Data transfer rate (DTR) is the speed at which data is transmitted between devices, expressed in kbps, mbps, KB/sec, and MB/sec. It’s important to consider DTR when purchasing components to ensure compatibility and maximum speed. RAID systems should use drives of the same model and manufacturer to avoid slowing down the system.
A data transfer rate (DTR), is the speed at which data can be transmitted between devices. This is sometimes referred to as throughput. A device’s transfer rate is often expressed in kilobits or megabits per second, abbreviated to kbps and mbps, respectively. It could also be expressed in kilobytes or megabytes or KB/sec and MB/sec. Bits are abbreviated to lowercase letters, while bytes use uppercase letters.
1,024 bits = 1 kilobit (Kb)
8 kb = 1 kilobyte (KB)
128KB = 1 Megabit (Mb)
8 mb = 1 megabyte (MB)
1,024 KB = 1 megabyte (MB)
128 MB = 1 Gigabit (Gb)
8gb = 1 gigabyte (GB)
1,024 MB = 1 gigabyte (GB)
In a world where programs and files are getting bigger and bigger, the fastest data transfer rate is often the most desirable. However, as technology moves rapidly to advance the speed of many components, consumers are often faced with systems that incorporate variable specifications.
For example, RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) consists of multiple hard drives that are connected together to be grouped into one large storage system. The resulting virtual drive can be several hundred gigabytes. When programs are launched or files are retrieved, the data transfer rate of each drive becomes important in reaching this vast pool of storage. Drives are rated on how fast they can read and write data. An Ultra ATA drive has a speed of 33.3 MB/sec, while a SATA 300 has a speed of 300 MB/sec. RAID is forced to adopt the speed of the slowest drive so as not to lose data as it travels to that disk from faster drives. For this reason, it’s best that all drives in the RAID are of the same model and manufacturer, so that they support the same data transfer rate.
It’s also important to consider data transfer speeds when purchasing controllers. If you buy a SATA controller, for example, make sure it supports the speed of the SATA drives you plan to use. A SATA controller that only supports the SATA 150 specification will slow a SATA 300 drive down to half its designed speed. A controller that supports the newer version of SATA will be backward compatible to run slower SATA drives as well. For this reason, it is always best to purchase components that support the fastest possible speeds.
Modems, cables, controllers, optical drives, printers, scanners, and virtually all computer components have data transfer speeds. Taking this into account is one of the most valuable tools in choosing new components and updating old ones.
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