BATTLE! local drive vs usb drive

local laptop drive:

neil-kodners-MacBook-Pro:parsed nkodner$ time cat *.txt|wc -l
 101434582

real	4m6.528s
user	0m17.373s
sys	0m20.308s


usb 2.0 drive:

neil-kodners-MacBook-Pro:parsed nkodner$ time cat *.txt|wc -l
 101434582

real	6m10.241s
user	0m18.294s
sys	0m26.339s



specs on local drive:

FUJITSU MHZ2320BH FFS G1:

  Capacity:	320.07 GB (320,072,933,376 bytes)
  Model:	FUJITSU MHZ2320BH FFS G1                
  Revision:	00810091
  Serial Number:	        K67BT9125VRR
  Native Command Queuing:	Yes
  Queue Depth:	32
  Removable Media:	No
  Detachable Drive:	No
  BSD Name:	disk0
  Medium Type:	Rotational
  Partition Map Type:	GPT (GUID Partition Table)
  S.M.A.R.T. status:	Verified
  Volumes:
Macintosh HD:
  Capacity:	319.73 GB (319,728,959,488 bytes)
  Available:	185.09 GB (185,087,823,872 bytes)
  Writable:	Yes
  File System:	Journaled HFS+
  BSD Name:	disk0s2
  Mount Point:	/


specs on usb drive:

My Book:

  Capacity:	1 TB (1,000,204,886,016 bytes)
  Removable Media:	Yes
  Detachable Drive:	Yes
  BSD Name:	disk2
  Product ID:	0x1102
  Vendor ID:	0x1058  (Western Digital Technologies, Inc.)
  Version:	10.28
  Serial Number:	57442D574341553430303737363539
  Speed:	Up to 480 Mb/sec
  Manufacturer:	Western Digital
  Location ID:	0x26400000
  Current Available (mA):	500
  Current Required (mA):	0
  Partition Map Type:	GPT (GUID Partition Table)
  S.M.A.R.T. status:	Not Supported
  Volumes:
backup 1:
  Capacity:	330 GB (330,000,003,072 bytes)
  Available:	329.57 GB (329,565,614,080 bytes)
  Writable:	Yes
  File System:	Journaled HFS+
  BSD Name:	disk2s2
  Mount Point:	/Volumes/backup 1
data:
  Capacity:	669.73 GB (669,726,691,328 bytes)
  Available:	417.47 GB (417,474,572,288 bytes)
  Writable:	Yes
  File System:	Journaled HFS+
  BSD Name:	disk2s3
  Mount Point:	/Volumes/data