• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Support: 02381 800671 Sales: 02380 070101 sales@century-it.co.uk @ExpertITSupportRemote support Log a ticket

Century IT ServicesCentury IT Services

IT Services in Southampton, Hampshire

  • Home
  • Services
    • Reactive Break-Fix IT Support Contracts
    • IT Support and IT Maintenance Contracts
    • Proactive IT Monitoring
    • Fully Managed IT Services
    • IT Installation Services
    • Office VoIP Phone Systems Installation
    • Cloud IT Services | Office 365
    • Virtual Private Networks | VPN’s
    • IT Asset Management
  • GDPR Advice
  • Finance Options
  • About us
    • About us
    • Our Team
    • Join our team
    • Testimonials
  • News
  • Contact

Proactive IT Monitoring

USB 2.0 vs USB 3.0 Transfer Speeds

7th February 2019 By Paul Marsh

Introducing USB3.0

USB 2.0 vs USB 3.0 Transfer Speeds

Since around 2005, USB2.0 has been the dominant standard for connecting external devices such as hard disks, tape drives, digital cameras, memory sticks, wireless cards etc.

If you have connected any external device to a computer over the last 10 years, the chances are that you will have used USB2.0

USB 2.0 vs USB3.0
USB 2.0 vs USB3.0

More recently, USB 3.0 has begun to emerge. Any newly purchased computer will likely have USB3.0 ports.

USB2.0 versus USB3.0 Transfer Speeds

The main improvement is transfer speed: USB2.0 has a maximum speed of 480 mbps (megabits per second)

Whereas USB3.0 is capable of a whopping 5 Gbits/s (5000 mbps), or a 10x speed increase.

This means that if it takes an hour to transfer some data to a USB2.0 device, it could take as little as 6 minutes using a USB3.0 device.

This means that copying data to an External Hard Drive, Digital Camera, Printing a large Document, accessing USB Memory Sticks are instantly up to 10 times quicker!

So if you have a large amount of Data, it will be noticeably quicker, although if only a small amount of data to copy, then you might not necessarily seen much apparent difference

As with previous versions, USB3.0 is fully backwards compatible, therefore any USB2.0 device will work when plugged into USB3.0 ports. USB 2.0 vs USB 3.0

Another major advantage is that USB3.0 devices will work with USB2.0 ports, though obviously at a decreased transfer speed. Therefore, it will not be necessary to replace computers, or add an expansion card, just to use these new devices. USB 2.0 vs USB 3.0

Be aware that when using a USB 3 device and plugging it into a USB 2 port, it will not operate at the maximum potential speed and will instead operate at the ports speed, this being USB 2 speed. The same applies for USB 1.1

If your computer doesn't have on on-board USB 3.0 ports, you are likely able to install a USB plug-in card if you have a compatible internal slot within your computer. USB 2.0 vs USB 3.0

Would you like to Read our Article on comparing USB 1.0 and USB 2.0?

Filed Under: News Tagged With: I.T Installation Services Dorset, I.T Installation Services Hampshire, I.T Installation Services Surrey, I.T Installation Services Sussex, I.T Installation Services Wiltshire, IT Maintenance Contracts, IT Maintenance Contracts Dorset, IT Maintenance Contracts Hampshire, IT Maintenance Contracts Surrey, IT Maintenance Contracts Sussex, IT Maintenance Contracts Wiltshire, Managed IT Services Dorset, Managed IT Services Hampshire, Managed IT Services Surrey, Managed IT Services Sussex, Managed IT Services Wiltshire, Proactive IT Monitoring, Proactive IT Monitoring Dorset, Proactive IT Monitoring Hampshire, Proactive IT Monitoring Surrey, Proactive IT Monitoring Sussex, Proactive IT Monitoring Wiltshire

Hard Disk – Legacy vs Hybrid vs SSD

7th January 2019 By Admin

Hard Disk - Legacy vs Hybrid vs SSD

The Hard Drive inside a computer is the device that hold all the files and data that make your operating system run, as well as holding all of your personal documents, photos, music, videos and other files. Hard Disk - Legacy vs Hybrid vs SSD.

They commonly look like a solid rectangular lump of metal from the outside, but inside of the average Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is a complex setup of magnets, spinning disks and an extremely precise actuator arm and head. Hard Disk Comparison - Legacy vs. Hybrid vs. SSD

The traditional Hard Disk works by using one or more fast spinning (typically between 5400 and 10,000 rpm) magnetically coated platters.

