What's the 1394 network connection?

Yes. It's the firewire port on the right side, next the headphones. If you don't use it, there's no need for it.

Yes, you can disable it if you don't know what it is. I usually use it for file transfer between 2 computers with IEEE1394 (firewire) connections. It is much faster than 100mbps ethernet because it runs at 400mbps and there is no need for a crossover cable for simple computer to computer connection. You just need to get a cheap calbe online with the right connectors.

Yup. Unlike the ethernet port, or the wireless connection, the 1394 port always shows as connected (no red X next to it) even if nothing is connected to it. I think it's wone of those window's bugs or perhaps there is a real reason behind it.

You know that is a great idea! I can't believe I never considered using that for PC to PC transfers in the past. I'm definitely going out and buying one of those cables now to try this out myself. Thanks!

So, what kind of cable is need for this type of transfer?

If its notebook to notebook, then both ends of the cable should be the 4-pin firewire type. If its notebook to dektop then one end should have a 4-pin while a 6-pin head is need for the other end. Desktop to desktop....6pin on both sides.

Fireware

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I know how to do it on a Mac but how do you do it with two Window machines?

The setup is exactely the same as any ethernet network except with a firewire cable. Just hook the 2 computers up with the firewaire cable and make sure that both the 1394 network connections are enabled. With file charing then enabled, the 2 computers should be able to see each other in the workgroup.

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Thanks that sounds easy. Now to find a cheap place to buy a firwire cable that from my understanding from this site I need a 4-pin for the notebook to 6-pin for my Dell desktop. Is this right?

Just make sure that your Dell desktop has a firewire port. If it does, the cable you mentioned should work.

Just curious, compared to a USB2.0 connection, how much faster is firewire? I know it's technically 400Mbps but when you actually transfer it how fast does it go (assuming it's an external USB2.0 hard drive vs. an external Firewire hard drive)?

From what I remember, I think the USB2.0 drive would read faster, while the firewire drive would write faster. It could be the other way around, but the overall performance was about the same.

IEEE 1394 (Firewire 400) is significantly faster than USB 2, even though Firewire is 400mbps & USB is 480mbps. USB is VERY CPU intensive whereas Firewire is "intelligent" and requires little CPU. IEEE 1394b is far, far faster @ 800mbps. That translates into 100MBps/1GB in 10 seconds! Firewire devices have the intelligence built in, you just daisy chain them from one to another. (that's why only one conn on pc) I use a Firewire 800 PC Card to connect to 3 Lacie Big Extreme 500GB ext HDD's and a DVD burner. I've asked many times why Dell doesn't add an 800 connection but they don't have a good answer. (course they only put 10/100 eithernet on 9300 but a 10/100/1000 on XPS-2)

btw, the "network" designation is because the daisy chain is like it's own network. You can connect up to 63 devices I think.

I'm no fan of Apple at all but Firewire is far superior technology than USB. When they wrote the specs they already included 400/800/1600. God only knows what 1600 would be like. Worthless for HDD's, 800 is just as fast as any internal PC bus.

I can restore 10GB from a Retrospect backup in bout 10 mins. Those are selected files out of a system backup and from about 25 backup sets. Considering the processing going on I consider that very fast. USB could never touch it.

the only reason you see USB everywhere is that it's an open standard (free) whereas Firewire is proprietary (owned by Apple).

btw, USB stands for Unbelievably Shxxxy Bus lol (I think that's the official name)

Can you or perhaps even someone else explain why USB 2.0 when rated at 480mbps is slower than Firewire 400 at 400 mbps? I always hear about the 'shared bus' etc but if you don't have any other USB things hooked up then that shouldn't be a factor should it?

Is there any benchmarks you can point me to on the internet that back up these speed differences you are talking about? I have heard conflicting stories from different people and would like to set it straight. I do have a Seagate 400G external USB 2.0 drive that also has firewire in it. I guess I could download HD Tach and see how it is reported just for my own information but I was hoping there was some other website that might have some more in depth writeups on the hows and whys on this subject.

I did some very extensive research several months ago before deciding which way to go. But I saw just way too many times where tests showed that Firewire 400 beat USB 480.

Again, USB is a "dumb" standard, it must use the CPU as a controller. Firewire has the intelligence built in.

Really good link: http://www.lacie.com/download/more/W...reWire_800.pdf

Designed to facilitate the transfer and networking of large amounts of varying types of digital data between systems and individual users, FireWire has become an indispensable part of the consumer electronics and personal computer industries. Apple’s contribution to FireWire has been recognized by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences with an Emmy award for the creation of the standard, which has numerous applications in the television industry.

And in the computer industry, Intel VP Anand Chandrasekher foresees digital video and FireWire becoming an even bigger part of PCs, and to “Expect to see a ton of 1394.”

FireWire Environments
When the original FireWire standard was introduced in 1995, it was a revolution in and of itself. It provided thirty times the bandwidth of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) 1.1 peripheral standard, and enabled a whole new host of features and applications. FireWire 800 offers users data-transfer speeds of 800Mbsp today, which is two times faster than the 400Mbps of original FireWire. All versions of FireWire offer Plug & Play connectivity, allowing users to simply plug in their drive and begin using it. They also allow up to 63 devices to be connected via a single bus and offer peer-to-peer connectivity, enabling multiple computers and FireWire devices to be connected at the same time. FireWire also supports both isochronous and asynchronous capabilities, meaning that it can guarantee real-time data delivery, so there is no danger of inaccurately ordered or delayed content.

I just Googled USB+Firewire+comparison and this was the first listing, it's very informative: http://www.usb-ware.com/firewire-vs-usb.htm

FireWire, uses a "Peer-to-Peer" architecture in which the peripherals are intelligent and can negotiate bus conflicts to determine which device can best control a data transfer

Hi-Speed USB 2.0 uses a "Master-Slave" architecture in which the computer handles all arbitration functions and dictates data flow to, from and between the attached peripherals (adding additional system overhead and resulting in slower data flow control)

Read Test:
5000 files (300 MB total) FireWire was 33% faster than USB 2.0
160 files (650MB total) FireWire was 70% faster than USB 2.0

Write Test:
5000 files (300 MB total) FireWire was 16% faster than USB 2.0
160 files (650MB total) FireWire was 48% faster than USB 2.0


So when you get up into GB's there's no comparison. THEN move up to Firewire 800 and it's an Indy car vs an SUV...