Firewire vs ethernet for copying files

[rw120555]

I just added an Adaptec firewire/usb 2.0 card to my desktop. My laptop also has firewire, and both machines have 10/100 ethernet ports. For copying files between the two machines, is it better or faster to

1) Have both connected to a switch, like I currently do, or
2) Connect them via firewire cable (I can do that, right?)

In other words, which type of network connection is faster, ethernet or Firewire? If firewire is faster, is there some other downside, e.g. reliability, to using it? Thanks. RW

 

[Relayer]

firwire is suposedly faster. 400mbps compared to 100 on fast ether net.

 

[aviris]

I have my desktop and laptop connected via 100 Mbs switch and via firewire. The firewire is faster - but not significantly. I experimented coping a 650 meg file using the ethernet and watched the networkd usage on the Task Manager. It tops out at about 80% usage.

I then copied the same file using the firewire connection and it was only a couple seconds faster but the usage topped out at about 25%. It looks like that either way you are hitting the limits of the hard drives to read and write the data.

 

[rw120555]

Thanks to both of you. Interesting point, I suppose that as your network gets faster sooner or later the other components become bottlenecks.

 

[Intelman07]

They have the new gig ethernet nics i believe i am sure that is faster. Someone check me on this.

 

[Oaf357]

Originally posted by: Intelman07
They have the new gig ethernet nics i believe i am sure that is faster. Someone check me on this.

Yes but your processor and RAM along with your hard drives come into play then. You've got to have enough horsepower for the NICs then you have to be able to pump out that data with your hard drive. Typically for the home environment a gig is overkill.