A head on the end of an actuator arm skims above these platters by a miniscule amount. Typically between 3 and 100 nanometres, or a distance 800 times smaller than the width of the average human hair.

The head reads and changes the polarity of blocks on the magnetic coating in order to store data in tracks across the disk as it spins. The time it takes for the head to move to the correct track on the disk to read or write is known as seek time, and in the common desktop Hard Disk, will take around 9ms.

 

Everything is Stored Magnetically

Hard Disk comparison - Legacy vs. Hybrid vs. SSD | IT Support Southampton | IT Support Hampshire
Hard Disk comparison - Legacy vs. Hybrid vs. SSD

Because everything is done magnetically, the data is still stored even after power is taken away from the drive.

 

Unfortunately, due to the precise and delicate nature of standard Hard Disk Drives, they are all prone to failure at some point and it is inevitable.

 

Precisely when a drive is going to fail is unpredictable and with storage sizes of the drives being so large (Upwards of 8TB in some cases), often a lot of data can be lost within the blink of an eye.

Backing up data is always a good idea, even if the drive is very new, and can save a lot of frustration and anger when it does stop working.

 

Despite this however, traditional hard disks are still used in many computers from new as they offer a cheap method of storage. A 500GB drive can be purchased for as little as £35 and most low-end consumer machines will use this type of drive, though they are slowly being phased out in preference of SSD’s.

 

Drives with this sort of storage capacity are often shipped inside of newly bought mid-range computers, and with higher end computers commonly having 1TB and up sized drives.

 

Solid State Drives

Hard Disk comparison - Legacy vs. Hybrid vs. SSD | IT Support Southampton | IT Support Hampshire
Hard Disk comparison - Legacy vs. Hybrid vs. SSD

Solid State Drives (SSD) are becoming the normal storage type found in mid-range machines and are widely consider to be a better option than a traditional hard disk.

Advantages of Solid State Drives include no moving parts, completely silent operation, fast performance, cooler operation and better durability.

Solid state drives work in a similar way to a USB memory stick or the inbuilt storage in your mobile phone, where the data is stored on a chip as opposed to a spinning disk.

Because there are no moving parts to wait for, the operation speed of a Solid State Drive is often extremely quick when compared to its Hard Disk predecessor and are a worthwhile upgrade to any machine that will provide a noticeable speed increase.

 

 

Solid State Drive Disadvantages

Hard Disk comparison - Legacy vs. Hybrid vs. SSD | IT Support Southampton | IT Support Hampshire
Hard Disk comparison - Legacy vs. Hybrid vs. SSD

Solid State Drives do have their downsides however, one of these is that should a Solid State drive fail, then it will normally fail suddenly with no prior warning like a traditional hard disk.

A traditional hard disk drive often may continue to work long enough after warning of a failure for you to back up any data before it fails completely. Hard Disk - Legacy vs Hybrid vs SSD

Solid State drives are a little more expensive per GB of storage, the extra cost is well justified.

If you buy a 500GB Solid State Drive, currently you would be looking at spending around £50 as opposed to £40 for the traditional hard disk counterpart. The performance difference between the two drives would be immediately noticeable, with the computer starting up far faster, applications loading quicker and files opening in an instant. Hard Disk Legacy vs Hybrid vs. SSD

 

Hard Disk comparison - Legacy vs. Hybrid vs. SSD | IT Support Southampton | IT Support Hampshire
Hard Disk comparison - Legacy vs. Hybrid vs. SSD

Hybrid Drives

Hybrid Drives, or SSHD’s are also an option, though the market and choice for them is small.

They are designed to introduce some of the speed advantages of a Solid State Drive with the capacity advantages of a traditional Hard Disk Drive.

An SSHD will typically have around 8GB of SSD storage in it which it uses to intelligently cache the most commonly used and accessed files on the system. Hard Disk Comparison - Legacy vs. Hybrid vs. SSD

In most cases this will be the operating system boot files, meaning that the computer will start up faster, but may not load programs, games or files any quicker than a normal Hard Disk Hard Disk Legacy vs Hybrid vs. SSD.

Hybrid drives are largely redundant now, as the cost of SSDs is considerably less than when the Hybrid Drives were first released to fill a gap in the market.

 

NVMe SSD Drives

Finally, the most recent introduction to the storage market is NVMe SSD drives.

