[1] And yes, I want to have a NetBSD port on that one. (Open|Free)WRT
    stinks.
-- 
    Martijn van Buul - pino@dohd.org - http://www.stack.nl/~martijnb/
	 Geek code: G--  - Visit OuterSpace: mud.stack.nl 3333
 The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny ...' Isaac Asimov