USB 2.0 to Gigabit NIC adapter

[ChugokuOtaku]

I copy a lotta large multimedia files over my LAN(often 4.5gigs and up), and find that 100base-T doesn't cut it anymore, so I'm planning to get a gigabit switch. My laptop and workstation both have gigabit NIC, but my HTPC doesn't, and currently it only has a single 1x PCI-E slot free which I'm saving to install an eSATA card. Little bit of searching, and I found the Belkin F5D5055, allowing me to save my PCI-E 1x and go USB instead.

my question is.... if USB2.0 only goes up to a theoretical 480mbps, then I won't be able to get true 'gigabit' transfer speed through the NIC correct?

[qviri]

Nope, and when you add USB overhead, the actual speed will probably be around 300-400 Mbps. Still quite a bit faster than 100 Mbps, of course.

Alternatively, if your HTPC's motherboard has free SATA ports, you should probably be able to use them as eSATA with the right PCI bracket.

[adrianaitken]

Your hard disk will probably max out before the USB does !!!!

[aaa]

Your hard disk will probably max out before the USB does !!!!

Actually... 480 mbits / 8 = 60 mbytes. That's not even including USB overhead. So maybe an old laptop drive would be maxed out, but not a 7k200 (guessing it's around 70mbytes), and of course not a desktop disk.

[SHoTTa35]

Typically USB 2.0 maxes out at 22MB/s - most HDDs, even 4200RPM ones can go faster than that.

to the OP though, make sure the switch you get is capable of JUMBO FRAMES otherwise you wont notice much speed difference. The LAN cards and Switch both have to support jumbo frames.

What are you gonna be saving to that esata drive though? I'm guessing you're just gonna use it for storage? If that's the case then you don't need 60MB/s a second. But hey... whatever works for you best