USB 2.0 vs Firewire vs internal HD

well its my understanding that USB 2.0 allows for bursts up to 480mbps, where as firewire can sustain the 400mbps for an extended period of time, so i would go firewire if i were you, as to how it compares to the internal drive, im sure the internal will be a bit faster simply because the external has to go through the extra input method

Even in tests using Windows PCs Firewire 400 was found to be faster then USB 2.0.

http://www.g4techtv.com/freshgear/features/39129/USB_20_Versus_FireWire.html

PlaceofDis said:

well its my understanding that USB 2.0 allows for bursts up to 480mbps, where as firewire can sustain the 400mbps for an extended period of time, so i would go firewire if i were you, as to how it compares to the internal drive, im sure the internal will be a bit faster simply because the external has to go through the extra input method

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Short answer:
This is exactly correct. For hard drives firewire is usually, if not always, the way to go.

A little longer answer:
This tests posted are a little skewed. They tell the tale of USB2 and firewire for hard drives, but they really don't say what is faster over all.

USB2, even when tranfering large files (over a meg), transfers data in small quick bursts. These bursts usually reach speed higher than firewire can reach. (I'm speaking about firewire 400) This is great for mice, keyboards, small printing files, etc. But do to the "burst, stop, burst, stop, ..." nature of usb, larger files have a lot of overhead. Also, the data is transfering only half the time.

Firewire streams the data. The more data to send, the faster it can go until it reaches its max speed which is slower than usb2's max speed. But because it doesn't stop over and over again during transfer, firewire is much faster than usb for larger files. Its sort of like a car, you can't go 60 until you've gone 1, 2, 3, ..., and 59. If many small files are being sent (about under a meg), usb2 will destroy firewire400 in speed test. Notice that keyboards and mice are rarely if ever firewire. One reason is that firewire costs more money to develop and produce, but also you would lose the quick response time of usb2 or even usb1.1.

Now don't think I'm busting on firewire. I wouldn't buy a external hard drive without a firewire port and my usb cord for my ipod hasn't left the box. I just want to make sure that whole story gets told to anyone who wants to listen.

Spartacus said:

Thanks for the advice. I am for sure getting firewire. I am going to be using photoshop a lot and I am wondering which HD will be faster. This is important for the scratch disk. Should I set the scratch on the external or the internal disk? Which will be faster in real world transfer? Thanks!

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As long as the drive has an Oxford chipset then you are pretty much guaranteed a fastest of the breed drive. Make sure to get a 7200RPM drive with 8MB of cache if you are looking for speed. In this situation the external drive will be much faster then your OEM internal drive.