Intel Compute Stick STCK1A32WFC External Data Performance

Recently, I bought a few Intel Compute Sticks from eBay to use for testing, but I wanted to preserve the internal disk by writing to external storage instead of the non-removable internal storage.

After installing Ubuntu Server, I decided to run a few quick tests using various media I had lying around.

# lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS
Release:        20.04
Codename:       focal

# uname -a
Linux hostname 5.4.0-51-generic #56-Ubuntu SMP Mon Oct 5 14:28:49 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Some interesting details:

• This particular Intel Compute Stick only has a single USB 2 port and an SD card slot.
• Wi-Fi only works on 2.4 GHz, with no 5 GHz support.
• The internal disk shows up as /dev/mmcblk1
• These have 64-bit processors but shipped with 32-bit Windows, which makes them good candidates for Linux.

For all of these tests, I was connected over Wi-Fi with a single SSH connection, no monitor attached, and very little installed. Also, the test media had various levels of wear; some had previously been Linux hosts, so your mileage may vary. I had the Intel Compute Stick set to performance mode in the BIOS, which I believe limits the amount of power available to USB, even with that massive 5V 2A power supply.

Test 1 - Internal Memory

# sudo hdparm -Tt /dev/mmcblk1

/dev/mmcblk1:
 Timing cached reads:   1938 MB in  1.99 seconds = 972.19 MB/sec
 HDIO_DRIVE_CMD(identify) failed: Invalid argument
 Timing buffered disk reads: 312 MB in  3.01 seconds = 103.60 MB/sec

Test 2 - SD Card - Samsung 32GB Evo+ HC 1

# sudo hdparm -Tt /dev/mmcblk2

/dev/mmcblk2:
 Timing cached reads:   2984 MB in  1.99 seconds = 1497.31 MB/sec
 HDIO_DRIVE_CMD(identify) failed: Invalid argument
 Timing buffered disk reads:  60 MB in  3.02 seconds =  19.89 MB/sec

Test 3 - Cruzer Fit 32 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive SDCZ33

# sudo hdparm -Tt /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   2912 MB in  1.99 seconds = 1461.24 MB/sec
SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]:  ...
 Timing buffered disk reads:  60 MB in  3.08 seconds =  19.47 MB/sec

Test 4 - EMTEC 8GB flash drive (USB 2)

# sudo hdparm -Tt /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   2920 MB in  1.99 seconds = 1464.70 MB/sec
SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]:  ...
 Timing buffered disk reads:  44 MB in  3.04 seconds =  14.49 MB/sec

Test 5 - SanDisk Cruzer Glide 32GB (USB 2)

# sudo hdparm -Tt /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   2936 MB in  1.99 seconds = 1472.68 MB/sec
SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]:  ...
 Timing buffered disk reads:  84 MB in  3.01 seconds =  27.88 MB/sec

Test 6 - SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 12GB

# sudo hdparm -Tt /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   2708 MB in  1.99 seconds = 1357.51 MB/sec
SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]:  ...
 Timing buffered disk reads:  84 MB in  3.04 seconds =  27.60 MB/sec

Test 7 - Sony 8GB (USB 3)

# sudo hdparm -Tt /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   2956 MB in  1.99 seconds = 1483.12 MB/sec
SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]:  ...
 Timing buffered disk reads:  84 MB in  3.06 seconds =  27.44 MB/sec

Test 8 - SanDisk Extreme USB 3.0 32GB

# sudo hdparm -Tt /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   1926 MB in  1.99 seconds = 966.34 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:  86 MB in  3.04 seconds =  28.32 MB/sec

Test 9 - WD Black 500GB 2.5" in Ugreen USB 3.0 Enclosure

# sudo hdparm -Tt /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   2684 MB in  1.99 seconds = 1346.04 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads: 114 MB in  3.03 seconds =  37.59 MB/sec

Test 10 - Samsung 840EVO 120GB 2.5" in Ugreen USB 3.0 Enclosure

# sudo hdparm -Tt /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   2938 MB in  1.99 seconds = 1474.20 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:  98 MB in  3.04 seconds =  32.20 MB/sec

The results are interesting. I also saw several large jumps in performance when running the tests multiple times on the same device. Surprisingly, the USB does seem to be faster in most cases. I might try using the SD card first because it hides away nicely, and SD cards are relatively cheap these days.

Published: 17/10/2020 UTC

Updated: 18/06/2026 UTC

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