usb 2.0 vs firewire 400

[DJJONES]

which is faster usb 2.0 or firewire 400? i read something about firewire being 400 mb/s and 2.0 being 480 mb/s not sure if this is correct?
thinking of buying a lacie hd with firewire support but for a 1tb firewire hd vs one with just usb 2.0 its a 100 buck difference and so far i can say my current usb 2.0 hd isnt slow at all im very satified with it.

[dukebound85]

fw 400 for sustained rates


please use the search feature as this has been brought up a lot

[DJJONES]

sustained rates???? what you mean??? so usb 2.0 doesnt keep a consitent rate of data transfer speed?

[ebel3003]

sustained rates???? what you mean??? so usb 2.0 doesnt keep a consitent rate of data transfer speed?

Firewire is peer-to-peer, the devices transfer directly to each other, meaning they can sustain a constant rate of 400mbps. USB involves the processor, which slows it down significantly and can't sustain that 480mbps.

Search for a more in-depth explanation.

[sushi]

sustained rates???? what you mean??? so usb 2.0 doesnt keep a consitent rate of data transfer speed?
Generally speaking, FW400 goes up to that speed level and remains there for the balance of the transfer. Where as USB2.0 will spike a bit faster, then maintain at a level around 200Mbps.

Real world, I have an external HD with both FW400 and USB2.0. I transfered some large files -- around 100GBs. The time required to transfer the files for USB2.0 was over twice as long as for the FW400 connection.

Definitely go for FW400 or FW800.

[DJJONES]

makes sense now thanks guys for the info seeeeen :D