Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

camilletom

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 9, 2007
81
0
Hi?
I'm hesitating between purchasing a Fire Wire or USB hard disc...
What's better?
Thanks
 
get a dual interface if you can, but if it has to be one or the other it depends on what you're going to be using it for.


FW has better sustained speeds compared to USB, but if you're going to be using it more for moving files back and forth between your mac and a pc go USB
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
-camilletom

If forced into a choice between FireWire and USB, choose Firewire. But hayduke is right - both interfaces are best.

The D2 you chose is an exceltentchoice. You can even upgrade the drive should you chooses (PATA interface). One thing about the D2 - it's enclosure makes for a good Faraday cage - e.g. resistant to e.m. pulses.

Growing up in the Midwest, I knew many who lost drives due to the corruption brought on my a nearby lightning strike - myself included.
 
We did some tests with my friend's iMac C2D and my Maxtor 250GB Firewire400 + USB2.0 -drive. We used activity monitor to measure transfer speeds when moving a large file from external drive to iMac's drive. The results were following:

USB2.0 speed: 18MB/s
Firewire400 speed: 33MB/s

So, it's up to you what kind of performance you need, but I'd definitely go for firewire (firewire + usb being the best option of course).
 
airport extreme

fw is fastest and you can boot with it
however, with the new airport extreme, your external drive can run wirelessly on usb.


so get both fw+usb.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.