Macworld 2010: OWC's Grant Dahlke demos USB 3.0 drive, fastest SSD

"The USB 3.0 drive has not yet been benchmarked by OWC, since no Macs or PCs with USB 3.0 ports have been released at this time"

USB 3.0 has been shipping on PC motherboards, PCI-Express add-on cards, external hard drive docks, and external hard drives all year guys.

You can pick up a Western Digital My Book USB 3.0 external hard drive for $179 and they throw in the PCI-Express adapter with it.

The Asus U3S6 PCI-Express card with both USB 3.0 *and* the new SATA 3.0 ports ( 6 Gbps ) is just $30.

Unfortunately since only MacBook Pros and Mac Pros ship with PCI-Expansion slots, they are the only Macs that can add-on USB 3.0 or SATA 3.0.

http://bit.ly/c1qDM9

USB 3.0 is important because its the first external hard drive connection which will not bottleneck the speed of a modern SATA drive.

As for OWC claiming to have the world's fastest SSD, that is not true. Its website is a little more honest, saying it is 'one of' the fastest drives on the market - which it is, and its definitely 'one of' the fastest.

But the fastest SSD (by a wide margin) is the C300, which is branded by both Micron and Crucial. Only Crucial is shipping it right now, and only through orders on its website.

http://bit.ly/9BV7zF

The C300 is so fast, its speed it limited by the real-world ceiling of SATA II. In order to realize its 350 MB/s speeds, you need to install a SATA 3.0 controller to your computer.

But again, unless you have a PC or Mac Pro, you're SOL in adding SATA 3.0, because PCI-Express is the only interface which can provide enough bandwidth to USB 3.0 or SATA 3.0.

Tremendous! This would be a great device to have in my travels!

LOL!

Why would they compare THE fastest SSD with a slow 5400 RPM drive? Wouldn't a comparison with another fast SSD be more appropriate? That way if OWC's SSD boots and runs CS4 apps faster than another SSD, then there is no dispute that theirs is the fastest SSD.

I have an OCZ SSD in my MBPro and it runs very fast! I can compare the specs myself and decide if there is a difference. However, OWC will have to do a better demo comparison for me to want to buy theirs.

Let the USB 3.0 benchmark controversies begin!

Interesting that there is no mention at all of FireWire 1600/3200.

That's not encouraging.

"...since no Macs or PCs with USB 3.0 ports have been released at this time."

To clarify, there aren't any DRIVERS that support it yet, but some P55 chipset boards have the physical ports already.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128409&cm_re=usb_3.0-_-13-128-409-_-Product

I like the looks of the new enclosures.

What's the deal with the Mac on the left taking so long? None of mine are that slow and they get heavy use :/