JB7 back up to HDD and SSD - speeds and partitioning

[lesli...@hotmail.com]

Hello,

I have a JB7 bought 10 years ago and recently repaired / upgraded but still with a HDD, with 214GB of music (30,300 tracks and 2770 MP3 albums), and recently ran a new back up to the Freecom HDD I bought from Brennan at the time I originally bought the JB7. It took 6 days...

I have now bought a Seagate SSD to take the place of the Freecom as primary backup storage (and also to store other types of files eg documents; spreadsheets etc). It may / may not speed up the download (any views?). The formatting system is exFAT, so I assume that I will have to partition the Seagate to back up the JB7 in FAT32 format, which I gather from other info / posts) is all it can do. Is that the case?

Any thoughts from Forum members or Brennan team on transfer speeds and/or partitioning much appreciated. If other conversations cover these questions, then do point me in that direction.

Thanks,

Leslie

[Daniel Taylor]

I'll take a stab at this.  You're right about the new SSD needing to be formatted as FAT32.  If you want multiple partitions, only one of which would be FAT32, I don't know if the Brennan will have any problem with that or not.

I don't think the SSD will be any faster than ye olde HDD.  The speed will be determined by the slowest link in the chain, which I believe would be the USB port in this case.  As usual, I'd be glad to learn if I'm wrong (so I won't be wrong anymore).

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Leslie,

I'm not familiar with the JB7, but I have some information about the USB setup, obtained from the Brennan JB7 Knowledgebase document.

The USB port is described as 'Full Speed 12 Mbits/sec'.  By today's standards, this speed is VERY slow compared to the B2's USB ports which run at 480 Mbits/sec (40 times slower than the B2)

This all means that the transfer rate to or from the JB7 will not improve with the use of the SSD because the JB7's USB port is the limiting factor.

That was why your original backup took 6 days to complete.  That won't change with the relacement SSD unfortunately.

The SSD will need to be reformatted to FAT32, as you have said.  The JB7 recognises FAT16 and FAT32, so go for the FAT32 format.

Regards,

Peter.

[PMB]

Hi Leslie,

I think you'll find that if you format the SSD to FAT32 that it can still be used by your computer for other files i.e. the computer will still recognise the SSD even though it is FAT32 formatted.

Not sure how the JB7 will react to the other files on the SSD but I think it should ignore them. Would be doing a test.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[lesli...@hotmail.com]

Many thanks for comments on the Forum, and to me directly.

Worth posting the subsequent comment received from Paul at Brennan Support on this:

Most computers used to use FAT32 formatting but this has been replaced by more efficient formats since - the JB7 predated these developments. We have stayed with FAT32 so music from the JB7 can be shared with the B2 and BB1.

When backing up it's the amount of music being backed up that determines the time - not the HDD or SSD. The B2 will be slightly faster (around 30GB per hour) than the JB7 when backing up and also any subsequent backups are incremental so only anything not already on the backup is added - so will be much quicker.

and from Peter re backup speeds and drive formatting;

I have some information about the USB setup, obtained from the Brennan JB7 Knowledgebase document.

The USB port is described as 'Full Speed 12 Mbits/sec'.  By today's standards, this speed is VERY slow compared to the B2's USB ports which run at 480 Mbits/sec (40 times slower than the B2)

This all means that the transfer rate to or from the JB7 will not improve with the use of the SSD because the JB7's USB port is the limiting factor.

That was why your original backup took 6 days to complete.  That won't change with the replacement SSD unfortunately.

The SSD will need to be reformatted to FAT32. The JB7 recognises FAT16 and FAT32, so go for the FAT32 format.

From Leslie

Thanks again. I now have more inputs which will help me make an informed decision (which is going to take me in the direction of a B2...!) with my much loved JB7 as  an additional resource in my audio setup.