USB 3 - any use with Live CDs?

[JustInspired]

Sorry for the stupidish question but the only USB 3 piece of equipment I currently own is a Zalman virtual CD drive.

I was wondering if I should get a USB 3 card for my data recovery PC as it's one I built just before USB 3 became mainstream on motherboards.
I primarily use it with a Parted Magic CD for DDRescue and also sometimes with Mint Live CDs.
Will there be any benefit- ie will these have USB 3 support?

I just got in one of these ridiculous Western Digital Passport drives with the USB 3 interface built into the drive's control board. It's slow going on a 1TB drive especially as areas of it are damaged.

 

[JustInspired]

So 73 people don't know the answer.

I'm getting a USB 3.0 card soon so will let everyone know my findings.

 

[Xander]

The better question is why you would want to use USB for data recovery? You should always use a direct connection (SATA/IDE). Or am I misreading?

If you just mean a USB3 for the Zalman, I wouldn't sweat it. That initial speed boost while booting to the live ISO might gain you a few seconds but, once you're running, there wouldn't be a lot of data coming off that device.

 

[gravator]

I think it would have faster speeds as long as the live cd can support the usb3.

See issue thread here.
http://www.backtrack-linux.org/forums/showthread.php?t=51494

 

[tankman1989]

The better question is why you would want to use USB for data recovery? You should always use a direct connection (SATA/IDE). Or am I misreading?

If you just mean a USB3 for the Zalman, I wouldn't sweat it. That initial speed boost while booting to the live ISO might gain you a few seconds but, once you're running, there wouldn't be a lot of data coming off that device.

2nd this. No need for just booting from the virtual ROM drive.

How's that drive working for you anyway. Does it provide a menu to choose which ISO to boot from? That would be a pretty nice feature to have, especially with the collection of ISO's most of us have.

 

[JustInspired]

The better question is why you would want to use USB for data recovery? You should always use a direct connection (SATA/IDE). Or am I misreading?

If you just mean a USB3 for the Zalman, I wouldn't sweat it. That initial speed boost while booting to the live ISO might gain you a few seconds but, once you're running, there wouldn't be a lot of data coming off that device.

It's Monday morning so I forgive you Xander.

As mentioned in my first post: "I just got in one of these ridiculous Western Digital Passport drives with the USB 3 interface built into the drive's control board."

Thanks for the info and also thanks to AliceKlaar for the informative PM about BackTrack 5.

 

[JustInspired]

2nd this. No need for just booting from the virtual ROM drive.

How's that drive working for you anyway. Does it provide a menu to choose which ISO to boot from? That would be a pretty nice feature to have, especially with the collection of ISO's most of us have.

Sorry, didn't want to confuse the issue. I should not have brought the Zalman into this thread as it has nothing to do with it apart from being the only USB 3.0 device I have. My point was simply that I did not have the means of testing this out for myself - hence my original question.

I foresee a few more of these cheap external drives that have the USB 3.0 interface built in coming in for data recovery or transfer so I was simply looking for better/faster ways of dealing with them.

To answer your question - YES! the Zalman is awesome. I have tons of ISO files on there - all named nicely so they fit on the menu screen of the device. You can choose which one to boot from or launch in the case of something like an Office install disc ISO.

My only gripe with the Zalman is that the USB 3.0 connector is not very good and only works properly with a decent cable I bought to replace the one it came with.
See my post about it here: http://www.technibble.com/forums/showpost.php?p=320524&postcount=172