USB 3.0 External SSD vs Internal SSD SATA III

[Lery]

I'm curious about whether or not an external SSD drive connected through USB 3.0 would be faster or just as fast as an SSD connected via SATA III? SATA III speed is 6Gb /s where as a USB 3.0 connection is 4Gb /s. Although I'm not sure those would be achievable.

My goal would be to buy an external SSD drive, connected via USB 3.0, to hold some virtual machines for lab testing. I would like the portability of taking this drive with me.

 

[Bighorn]

What I see the difference to be is there are hesitations in the transfer from the computer via USB to an External drive vs Internal drive to drive. I haven't worked with an eSATA port to external drive yet, not all computers have the eSATA port.

 

[Wolfie]

It will also depend on what system resources you have available to you, RAM speed and CPU speed being the two main factors I would say!.

 

[Lery]

Probably best for me then to just go with an internal SSD.

 

[bassfisher6522]

What is this SSD going to be used for?

 

[Lery]

What is this SSD going to be used for?

Some virtual machines for lab testing and learning different things I'm interested in.

 

[BigFeet]

If it's not being used for backups, and there's no need to use it for multiple PC's, then I'd definitely go with an internal SSD. The theoretical speeds are close. The sata should be slightly faster. But for reliability, I'd want to take USB out of the equation. I've had a few connection issues with my external hdd over the years. Nothing deal breaking, but going with an internal sata connection, that's one less possible issue.

 

[Clintlgm]

With USB 3.0 actually, on new computer USB3.1 Gen 1, the factor controlling the speed of transfer is the actually hard drive itself. So the answer to your OP is they will benchmark the same.
No hard drive is going to keep up with an SSD internally or Externally, External SSD are quite fast but require Hubs cables and connector that are designed to work with high bandwidth transfers. You will know this as the will be advertised as Gen1 5gbs or Gen 2 10 GBS. The thunderbolt at 20 GBS. you have to pay attention as most cables today are for USB 2.0 and for charging cell phones. and will not stay connected during large data transfers as they are not designed for that much data moving through them.