USB vs Firewire – Why is Firewire better? 6

[JennyW86]

Hi.

What’s the difference between the following external Hard Drives:

1. USB
2. Firewire


I noticed a few people saying that Firewire is much better.


I edit lots of Audio and Video, will Firewire be really that much faster? Or, what are its advantages?



Thanks for reading. I know this is kinda basic, but I figured this would be the best place to ask this. If it's not, please, let me know!

Jenny

 

[wolluf]

which version of firewire? Assume you mean USB2 - which has max transfer rate of 480mbs - firewire 1 has 400, firewire 2 has 800, i think. I've never done a direct comparison so can't comment from personal experience.

 

[vacunita]

Take a lok at this:

http://www.barefeats.com/usb2.html

----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[cdogg]

You can read all about here (knock yourself out):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewire

Although USB 2.0 has a higher upper limit of 480Mbit/s transfer rate over the older Firewire 400Mbit/s, many tests have actually shown that USB 2.0 was rarely able to achieve speeds greater than 400Mbit/s. So overall, Firewire was still the better choice though most consumers found them to be fairly equal.

The newer Firewire 800 (786 Mbit/s) of course blows both out of the water. Product developers have found that most people will go with what they have. In most cases, that's USB 2.0 which was initially cheaper to manufacture due to Apple's royalty on Firewire.

Keep Wikipedia in mind for future reference...

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[cjcoyle]

Firewire vs USB ...
I didn't happen to catch which OS you're using. If you're a MAC user and you're system is fairly new, chances are Firewire will be you're fastest bit rate. If you're a PC user, I don't think you really have a choice - I haven't seen firewire on a new system in awhile. Also, USB is a more common architecture regarding peripherals.

 

[paparazi]

Faster firewire 800 aside, USB2 in theory, should have the edge but as others have already said, for some weired and wonderful reason in reality, firewire nearly always is quicker.
It's just one of those strange things that defy reasoning.

Martin

We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[ArizonaGeek]

Isnt there a USB 3.0 coming out soon? I thought I had read someplace that there is another upgrade coming that was supposed to do like gigabit or faster.

Cheers
Rob

 

[JennyW86]

Hi guys!

My apologies for the delay in my action in my own post!

Thanks for all the feedback and links - it's appreciated!

I heard the following about Firewire also:
With USB, all of the data flow has to be managed by software - i.e., your CPU has to get involved. With Firewire, the interface controller can do most of it, leaving the CPU to do more important things.

cdogg said
The newer Firewire 800 (786 Mbit/s) of course blows both out of the water. Product developers have found that most people will go with what they have. In most cases, that's USB 2.0 which was initially cheaper to manufacture due to Apple's royalty on Firewire.

Is the new Firewire 800 out yet?


Thanks guys!
Jenny

 

[cdogg]

Is the new Firewire 800 out yet?

I haven't used it yet, but from what I understand, it's been available since 2003 according to that Wikipedia article.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[JennyW86]

Hi guys!

I haven't used it yet, but from what I understand, it's been available since 2003 according to that Wikipedia article.

Interesting...I saw the new IMac I wanted, and noticed that it only had the Firewire 400 on it, which seems strange to me, but then again, maybe 800 is just getting popular right now.


Thanks guys!

Jenny

 

[cdogg]

Yeah, my guess is that there aren't many Firewire 800 devices out there yet that really need it.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884