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I am looking into getting a new hard drive and I need one that can at least read and write at 4Mbs (but I want to make sure it has more) but I can't work out from the info I am five about the hard drive it can do that.

I have been looking at this one so would this be able to do 4Mbs?

If not can you put me in the direction of a external hard drive with USB connection that will read and write at this speed?

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Dani AI

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First, check units: "4Mbs" is ambiguous. Hard-drive throughput is normally given in MB/s (megabytes per second). 4 MB/s = 32 Mb/s. Most modern disk assemblies and USB 2.0 ports easily exceed 4 MB/s, so is broadly right — but the interface or enclosure can be the bottleneck, which explains seeing only ~3.6 MB/s.

What to look for on a product page or datasheet

  • Interface type: USB 1.1 (12 Mb/s theoretical) cannot reach 4 MB/s; USB 2.0 (480 Mb/s theoretical) can. For internal drives look for SATA or ATA interface speed.
  • Manufacturer "sustained data transfer rate" or "streaming" number (not just cache/burst).
  • RPM and platter density: higher RPMs and newer high-density platters give higher sustained sequential throughput.
  • If the drive is in an external enclosure, the USB<->SATA bridge chipset can limit speed.

If the spec page does not list sustained MB/s, find the drive model on the manufacturer site or the datasheet; that value is the most reliable indicator. See general background on drive properties and interfaces here: Hard disk drive.

Quick practical test (real-world sustained speed)

  • Copy one large file (several hundred MB or more) and time it; small-file copies are always much slower.
  • Calculate MB/s = file_size_in_MB / seconds_taken (for example, 100 MB / 25 s = 4 MB/s).
  • Repeat the test to avoid transient caching effects and use a large test size so you measure sustained rather than burst-to-cache.

Troubleshooting if speeds are low

  • Check that the port and cable support USB 2.0 or better; try a different USB port or cable.
  • For internal IDE/PATA drives check that DMA is enabled in the OS.
  • External enclosures sometimes use older bridge chips; prefer drives sold with explicit USB 2.0/3.0 or eSATA specs.

For a safe margin, choose an external drive or enclosure that explicitly lists USB 2.0/3.0 (or eSATA) and a sustained transfer rating well above 4 MB/s; that avoids surprises from bridges, cables, or drivers. For more on USB speeds see USB 2.0.

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Member Avatar for mikeandike22

most hard drives will go fast enough to meet your expectations depending on how new the hard drive is(ie:if it was released in the past 2-3 years your fine). I think this one should be fine i cant tell you for sure.

Member Avatar for Ragnarok

I bought my laptop 6 months ago and it seems to only do 3.6Mbs so I don't wanna take chances

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