USB speeds
Although the theoretical speed of USB3.0 and Thunderbolt interface should be 10 times faster than USB2.0, its practical speed is limited by the physical hard drive and only marginally better. Often, manufacturers advertise theoretical interface transfer speed. For example, Apple calls it I/O Performance and LaCie calls it Interface Transfer Rate.
Also manufacturers use different units of measurement. LaCie uses Mbits/s or MB/s (Mbits = 8 x MB/s). Apple uses Gbs. Gbs is the same as GBit/s = 8 x Gbyte/s, Gbs = 1000 Mbits/s.
PC versus Mac
USB3.0 is a PC standard. Mac desktop or notebook will work with USB3.0 drives in slower USB 2.0 mode. Additional USB3.0 adapter and software are required to use USB3.0 advantage on Mac.
PC and Mac | Mac only | ||
---|---|---|---|
USB 2.0 | USB 3.0 | Thunderbolt | |
Single hard drive | 30 | 130 | |
Raid0 | 30 | 160 | 200 |
RRP Price per 1 TB of data | $185 | $200 | $325 |