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makototaramoto · Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2002 6:04 pm

Im thinking of getting this one http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.asp?edc=340623 Its a 100 gig...I wanted to ask what a firewire connection is and if a usb connection is slower or faster. I coulda called up office max but i think ill just write....
anyone with a external H.D.?

Mercer
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ReAktor · Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2002 6:18 pm

I have one USB external drive and wish I had bought one with firewire... I always have connection problems and driver issues. It won't work with Macs and Linux systems, either...

Firewire and USB are two concurrent serial transfer protocols, both featuring fast (USB2 and Firewire only) data transfer and easy plug and play (hey, that sounds like a commercial Smile

Firewire and USB2 will give you something around 400MBit transfer speed which is sufficient for work (You won't notice any difference to your built in harddrives). USB1 only features a maximum transfer speed of 11MBit which is truly inadequate.

Normally you don't see the Firewire or USB host in your system. That means that if you plug in your Harddrive it looks like a normal harddrive to the system and nothing shows that it is external.

Firewire itself is in my opinion the better system because you have true plug and play and won't need to bother wether you need drivers or not. You just don't need them Smile

USB2 is only better if you have old systems with just USB installed because the protocol is downward compatible which means you can just plug an USB2 drive into an USB1 controller and you will be able to access the device anyhow (ok, with USB1 speed, which is approx. 11 MBit).

If you just have one PC with USB2-connector it would be cheaper for you if you would buy an USB2-Drive. In all other cases I would recommend you get a firewire drive. You need a firewire-port on your computer then...

If you have a Mac: Buy that firewire-one... Smile

Definitely...
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Gort · Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2002 7:35 pm

[Shizo] · member Member # Joined: 22 Oct 1999 Posts: 3938

The new Creative Audigy soundcards have built in FireWire too btw.

Snakebyte · Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2002 9:11 am

The performance of the drive is largely dependent on the quality of the hardware you�re getting. What I mean is, although Firewire is 400Mbit I only get 100Mbit (~10MB per second) out of my Firewire Drive, Which is still quite good mind you. (its NOT due to the Harddrive)
Firewire is a mature interface whereas USB2 is still new. I�ve seen benchmarks somewhere showing a Firewire drive blowing away a USB2 drive.

Even with my 1/4 firewire speed it still doesnt take that long the transfer 2Gigs of data. It's greate!
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Gort · Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2002 9:40 am

[Shizo] · member Member # Joined: 22 Oct 1999 Posts: 3938

And how often does that happen? For me, never :0

gezstar · Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2002 10:38 am

i've got a usb2 60 gig hdd, and it's good.
umm, that's it. Smile

Pat · Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2002 10:48 am

I recently transfered 14 gigs of data from an external firewire drive to my internal. The external was an IBM 7200 rpm running in a 2 drive firewire enclosure and my internal was a Maxtor 7200 rpm, running off the new SiS controller chip on my Asus mobo. I did a test transfer of 800 megs and the total transfer was completed in less than 4 seconds. I thought perhaps that was a little fast (maybe a burst mode?) but all the data was verified and when I transfered the entire 13 or so remaining gigs I sustained roughly the same speed. Welcome to the future.

-Pat

Gort · Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2002 11:29 am

Gorshdarnit Shizo - I'm not jackin on you for your preference. Smile

I am just saying that I've had my hands in a lot of machines, and integrated components, from my personal experience, tend to cause problems in the long run. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. If you're happy with your setup then that's cool, man - that's you, but if it were me I wouldn't go that way. Now maybe things have changed in the last few years; maybe the technology is better, but the older Creative sound/modem boards caused a lot a problems for a lot of people ("damn...my sound card has gone kaputz - time for a new modem too. Kaching!"), so I swore a long time ago that I would never, ever buy a multi-functional board.

Whatever floats your boat.
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[Shizo] · member Member # Joined: 22 Oct 1999 Posts: 3938

One love, one life.. Come to Jamaica and feel alright!

Gort · Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2002 5:49 pm

you rock, man
Smile

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