firewire vs usb2

coolhandloop · Post by **coolhandloop** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 02:36

hi i have a question on the firewire vs usb external hardrive front.. i found an external firewire hardrived which has 10000rpm but its data transfer rate is 320mps compared to a usb2 hardrive with a speed of 7200rpm which has a data transfer rate of 480mps, i realise im missing something here but unsure what.
thanks

suvanto · Post by **suvanto** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 10:21

Hi,
Data transfer rate is the maximum amount of data that your cable can let trough, it has nothing to do with harddrive speed. I am not an expert, but i would say that you should get the faster harddrive.
Allthough i remember that usually firewire data rate should be something like 400mps, so there might be something that I am missing too...

miau · Post by **miau** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 19:04

Hi, from my experience if you want the best transfer rate use e-sata that allows 3.0 Gbit/s. I think it's better to have an external hard drive with 7000 rpm with e-sata connection then a 10000 rpm disk with firewire or usb. I use a WD MyBook ES Edition with 500gb and e-sata (and USB) connection and it's super fast.

coolhandloop · Post by **coolhandloop** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 19:38

sounds good but how do u hook up via sata to a laptop? the only connections i have are usb and firewire
thanks

miau · Post by **miau** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 11:15

Originally posted by coolhandloop
sounds good but how do u hook up via sata to a laptop? the only connections i have are usb and firewire
thanks

It's quite simple if your laptop has a e-sata connector or just use your laptop expansion cards, pcmcia or express card with e-sata port. Use express card if you have it's faster then pcmcia. Examples of this expansion cards I took in fast search from google:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/PCMCIA-ESATA-Ca ... B000X432D0
http://www.firewire-1394.com/siig-expre ... i-card.htm

coolhandloop · Post by **coolhandloop** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 18:36

thanks a mil will giv it a blast! cheers

DayVeeJay · Post by **DayVeeJay** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 00:02

USB 2.0 is rated at 480mbs. It's primary use is for data transfer.
Firewire400 is rated at 400mbs but it's primary use is for multimedia.

I have used USB 2.0, firewire400, and eSATA (SATA II). eSATA is the best even when running it through a PCMCIA card (max transfer rate on PCMCIA IS 1.5GBs). Firewire came in second and is far better than USB 2.0 in real life.

I'm sure that eSATA would be faster, but does anyone have any real life experience with both eSATA and firewire800?

miau · Post by **miau** » Tue Nov 06, 2007 18:11

Originally posted by DayVeeJay
USB 2.0 is rated at 480mbs. It's primary use is for data transfer.
Firewire400 is rated at 400mbs but it's primary use is for multimedia.

I have used USB 2.0, firewire400, and eSATA (SATA II). eSATA is the best even when running it through a PCMCIA card (max transfer rate on PCMCIA IS 1.5GBs). Firewire came in second and is far better than USB 2.0 in real life.

I'm sure that eSATA would be faster, but does anyone have any real life experience with both eSATA and firewire800?

I donÂ´t have life experience with firewire800 but in theory eSATA should be faster because it goes directly to the BUS processor channel.

[Edited on 8-11-2007 by miau]

VJ_Chico · Post by **VJ_Chico** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 07:55

I'm not an expert, but I think firewire is much better than usb... USB has just two wires for one "channel" of communication, this means half duplex, firewire has 4 wires for 2 "channels of comm, it can be isochronous or asynchronous comm, full duplex, firewire 800 was launched in 2003, so I think many devices may have it. I'm talking just in theory, never even tried a external drive.

PS: im just comparing USB and firewire, I dont have any know about esata.

[Edited on 4-1-2008 by VJ_Chico]

messhead · Post by **messhead** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 14:22

Firewire is loads better than USB in every respect imo

I went with e-sata and 2x500GB WD RE2 HDD's. Had ti use a e-sata adaptor can be a apin as it is easy to knock out