Hamburg - An external hard drive with an USB connection usually operates faster than one connected to the network via ethernet, according to a comparison by a German magazine.

Transferring five gigabytes of data via USB requires between two and a half and three minutes, according to the Computer-Bild magazine in its issue dated 7/2008.

The magazine tested 16 computers, half with USB and half with ethernet connections. Ethernet connections took between 10 and 15 minutes to transfer five gigabytes of data. (dpa)