firewire is fast

[OrangeSVTguy]

so yeah i was copying some files from my enternal hdd onto my g3 ibook via usb and it seemed to take about a half an hour or longer to copy 3gb. i know it's got a slower drive in all but still. maybe i've just been spoiled by 2.0 in my xp laptop. i then later copied that to a new external hdd via firewire and did it in under 3 minutes. and that is actually my first time useing firewire

 

[Killyp]

Yup, Firewire is damn quick.

In fact, when I daisy chain 2 x Firewire drives, they still run miles faster than a USB hard drive.

 

[heatmiser]

It's faster, but I vastly prefer USB 2. Compatibility and Affordability >> Speed.

 

[Consultant]

It's faster, but I vastly prefer USB 2. Compatibility and Affordability >> Speed.

Looks like you are not a professional.

For professionals whose time is money, Speed = money saved >> cheap usb that uses your CPU when transferring files and never achieve full speed.

 

[heatmiser]

Looks like you are not a professional.

I prefer USB 2. End of story. Full stop. You can prefer whatever you like without making assumptions about who I am or what I do.

 

[Tilpots]

With my first time machine backup from my MBP to G-tech G-drive via FW 800, I moved over 110GB in about 1 1/2hrs. Pretty fast, if you ask me.

 

[Airforce]

Looks like you are not a professional.

For professionals whose time is money, Speed = money saved >> cheap usb that uses your CPU when transferring files and never achieve full speed.

The difference between firewire/usb is marginal at best when it comes to time. eSata is where it is at until USB 3.0

 

[bigandy]

I prefer USB 2. End of story. Full stop. You can prefer whatever you like without making assumptions about who I am or what I do.

That's fine - but USB2 doesn't fly for pro stuff. I couldn't make do with USB2's 50% disadvantage in the speed department.

 

[heatmiser]

That's fine - but USB2 doesn't fly for pro stuff. I couldn't make do with USB2's 50% disadvantage in the speed department.

You don't seem to get it either--I use USB2, and I'm fine with that. If you're fine with something else, Good For You!

 

[TBi]

You don't seem to get it either--I use USB2, and I'm fine with that. If you're fine with something else, Good For You!

Since almost all drives have an option for both USB and Firewire; why not get one with both? All my external drives support both USB and Firewire which means i can use Firewire for speed and USB for compatibility with people who haven't seen the light!

The difference in price is minimal on the drive side and all Mac's come with firewire as standard.

 

[0098386]

That's fine - but USB2 doesn't fly for pro stuff. I couldn't make do with USB2's 50% disadvantage in the speed department.

Yea, USB is a bit terrible. I'm forced to use it until I get another FW enclosure for my drive. The FW one just runs rings around my USB drive. I can easily use it as a scratch disk and storage for large apps and it runs like a dream.

 

[heatmiser]

Since almost all drives have an option for both USB and Firewire; why not get one with both? All my external drives support both USB and Firewire which means i can use Firewire for speed and USB for compatibility with people who haven't seen the light!

The difference in price is minimal on the drive side and all Mac's come with firewire as standard.

Yeah, Firewire's golden in all Mac environments, but when you're working with PCs (compatibility!), you've either got to buy USB drives or adapters, etc. It's just easier to have drives that work out of the box with both types. We use FW in my lab, because the computers there are all Macs, but otherwise...

 

[mrwizardno2]

I've used both USB2 and firewire, and honestly, I'll agree with the half that say FW is infinitely better. It's amazing the speed achieved over a little piece of wire like that.

 

[notjustjay]

I like FireWire because I can daisy chain my external HD and a miniDV camcorder, which is generally why I have the external HD anyway (imported DV files are HUGE).

 

[bigandy]

You don't seem to get it either--I use USB2, and I'm fine with that. If you're fine with something else, Good For You!

No, heatmiser, I understand completely where you're coming from.

I was agreeing with Consultant, who made a perfectly valid point regarding the superiority of Firewire in certain situations.

Please keep these threads clear of insults, or posts that could be construed as such.

