[ale] Microcenter Free USB sticks

Greg Freemyer greg.freemyer at gmail.com
Mon Feb 21 08:06:09 EST 2011


Define slow.

I use usb a lot in both linux and windows.  Similar performance in both.

1GB/min best case, uses rotating disk typically.

Cheap thumb drives, way slower.

These cheap thumb drives seem to require a erase cycle for every erase
block update.  It makes them painfully slow.  Ie. A erase cycle takes
longer than a head seek with rotating drives, so they are slower than
a disk randomly seeking around the platter(s).

I haven't tried to optimize the partition layout.  I've just assumed
the thumb drive manufacturer does that.  If not, repartitioning with
the partition starting on a erase block boundary should help.

Greg

On 2/21/11, Geoffrey Myers <lists at serioustechnology.com> wrote:
> Chuck Green wrote:
>> I've heard from many people that run linux off a usb stick that it can
>> take 2-3 minutes to boot.  I havent had that bad of experience though.
>
> My experiences with usb under linux is, it's bloody slow.  I don't get
> it.  From cheap usb sticks to pricey external drives.
>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 02/18/2011 05:11 PM, Chris Fowler wrote:
>>> On Fri, 2011-02-18 at 17:00 -0500, Calvin Harrigan wrote:
>>>
>>>> What did you expect for free?  Seriously though USB stick speed vary
>>>> significantly from manufacturer to manufacturer.
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Yea, I know.
>>>
>>> I'm putting a persistent UNR system on this stick for a friend.  It
>>> seems to be 2.0 but it is not very responsive.  I guess being on a slow
>>> stick and being a live image makes it worse.
>>>
>>>
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>>
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>
> --
> Until later, Geoffrey
>
> "I predict future happiness for America if they can prevent
> the government from wasting the labors of the people under
> the pretense of taking care of them."
> - Thomas Jefferson
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Greg Freemyer
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