Hard Disk comparison - Legacy vs. Hybrid vs. SSD | IT Support Southampton | IT Support Hampshire
Hard Disk comparison - Legacy vs. Hybrid vs. SSD

This is a step up again from the usual SATA connection SSD drives. Whilst a normal SATA SSD is no slouch, NVMe SSDs take the performance a step further, with both seek time and read/write speeds being considerably quicker.

This type of SSD looks a bit more like a RAM stick than a drive shaped like you might be used to. This is because it connects via an M.2 connector directly onto the motherboard, rather than by two cables and being held in a bay on the other side of the case.

If you are looking at upgrading to an NVMe SSD, it would first be worth checking if your motherboard not only has an M.2 slot, but also that it is NVMe compatible.

Alternately, you can purchase NVMe PCIe cards that will use an empty PCIe slot on the motherboard to adapt into an NVMe storage slot.

As this technology is relatively new and because of its performance advantages over everything else, it is the most pricey option available, and should probably only really be considered if you plan on using your PC for a heavily intensive workload where there can be no compromise.

 

 

Performance Comparison

Hard Disk comparison - Legacy vs. Hybrid vs. SSD | IT Support Southampton | IT Support Hampshire
Hard Disk comparison - Legacy vs. Hybrid vs. SSD

 

 

IT Installation Services | Hard Disk comparison - Legacy vs. Hybrid vs. SSD | IT Support Southampton | IT Support Hampshire
Hard Disk comparison - Legacy vs. Hybrid vs. SSD | IT Support Southampton | IT Support Hampshire

Hard Drives in RAID Arrays

 

Hard drives, Hybrids and SSD can be used in RAID Arrays

Review our Article on RAID Arrays in Server Hardware

 

 

 

 

Century IT Services are based in Totton, Southampton. Hampshire and can help you with the installation or on going IT support of your computer, server and network.

We offer a broad range of IT Services covering, internet, email, anti-spam, anti-virus solutions, we are experts in virtually anything Microsoft Server based and have extensive troubleshooting skills. Hard Disk - Legacy vs Hybrid vs SSD.

If you have an ever growing list of I.T niggles or need a server, or network installed, you have come to the right place. You can contact us on Tel. 023 80 070101 or email us at sales@century-it.co.uk for a confidential, no obligation discussion of your requirements

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Hard Disk Legacy vs Hybrid vs. SSD, IT Maintenance Contracts Dorset, IT Maintenance Contracts Hampshire, IT Maintenance Contracts Surrey, IT Maintenance Contracts Sussex, IT Maintenance Contracts Wiltshire, Managed IT Services, Managed IT Services Dorset, Managed IT Services Hampshire, Managed IT Services Surrey, Managed IT Services Sussex, Managed IT Services Wiltshire, Proactive IT Monitoring, Proactive IT Monitoring Dorset, Proactive IT Monitoring Hampshire, Proactive IT Monitoring Wiltshire, SSD Drives in RAID Arrays

SATA vs SAS what are the benefits?

23rd June 2018 By Paul Marsh

SATA VS SAS

SATA vs SAS what are the benefits?
SATA vs SAS what are the benefits?

For many, there can be a lot of confusion when comparing different types of server solutions especially when it comes down the type of hard drives that your server might come with.

A server with SATA hard drives can be considerably cheaper when compared to a server with SAS hard drives.

Especially if your server quote has multiple hard drives or has a RAID disk subsystem.

But this seemingly interchangeable terminology can make all the difference to your IT investment.

 

SATA – Serial ATA

SAS – Serial Attached SCSI

 

Serial ATA was designed to replace the older IDE (EIDE) hard drives which were commonly found in most home computer and business workstations.

SAS has evolved separately from the SCSI standard, SCSI drives have traditionally been found in server solutions.

Many server manufacturers including HP and Dell offer entry level servers with SATA drives, with the mid-range and higher end servers coming with SAS hard drives.

According to Seagate, SATA drives are designed to have the following features:-

 

  • Capacity intensive

    SATA vs SAS what are the benefits?
    SATA vs SAS what are the benefits?
  • SATA vs SAS what are the benefits?
  • Low availability
  • Sequential reads
  • Seek time 9.5ms
  • Designed to be on 8 Hours a day, 5 days a week

 

Seagate SAS drives are designed for:-

  • Performance Intensive
  • High Availability
  • Random Reads
  • Seek time of 3.5 ms (15k rpm), 3.9 ms (10k rpm)
  • Designed to be on 24 hours per day, 7 days per week

 

From a computer support or network support point of view, many SAS drive solutions also include ‘hot swap’ options.

