Just done a test on my external drives using HDTach, and they all produce a flat line showing the limiting factor is usb2, not the drive.
No surprise there, but I was surprised at how much slower it is:
2 different style IcyBoxes are both 25Mb/sec, but my newer PackardBell usb drive is 30Mb/sec.
30Mb/sec x 8 = 240Mbps ... usb2 is supposed to be 480Mbps, have I lost 1/2 due to USB overhead, or are there faster external usb HDD interfaces out there?