x220 USB 3.0 Performance vs ExpressCard

[geschinger]

Has anyone done any benchmarks or testing of the internal USB 3.0 port on the Core i7 builds of the x220 laptops?  I am curious how that compares vs. going the ExpressCard route.

[orion9727]

usb 3 is only usefull if your doing large data file mobing like a ssd back up drive into notebook.
there are no other devices that will ever use that sorta bandwith.
even usb keys wont take advantage of this speed because there are usb 2 keys that have a boost and the flash in them is the limiting factor beyound that.
bottom line is usb 3 is for the future not really now.
it kinda like when sata come out and nothing could run at sata speeds untill ssd became mature.
most notebooks have esata and that is good enough for most all sata tranfers even slower ssd.
very few devices can break esata right now and pretty much most all the data backups wont because of power settings on usb type devices and they come with platter drives made to be power light.
unless you buy a ssd that has a special mini usb port and makes use of a usb host controller you wont ever find a use now for it.
those back up drives marked usb 3 is a sales pitch.
bottom line use atto to bench your device and see if it being held back.
no platter drive breaks ata 100 speeds unless it a ssd.

[ColonelONeill]

USB 2.0 is already saturated by a hard disk transfer at around 25MB/s. USB 3.0 or eSATA would remove that limitation.