USB devices and system performance - what is better?

[MandelaEffect2000]

I'm thinking of buying a docking station device for my 4 hard drives which will be using the USB3.0 system interface.

The question is would it be better in terms of system performance (not HDD performance) to have a single 4-bay docking station plugged into one USB3.0 or two separate 2-bay docking stations plugged into two USB3.0? Also does USB3.0 really use PCIe lanes?

Thanks!

 

[CountMike]

Any USB port is shared so 2 disks on one USB port is better than 4.

 

[MandelaEffect2000]

No, my question is would there be a difference in system performance if using the same 4 disks on 2 separate USB ports (2x2- bay docking station) instead of just 1 (1x4-bay docking station)? In other words, does using more USB ports simultaneously translate into performance penalty in the system?

 

[MandelaEffect2000]

Up! No one?

 

[CountMike]

2 x 2 on 2x USB3 would matter only to storage system speed and maybe starting programs eventually installed on them but to overall system performance not a bit. Most of the time I have 2 USB3 and one USB2 disks and there's no hit on system performance.