NotebookForums.com › Forums › Off Topic › Desktop and Hardware Discussion › FireWire vs USB2 on External Drives
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

FireWire vs USB2 on External Drives

post #1 of 4
3/16/04 at 6:54am
Thread Starter 
Ars Technica has a great review on a pair of External Drives, an 80 GB 5400 and a 60 GB 7200 using both USB and FireWire on both Mac and PC.
http://www.arstechnica.com/reviews/0...mercury-1.html

The results are very interesting. In nearly every test done, the FW outperformed the USB on both platforms, often very convincingly. In the one or two tests where the USB did better, it was close.

Its also a good comparison of PC vs Mac.
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 4
3/16/04 at 10:55pm
I've seen similar results for a while now, and from my personal experience (i.e. over 2 years using FW & USB drives) I can say that FW spanks USB2 all day in normal operations.

USB2 has given me more headaches and incompatibilities, etc. than FW ever thought of.

In fact, the ONLY problem I've ever had with FW is my iPOD does not like to be connected when my Exabyte VXA-II FW tape drive is connected (oddly enough).

Other than that, I have four FW devices always connected, and sometimes more.

Others milage may vary, but that's mine.

-myrkat
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 4
3/17/04 at 3:29am
I'll second that. Less experience though. I have a Kanguru Portable with interchangeable interfaces. The USB gets a little flaky sometimes, the Firewire is quite stabel and is faster, and it doesn't exhibit the lag, say reading directories that I get with USB.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 4
3/17/04 at 5:43am
I have two Bytec firewire external enclosures. One is used for a DVD-R drive and the other is used for a 120gb hard drive. They are daisy chained and I have never had any problems. Before I got these enclosures I had a USB 2 enclosure and had nothing but problems with.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Desktop and Hardware Discussion
NotebookForums.com › Forums › Off Topic › Desktop and Hardware Discussion › FireWire vs USB2 on External Drives