Getting optimal USB 3 / 3.1 Speeds on a GA-Z170MX

[OneInfinteLoop]

Hi there. I have a large external iTunes library (~2.8 TB) that I currently manage via a 2011 Mac mini to connected via TB2 to an older G Tech RAID drive. I want to retire that Mac Mini soon, and want to move management of that large library to my new Hackintosh using the fastest possible connection that my GA-Z170MX supports. Ideally that's USB C Thunderbolt, but my understanding is that the native port on the back panel of the GA-Z170MX is only USB C (3.1.)

That said, I did some speed tests with an external HDD and the speeds were just OK.

I ran some tests w/ the BlackMagic speed test app on my GA-Z170MX Hackintosh:

Using an external HDD connected to USB 3 - I was seeing about R/W speeds of about 98.5 and 98.7
When I connected my LaCie 4TB USB-C (STFD4000402) which is a USB C<->USB C connection to the USB C port on the back panel of the GA-Z170MX I see R/W speeds of about 114.2/112.2 - so a bit better.

So...that leads me to the next question: Are those speeds the max we've seen on a GA-Z170MX Hackintosh?

What do you recommend to get better speeds or to manage this large external library? I was thinking of just getting an 4 TB 7200 HDD and mounting that internally - which I assume would get me MUCH faster R/W speeds?

Love to hear the collective wisdom of the folks here on what to do here.

Thank

P.S. My 2.7 TB is backed up twice..once to my NAS and another to an offsite backup.

Update: Ok, so this is weird. I had a spare 2 TB WD Green drive and attached via SATA and when I do a R/W test I see 119 and 124.

I was expecting speeds WAAAY faster than that.

 

[BreBo]

Update: Ok, so this is weird. I had a spare 2 TB WD Green drive and attached via SATA and when I do a R/W test I see 119 and 124.

I was expecting speeds WAAAY faster than that.

WD Green HDD, 2TB data transfer rate (max) is 147 MB/s

http://products.wdc.com/library/SpecSheet/ENG/2879-800026.pdf

 

[OneInfinteLoop]

Thanks.