Firewire Vs USB Externel HD

[willbemcse]

Will I see a lot of difference between using a firewire or usb external hd kit while doing data transfer ??

 

[corkyg]

Over a long period with a large amount of data, yes. Firewire will normally outperform USB 2. And if you really want performance - check out a SATA external drive case.

 

[Cerb]

Yup, if you can find one, SATA would be the way to go, unless mobility is really important.
Between USB and FW, not much of a difference. FW will generally be faster, but it's not an Earth-shattering difference. The lower CPU use of FW is nice, though.

 

[Continuity28]

Typically, you won't notice much of a difference between the two as far as transfer speeds. If you have the option, certainly go with 1394B then 1394A then USB2 and way behind that and almost not considered at all is USB1.0. Another aspect to keep in mind is that doing heavy work on a USB2 drive can make your CPU less responsive to other things, as utilization can be anywhere from 5% - 60%. Firewire (1394) is much lower in that regard, topping out at around 10% I believe.

USB is more software controlled and relies on burst speeds. Firewire is a bit more dedicated and you'll see better sustained transfer rates. That's why people say for a bunch of small files, USB2 can have the edge, whereas if you're working with large files like video content, Firewire is your friend.

 

[gnumantsc]

Well if you know the computers you are going to use I'd say FW but portability USB2. OR you can save yourself the trouble and spend the extra few dollars and get one that does both!

Mine was supposed to be USB2 only but when I open it up I got 2 FW ports and 1 USB 2 port since the company was short on USB2 asics.

 

[willbemcse]

I will be using this drive as a data backup and I have lots of data to backup. I guess firewire is the way to go. The pc I will be using on is amd 64 (3200+) with 1GB Ram as for files they will be combination of data and video files.

 

[LED]

YES... and Here's Firewire800

 

[msmith]

Definitely go with Firewire, especially the new FIREWIRE 800