Which basically means that for many RAID solutions, you can simply replace a failed drive for a replacement without rebooting or interrupting the server or users.

 

What does all this mean?

Basically if you want good server performance and you don’t want disk I/O bottlenecks and prefer longevity over small price difference, always choose SAS over SATA.

If your requirements are for a small server in a very small office and are not worried about server performance and the larger capacity, cheaper SATA drives appeals to you then choose SATA.

Did you want to discuss your server requirements? For an informed opinion on server specifications and many other IT support subjects ‘Contact Us’

Century IT Services are Expert, Responsive and Flexible

For more Information on SATA vs SAS see the following links

http://www.seagate.com/

Seagate SAS VS SATA

Filed Under: News Tagged With: IT Maintenance Contracts, IT Maintenance Contracts Dorset, IT Maintenance Contracts Hampshire, IT Maintenance Contracts Surrey, IT Maintenance Contracts Sussex, Managed IT Services Sussex, Managed IT Services Wiltshire, Managed IT Systems, Proactive IT Monitoring, Proactive IT Monitoring Dorset, Proactive IT Monitoring Hampshire, Proactive IT Monitoring Surrey, Proactive Monitoring

Prince Edwards 50th Birthday at Minstead

27th June 2014 By Paul Marsh

Prince Edward Earl of Wessex greeting staff and guests at Minstead upon arrival at Minstead for Prince Edwards 50th Birthday celebration

 

https://www.royal.uk/the-earl-of-wessex

 

Prince Edwards 50th Birthday, Paul Marsh, Victoria Tolson | Prince Edwards 50th Birthday at Minstead, Lyndhurst
Prince Edward, Paul Marsh, Victoria Tolson | Prince Edwards 50th Birthday at Minstead, Lyndhurst
Prince Edwards 50th Birthday | Minstead Trust | New Forest | Hampshire | Lyndhurst | Tree Planting
Prince Edward's 50th Birthday | Minstead Trust | New Forest | Hampshire | Lyndhurst | Tree Planting
Prince Edward's 50th Birthday | Minstead Trust | New Forest | Hampshire | Lyndhurst | Tree Planting
Prince Edward's 50th Birthday | Minstead Trust | New Forest | Hampshire | Lyndhurst | Tree Planting
Prince Edwards 50th Birthday | Minstead Trust | New Forest | Hampshire | Lyndhurst | Tree Planting
Prince Edward's 50th Birthday | Minstead Trust | New Forest | Hampshire | Lyndhurst | Tree Planting
Prince Edwards 50th Birthday | Minstead Trust | New Forest | Hampshire | Lyndhurst | Tree Planting
Prince Edward's 50th Birthday | Minstead Trust | New Forest | Hampshire | Lyndhurst | Tree Planting
Prince Edwards 50th Birthday | Minstead Trust | New Forest | Hampshire | Lyndhurst | Tree Planting
Jacob and Senator | Prince Edwards 50th Birthday | Minstead Trust | New Forest | Hampshire | Lyndhurst | Tree Planting
Prince Edwards 50th Birthday | Minstead Trust | New Forest | Hampshire | Lyndhurst | Tree Planting
Prince Edward's 50th Birthday | Minstead Trust | New Forest | Hampshire | Lyndhurst | Tree Planting
Prince Edwards 50th Birthday | Minstead Trust | New Forest | Hampshire | Lyndhurst | Tree Planting
Prince Edward's 50th Birthday | Minstead Trust | New Forest | Hampshire | Lyndhurst | Tree Planting
Prince Edwards 50th Birthday | Minstead Trust | New Forest | Hampshire | Lyndhurst | Tree Planting
Tree Planting | Prince Edward's 50th Birthday | Minstead Trust | New Forest | Hampshire | Lyndhurst
Prince Edwards 50th Birthday | Minstead Trust | New Forest | Hampshire | Lyndhurst | Tree Planting
Tree Planting | Prince Edward's 50th Birthday | Minstead Trust | New Forest | Hampshire | Lyndhurst
Prince Edwards 50th Birthday | Minstead Trust | New Forest | Hampshire | Lyndhurst | Tree Planting
Prince Edwards 50th Birthday | Tree Planting | Minstead Trust | New Forest | Hampshire | Lyndhurst
Prince Edwards 50th Birthday | Minstead Trust | New Forest | Hampshire | Lyndhurst | Tree Planting
Prince Edward's 50th Birthday | Minstead Trust | New Forest | Hampshire | Lyndhurst | Tree Planting

Prince Edwards 50th Birthday

 

Prince Edward The Earl of Wessex leaving Minstead Trust, New Forest

About Minstead Trust

"Minstead Trust, where we see the potential in everyone - and especially in people with learning disabilities. We support them to build on that potential to achieve greater independence, lead fulfilled lives and live as full citizens in our society"

https://www.minsteadtrust.org.uk | https://www.royal.uk/the-earl-of-wessex

 

Ready to find out more?

