I found more info.
Notice : I tried to get REAL data , that means not just what's written on the side of the box but the results of independant benchmarks.
most usb Keys have a data transfert rate between 7 MB/s and 11 MB/s
It seems that Lacie USB keys can go up to 16MB/s (but it's the manufacturer estimation...)
Common HDD (7200rpm) have a real dtr (Data Transfert Rate) between 15 and 30 MB/S, 10.000rpm Raptors HDD can go up to 58MO/s
So USB keys seems a least twice slowers than HDD
But today it's hell to figure what is better than what in IT (not only for HDD/USB) cause ther are so many factors in the line, HDD have seek times that can be longers than USB keys. Ther is also the fragmentation, the type of formating and so many else...
I'll just have to give it a try i guess.
But you can answer to my questions in preceeding post if you don't mind.
and Maybe you or somebody else would consider using this tool (or another if you know one)
link to the HD_Tool
it's a simple Free tool to measure data transfer rates of your hard disks, cd/dvd-roms and floppy with. Realtime graphical display.
I'll use it soon (I'm not at home right now) and I plan to create a new post with my results, it would be terrific if some of you can do this too so we can build a little comparaison chart.
c ya
[Edited on 26-11-2004 by Rincevent]