Archive for the 'Gadgets & Toys' Category

The External Hard Drive Post

Published
by
Josh Kim
on December 5, 2007
in Gadgets & Toys
. 0 Comments

I needed a hard drive. Instead of going all out and getting a single 1TB storage, I went for a 500 GB instead.

LaCie 500 GB d2 Quadra

Firewire is amazing for external hard drives. It’s a little bit more expensive then the single USB 2.0 options, but man… it’s a lot faster.

Plus, you really can’t buy external drives with just FireWire anymore. Usually. FireWire drives just come with USB anyway, so you’ve got some backward capability.

Yes, I just called USB 2.0 “backwards”. You’ll see why in a second.

tan ( ) : Firewire, USB 2.0 Comparison

From the site: FireWire - USB Comparison

FireWire is faster than USB 2.0 in sustained throughput.

Read Test:

  • 5000 files (300 MB total) FireWire was 33% faster than USB 2.0
  • 160 files (650MB total) FireWire was 70% faster than USB 2.0

Write Test:

  • 5000 files (300 MB total) FireWire was 16% faster than USB 2.0
  • 160 files (650MB total) FireWire was 48% faster than USB 2.0

USB 2.0: Needs a master and a slave. Peripherals are dumb. FireWire 400: Peer-to-peer. Peripherals are intelligent.

Back to the rest of the post: The Pipes

Here are some random numbers, for your pleasure.

Now, mind you, these are theoretical limits of the pipe. Doesn’t say anything about how fast the devices are running themselves. (Hooray for CS 423 - Operating Systems, this class should be required.)

Right, so how fast does a 7200 RPM 16 MB Cache hard drive read and write? This largely depends on burst and sustained… Seek time is less than 10ms… How far radially is the data stored…

I wasn’t able to figure this out. If someone can give me actual numbers, I’ll be very appreciated. So instead, I decided to run some tests.

Even better. Actual real world tests.

Using Xbench

Internal Hard Drive (SATA)

Results 37.67   
    System Info     
        Xbench Version      1.2
        System Version      10.4.11 (8S2167)
        Physical RAM        2048 MB
        Model       MacBookPro3,1
        Drive Type      FUJITSU MHW2160BHPL
    Disk Test   37.67   
        Sequential  59.52   
            Uncached Write  69.06   42.40 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Write  64.01   36.22 MB/sec [256K blocks]
            Uncached Read   41.65   12.19 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Read   76.38   38.39 MB/sec [256K blocks]
        Random  27.56   
            Uncached Write  9.86    1.04 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Write  62.81   20.11 MB/sec [256K blocks]
            Uncached Read   59.29   0.42 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Read   91.63   17.00 MB/sec [256K blocks]

FireWire 800

Results 51.81   
    System Info     
        Xbench Version      1.2
        System Version      10.4.11 (8S2167)
        Physical RAM        2048 MB
        Model       MacBookPro3,1
        Drive Type      ST350063 0AS
    Disk Test   51.81   
        Sequential  83.84   
            Uncached Write  68.96   42.34 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Write  99.59   56.35 MB/sec [256K blocks]
            Uncached Read   60.13   17.60 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Read   152.93  76.86 MB/sec [256K blocks]
        Random  37.49   
            Uncached Write  12.78   1.35 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Write  94.76   30.34 MB/sec [256K blocks]
            Uncached Read   91.12   0.65 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Read   144.77  26.86 MB/sec [256K blocks]

What the heck is going on? How the heck is my external outperforming my desktop in every single possible way?

EDIT: I had forgot to think about the RPMs. Since laptops are design for lower power consumption, normally they come with 5400 RPM drives instead of 7200 RPM, which is the one that’s in the external. Now these numbers make sense.

For fun, I performed the test for FireWire 400 and USB 2.0.

FireWire 400

Results 44.61   
    System Info     
        Xbench Version      1.2
        System Version      10.4.11 (8S2167)
        Physical RAM        2048 MB
        Model       MacBookPro3,1
        Drive Type      ST350063 0AS
    Disk Test   44.61   
        Sequential  59.75   
            Uncached Write  53.08   32.59 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Write  64.79   36.66 MB/sec [256K blocks]
            Uncached Read   50.22   14.70 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Read   78.36   39.38 MB/sec [256K blocks]
        Random  35.59   
            Uncached Write  12.97   1.37 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Write  65.63   21.01 MB/sec [256K blocks]
            Uncached Read   91.10   0.65 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Read   109.82  20.38 MB/sec [256K blocks]

USB 2.0

Results 16.61   
    System Info     
        Xbench Version      1.2
        System Version      10.4.11 (8S2167)
        Physical RAM        2048 MB
        Model       MacBookPro3,1
        Drive Type      ST350063 0AS
    Disk Test   16.61   
        Sequential  12.73   
            Uncached Write  30.12   18.49 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Write  31.23   17.67 MB/sec [256K blocks]
            Uncached Read   4.45    1.30 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Read   41.40   20.81 MB/sec [256K blocks]
        Random  23.89   
            Uncached Write  8.47    0.90 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Write  44.95   14.39 MB/sec [256K blocks]
            Uncached Read   69.71   0.49 MB/sec [4K blocks]
            Uncached Read   78.19   14.51 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Here’s a simple table output of this data.

Table of Hard Drive Test Data

In a real world test, an External FireWire 800 connection somehow managed to beat my Internal SATA drive. Again, if someone could possibly explain this data, let me know.

