When it comes to internet speeds, 100 Mbps is considered pretty fast for most general home usage. But if you’re someone who stores large files locally on a hard disk drive (HDD), you may be wondering if 100 Mbps is sufficient to fully utilize the capabilities of your HDD.
The short answer is yes, a 100 Mbps internet connection is good for external HDD usage. However, there are a few caveats to consider regarding file sizes, concurrent transfers, and other factors that can impact performance. We’ll explore those details throughout this article.
What is a Hard Disk Drive (HDD)?
First, let’s briefly go over what exactly a hard disk drive is and its typical performance characteristics.
A hard disk drive (HDD) is a traditional storage device that uses magnetic platters spinning at high speeds to store and read data. HDDs have been around for decades and are still commonly used today, especially for backups, archival storage, and home media servers.
Compared to solid state drives (SSDs) which use flash memory, HDDs have the advantage of much larger capacities available at lower costs. However, they are mechanically slower due to the moving parts and latency when accessing data spread out across the platters.
The maximum sequential read/write speed of a modern HDD is usually between 100-200 MB/s depending on the model and connection interface used. For example, a typical 3.5″ desktop HDD connected via USB 3.0 can sustain sequential reads up to ~150 MB/s.
Factors that Affect HDD Speeds
When data is stored sequentially and accessed in large contiguous blocks, HDDs can reach their maximum rated speeds. However, there are several factors that can limit real-world transfer speeds:
– File size – Smaller files mean more non-contiguous access as the drive heads seek around. Larger sequential files perform better.
– File system overhead – Formatting decreases available capacity and indexing can limit speeds.
– Queue depth – Too many concurrent requests can overwhelm the HDD controller.
– Interface bottlenecks – Even SATA III maxes out at 6 Gbps (750 MB/s). USB adds further overhead.
– HDD cache size – Larger caches can buffer more reads/writes and improve performance.
– HDD rotation speed (RPM) – Faster platters reduce seek times but use more power. Common speeds are 5400, 7200, 10,000, and 15,000 RPM.
– HDD technology – Density improvements help fit more data under the heads. Perpendicular recording allows for greater capacities.
So in real-world usage, HDDs may only achieve a fraction of their maximum advertised sequential speeds due to these limiting factors. Sustained transfer rates are often lower than peak rates.
Typical Home Internet Speeds
Now let’s look at typical home internet speeds and how they stack up compared to HDD performance.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defines broadband as download speeds of at least 25 Mbps and upload speeds of at least 3 Mbps. However, internet service providers (ISPs) commonly offer much faster speeds to homes today.
Here are some examples of standard internet speed tiers for home users:
– Basic/Entry level: 25-75 Mbps
– Mainstream: 100-400 Mbps
– High-speed: 500 Mbps – 1 Gbps
Of course, available speeds vary greatly based on your location, provider, plan, and infrastructure. Rural areas often have fewer options for high speeds.
A 100 Mbps connection is towards the low end of mainstream internet speeds for most urban and suburban areas in 2022. It falls well short of gigabit fiber speeds but is still suitable for general web browsing, streaming, downloading, and lighter workloads.
During peak usage times, ISP networks can also become congested which reduces available bandwidth across all users in that area. Paying for a 100 Mbps plan does not guarantee you will get those speeds 24/7.
100 Mbps vs HDD Speeds
To determine if 100 Mbps is “good” for external HDD usage, we need to compare it to the real-world sustained transfer rates of HDDs.
On a 6 Gbps SATA interface, 3.5″ HDDs with spinning platters can reliably sustain 90-120 MB/s for sequential reads and writes after accounting for protocol overhead. This assumes proper configuration, reasonably modern hardware, and favorable access patterns.
Smaller 2.5″ drives used in laptops and external enclosures can sustain 60-100 MB/s depending on rotational speeds, which are generally lower than desktop drives. External HDDs hooked up via USB 3.0 tend to perform better than when connected via USB 2.0.
Converting megabytes per second (MB/s) to megabits per second (Mbps), we get:
– 90 MB/s = 720 Mbps
– 100 MB/s = 800 Mbps
– 120 MB/s = 960 Mbps
So in practical terms, a 100 Mbps internet connection supports nearly the maximum sequential transfer rate of many HDDs. Even accounting for protocol overhead and less than ideal access patterns, a 100 Mbps connection should saturate the performance capabilities of most external HDDs.
every day usage scenarios
Now let’s go through some common HDD usage scenarios to see how a 100 Mbps internet connection might impact performance.
Media Streaming
When streaming movies, TV shows, or music from a home media server using an HDD for storage, bandwidth is rarely the limiting factor.
Uncompressed Blu-ray video maxes out at around 48 Mbps, but with video compression, streaming services like Netflix only need 5-10 Mbps for smooth 1080p or 4K video. Even uncompressed audio like lossless music only requires 1-2 Mbps.