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

***** cheap usb that uses your CPU when transferring files and never achieve full speed.

yeah i noticed no slowdown while transfering via FW too. i was amazed to get a 1 gb/min transfer rate on my old g3 ibook with no slowdown on the cpu resources. ha and it can even barely handle youtube

just thought i'd share my first FW experience

 

[Mindflux]

this just in:

cheese is curdled milk
cars run on fuel
humans require water and oxygen to survive.

stay tuned for more obvious statements in this thread.

 

[Consultant]

I prefer USB 2. End of story. Full stop. You can prefer whatever you like without making assumptions about who I am or what I do.

Looks like your case is thin. Your personal preference does not dispute the fact that Firewire is faster than usb 2.0. We are not even talking about Firewire 800 here, which is typically twice as fast as usb 2.0. Professionals use it / afford it. Actually professionals usually get triple interface (firewire 800, firewire 400, and usb 2.0 for the lowly pcs) or quad interface devices (3 + eSata) because they can afford it.

Just because you cannot afford something, and has no facts to dispute what I wrote, does not mean you have wish bad thing to happen to someone else.

How's vista treating you?

 

[Mindflux]

Looks like you are not a professional.

For professionals whose time is money, Speed = money saved >> cheap usb that uses your CPU when transferring files and never achieve full speed.

Show me a Firewire benchmark where anything reaches full FW400 or 800Mbit/s speed for a sustained period of time.

/thread.

 

[heatmiser]

...

I have both Firewire and USB2 drives, and use both frequently. I work on Macs and PCs, and while I appreciate the faster speeds inherent in FW, I rely far more upon the compatibility I receive from USB drives, which can be plugged into either machine and used without a second thought. This puts USB 2 over FW for my needs, and is why I'll continue to prefer USB 2 over Firewire for my work. I'm still not sure why you're unable to get past this.

 

[Consultant]

Show me a Firewire benchmark where anything reaches full FW400 or 800Mbit/s speed for a sustained period of time.

/thread.

To quote arstechnica

Referring to USB 2.0
"Why USB 2.0 when you can Firewire? While USB 2.0 performance was much
better on the PC than on the Mac, it still failed to match up to Firewire."

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/mercury.ars

Yes, firewire is faster than USB even for sustained transfers. I've never said FULL speed though.
Note most technologies rarely achieve the maximum speed. But it's which one is faster that matters.

 

[Mindflux]

To quote arstechnica

Referring to USB 2.0
"Why USB 2.0 when you can Firewire? While USB 2.0 performance was much
better on the PC than on the Mac, it still failed to match up to Firewire."

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/mercury.ars

That wasn't my question. My question was for you to show me a FW400 or 800 product that even comes close to sustained maximum speed. There isn't one.

You made it sound like FW can achieve full speed and USB cannot, which is not the case. Neither can.

 

[TBi]

I have both Firewire and USB2 drives, and use both frequently. I work on Macs and PCs, and while I appreciate the faster speeds inherent in FW, I rely far more upon the compatibility I receive from USB drives, which can be plugged into either machine and used without a second thought. This puts USB 2 over FW for my needs, and is why I'll continue to prefer USB 2 over Firewire for my work. I'm still not sure why you're unable to get past this.

You can buy drives which have both USB and Firewire. I don't understand your logic. You can have a drive with all the speed benefits of firewire and all the compatiblity benefits on USB. Why buy USB only drives when such drives are readily available?

I'm totally lost as to your train of thought in this matter here. I don't see what you lose by buying a dual interface drive, all i see is all you lose.

 

[heatmiser]

Why buy USB only drives when such drives are readily available?

Because I already have several USB drives, and see no need to buy more for the purpose of using FireWire. The USB drives do exactly what I need them to do (work well between Macs and PCs). Why replace them?

 

[Consultant]

That wasn't my question. My question was for you to show me a FW400 or 800 product that even comes close to sustained maximum speed. There isn't one.

You made it sound like FW can achieve full speed and USB cannot, which is not the case. Neither can.

It's a fact that Firewire is faster than USB. I've never say either can achieve full speed.