EDIT: Once again, I realized the error I made: Here, I thought for some reason that the internal drive had similar specs as the external. I also have a feeling that the buffer size is going to be different also due to the size difference (8 MB for internal, 16 MB for external).

Conclusion

In the end, I’m glad I made the switch to FireWire. Now all my Time Machine backups are faster, and requires less strain on the Core 2 Duo processors.

I really hope, though, that the next external data source I purchase will be a part of the Cloud… you know, the ones where I don’t have to deal with the physical media at all. No disks, no CDs, no DVDs, not even Hard Drives: Just some made up blocks of data storage somewhere.

2 hours versus 50 minutes

Published
by
Josh Kim
on November 22, 2007
in Gadgets & Toys
. 2 Comments

I will never buy a USB external hard drive again.

I love you, FireWire. Why haven’t you been in my life earlier?

Which reminds me, I need leopard even more now that I have half a terabyte of delicious backup.

I wonder if LaCie sells hard drive enclosures that are exactly like the one I bought…

Back in the ‘Nati. Cincy. Whatever. Black Friday, anyone? More hard drives? I personally need to buy some clothes…

LCD Monitors R Us

Published
by
Josh Kim
on September 19, 2007
in Gadgets & Toys
. 0 Comments

I can’t believe I spent all the hours after work looking up 24″ LCDs. Yes, it’s true… the 17″ KDS has outlived its usefulness. I need to place a large emphasis on having a large enough canvas to paint my beautiful code on. Plus, ergonomics are fast becoming priority #1. Definitely need a separate display next to the MacBook Pro.

Why 24″ you ask? Price point is around the mid- to high-level range. I remember paying more than $500 for my 17 inch. For another 5 years of good usage (hopefully), I’m willing to pay about $600 or so. Another reason is because the resolution that 24″ that come at (1900~1920×1200) is just enough to support 1080p. Also, that’s the max resolution that a single-link DVI can support… and one day, if I do need two of these suckers… I can pull the trigger with my MacBook Pro. (DualHead2Go FTW)

But geez… so much research left to do, even after hours of searching tonight. Dell 2407WFP, Samsung 244T, and Benq FP241WZ seem to be the three contenders in the field of 24″-ers. The tales of A01 to A04 revisions of the Dell 2407… how the 2405 was actually better at one point due to the 8 bit vs the 6 bit screens… gamuts… Samsung’s input lag on their 244T… the different types of LCDs used in these suckers… TN, IPS, MVA, PVA… Warranty on Dead Pixels (Samsung’s definitely winning on this one)… So… many… acronyms…

My eyes are going to bleed. At least, I’m a little bit more knowledgeable in this area now. Somehow…

A Lesson in Word-of-Mouth Advertising AKA Why the iPod Earbuds STINK

Published
by
Josh Kim
on February 27, 2007
in Gadgets & Toys and User Interface & Design
. 1 Comment

The iPod Earbuds were never that great to begin with… but being a college student (poor, poor, and poor some more) and not an audiophile, I decided they were “good enough”. I was okay with them, as long as the little black covers that came with them stayed on it to provide some kind of friction so that the dang things would say in my ear (and would provide me with SOME bass…). However, since those pearly white earbuds seemed like they were designed for maximum slippage of the black covers, I’ve lost them… after years and years of properly caring of those little thingers. It’s been a couple months since that’s happened, and I’ve coped.

No longer.

Now, I’ve been forced to just jack up my volume (JK TO THE MAX!) to be able to even hear the music… I feel like when I do that, I:

  • Waste battery
  • Screw up my hearing more than I should when in an area with lots of ambient noise, and
  • Let everyone else around in a 3 feet radius know what I’m listening to.

And that’s not something I want them to know… I like to enjoy my Korean Pop mostly alone, dancing and singing. Ahem

The Pre-Review

So I’ve been on the market for some nice earbuds. There are those that go all out for the Shure’s, but I don’t think paying more than $100 for a pair of earbuds… is going to fly with me. I was going for maybe ~$50 as the price range.

CX300-B

Randomly, I meet up with two friends who pointed me to CX300. Of course, word-of-mouth is so effective… I even got to see how they looked and felt like (didn’t put it into my ears… cuz… it’s the kind you stick deep into your ear canal… but I got the point), and get user reviews on the spot.

For some reason, I love reading personal reviews on people’s blogs or forums. They feel much more real to me than those reviews from mainstream review sites (even though those sites are actually pretty good at what they do). Like this one, which puts the CX300 head-to-head with the Sony (which I hear very bad things about… and I never like buying anything Sony, anyway… that… is yet another post…), makes me feel a lot better in putting my money in a pair of these lovely earbuds.

The Realization

Then it hit me. No longer am I dependent on TV or radio or print advertisements to tell me what I need to buy. Even more so, the way we research products is changing through the Internet.

I have a need for a product to fulfill a need in my life (listening to music). I have preferences in what features I want in that product (asymmetric cord length, middle-to-high-end quality product, ~$50). I want reviews from people, and not just any people… the people whose opinions I trust.

Identification of the product/service, search parameters, and peer reviews. It’s being done the world of Web 2.0.

And then I took another step back: The Internet is just filled with opportunities to leverage (it’s that word again… [hurl]) what people think of something, and to help others choose based on that information. So much growth is needed in this space… and I hope to fulfill that need with the next project. Or not… I might go a completely different route.

Closing

Like a good blogger who’s trying to monetize from his blog, I should go ahead and post the Amazon link to it, but it’s so cheap here. I highly suggest you wait until I get mine, though, because it does look kinda shady. Looks like it might be shipping from China… and it’s going to be taking a while to get here…