So a 100 Mbps network is more than sufficient for streaming media files stored on a home HDD. Buffering is unlikely to be an issue unless you have an underpowered NAS device struggling to keep up with transcoding requests.
File Backups and Transfers
Backing up your computer to an external HDD is bandwidth intensive since it involves transferring many small files like documents, photos, application data, and system files all at once.
On a 100 Mbps connection, you can expect to fully saturate a USB 3.0 HDD for sustained periods when performing backups or batch file transfers. Larger individual files like ISO disk images, video assets, and database dumps should transfer at nearly line speed.
While gigabit speeds would be even faster for large backups, a 100 Mbps connection is reasonable for this use case and faster than the write capabilities of many external HDDs. For cloud backups to the likes of Backblaze and Carbonite, your ISP speed becomes the primary bottleneck so higher bandwidth directly translates to faster uploads.
Media Downloads
When downloading videos, ISO disk images, game installers, software packages, and other large files, your internet speeds play a big role. With a 100 Mbps connection, here are some typical download times:
– 5 GB file: 6 minutes
– 10 GB file: 12 minutes
– 20 GB file: 24 minutes
– 50 GB file: 60 minutes
So while 100 Mbps is definitely usable, gigabit speeds would provide a noticeable improvement, allowing you to fetch files faster when collecting and archiving large amounts of media. For comparison, a 1 Gbps connection can download a 50 GB file in around 5 minutes.
During simultaneous downloads, you’ll have to share that 100 Mbps with each transfer, so the speeds per download will be reduced. Overall, 100 Mbps is reasonable but gigabit is better for quickly amassing huge media libraries.
Cloud Storage Access
When directly accessing files stored in the cloud on services like Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, etc. your home internet speed becomes the limiting factor.
Even with a 100 Mbps connection, cloud storage speeds are unlikely to exceed 20-30 MB/s for downloads and 5-10 MB/s for uploads due to server-side bottlenecks. So while faster home internet won’t hurt, 100 Mbps is already overkill for most cloud usage.
The exception is utilizing cloud object storage like Amazon S3 to transfer huge batches of files. In that case, your home bandwidth plays a bigger role but those use cases are less common among home media enthusiasts.
Gaming
Online gaming typically uses only a few megabits per second of bandwidth for transferring packets between players. So a 100 Mbps connection is way more than enough for low-latency online gaming regardless of whether game files are stored locally or on the cloud.
When downloading games, a 100 Mbps connection can fetch a 50 GB title in around an hour. Gigabit speeds would help reduce that, but for casual gaming, 100 Mbps is definitely sufficient and latency is generally more important than raw bandwidth.
Productivity and Web Apps
For general web browsing, email, document editing, e-commerce, video conferencing, and running web apps, a 100 Mbps connection is very adequate. These activities require just a few megabits per second at most, so you’re unlikely to experience any lag or buffering issues.
Even hosting media-rich websites and web apps locally on a home server should work well with 100 Mbps speeds. Just don’t expect to support a huge number of remote users simultaneously. But for personal use cases, 100 Mbps offers plenty of headroom.
Recommendations for optimal performance
To take full advantage of a 100 Mbps internet connection for external HDD usage, here are some tips:
– Connect HDDs via USB 3.0/3.1, eSATA, or Thunderbolt for maximum interface throughput
– Use a wired Ethernet connection rather than Wi-Fi to minimize latency and interference
– Plug the computer/NAS directly into the router rather than chaining through a switch
– Configure OS and S.M.A.R.T. settings for optimal HDD performance
– Use a NAS device with a sufficient CPU to avoid bottlenecks during transfers
– Use raid arrays and link aggregation if your NAS and network switch support it
– Schedule large downloads during off-peak hours to maximize available bandwidth
– Test your actual speeds with online tools and contact your ISP if significantly below advertised rates
– Upgrade to gigabit internet if available and cost is not prohibitive
Conclusion
In summary, a 100 Mbps internet connection is reasonably fast for external HDD usage, streaming media, backups, downloads, and general productivity tasks. It can fully saturate the bandwidth of many consumer HDDs.
While gigabit speeds would provide even snappier performance for large file transfers, 100 Mbps is sufficient for most home power users. Only those building massive local media libraries or acting as a server for many remote users are likely to benefit from upgrading to gigabit internet.
For general use cases, including streaming UHD videos and backups up modern laptops and desktops, 100 Mbps delivers enough bandwidth headroom. An external HDD is unlikely to be the bottleneck.
So in most situations, a 100 Mbps internet connection is “good” and provides satisfactory speeds for home users taking advantage of external hard drives. Going with a higher speed internet plan may only yield minor real-world improvements in responsiveness.