Interested in what our IT Company can do for your business?

Drop us a line today for a free quote!

Click Here

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Century IT Services, https://www.royal.uk/the-earl-of-wessex, IT Maintenance Contracts, IT Maintenance Contracts Dorset, IT Maintenance Contracts Hampshire, IT Maintenance Contracts Surrey, IT Maintenance Contracts Sussex, IT Maintenance Contracts Wiltshire, Lyndhurst, Managed IT Services Surrey, Minstead, Minstead Trust, New Forest, Paul Marsh, Prince Edwards 50th Birthday Celebrations, Proactive IT Monitoring, Proactive IT Monitoring Dorset, Proactive IT Monitoring Hampshire, Proactive IT Monitoring Sussex, Proactive IT Monitoring Wiltshire, Proactive Monitoring, Victoria Tolson

Minstead Training Project IT Modernisation

11th October 2009 By Paul Marsh

 

Southampton based Century IT Services have recently helped The Minstead Training Project charity with a computer network installation and modernisation program which was success fully completed a few weeks ago

The computer network project involved Century IT Services getting involved at the very beginning to understand Minstead’s needs and provide advice on IT systems

Paul Marsh of Century IT Services says “we were more than happy to help out after being approached by The Minstead Training Project.

We initially helped by providing IT Consultancy Services, specifying a Computer System that would meet Minstead Training Project’s needs and importantly meeting modern legislation

Mintead Training Project Charity | IT Modernisation
Rick Burt, Martin Lenaerts, Darren Robertson, Roy Baker, Paul Marsh

 

This included modernising and improving existing systems whilst also employing new systems, software and securities measures as well as a secure remote and mobile working solution.

As with any IT project, it was important that the modernisation was completed on time and to budget with minimal disruption to day to day operations as Minstead’s operations are a 24/7, 365 days a year service.”

 

“We are very satisfied with our IT System provided by Century IT Services and it actually goes beyond meeting our original
requirements, is easy to administer and having received excellent training, again provided by Century IT Services. The benefits of the new system are being utilised by staff and students already – a great result!”
Roy Baker, Finance Director at Minstead

 

The Minstead Training Project charity was founded in 1986 is situated in the New Forest (Hampshire), in the picturesque village of Minstead near Lyndhurst. It offers whole year round services in residential and day care and training in Work, Life and Social Skills to people who have learning disabilities.

 

Minstead Staff, Minstead Students, Century IT Services
Minstead Staff, Minstead Students, Century IT Services

 

Ready to find out more?

Drop us a line today for a free quote!

Click Here

Filed Under: News Tagged With: I.T Installation Services Dorset, I.T Installation Services Hampshire, I.T Installation Services Surrey, I.T Installation Services Sussex, I.T Installation Services Wiltshire, IT Maintenance Contracts Dorset, IT Maintenance Contracts Hampshire, IT Maintenance Contracts Surrey, IT Maintenance Contracts Sussex, Managed IT Services, Proactive IT Monitoring, Proactive IT Monitoring Dorset, Proactive IT Monitoring Hampshire, Proactive IT Monitoring Surrey, Proactive IT Monitoring Sussex, Proactive IT Monitoring Wiltshire

Footer

Century IT Services
Mill House Centre
108 Commercial Road,
Totton
Southampton
Hampshire SO40 3AE

GDPR Privacy Notice | Cookie Policy

Sales:         02380 070101
Email:        sales@century‑it.co.uk
Support:   02381 800671

Click for      Location map

  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Century IT Services is the trading name of Century IT Solutions Ltd. Registered address: Century IT Solutions Ltd., Mill House Centre, 108 Commercial Road, Totton, Southampton SO40 3AE
Registered in England and Wales · Registered Company Number 08287541 · Copyright © 2023 Century IT Services Limited · website by Northerwood