Is it ok to run OS X from an External Firewire?

[Dadfrod]

I have just setup an External Firewire drive 1TB with osx 10.56 on it and it does seem to be running fast Hooked up to a 2007 iMac so I believe its firewire 400 that it's using.

My question is if it's recommended to run a real production OS from an external Iomgea Ultramax 800/400/USB/ESata drive.

Listed here http://go.iomega.com/en-us/products/external-hard-drive-desktop/ultramax-single/?partner=4760

Is there anything special about runing from an external i should be aware of? Reason I wanted to use external vs internal is size. Im using the internal HD for bootcamp and Virtual Drives while my main production and family storage is on the external.

 

[flopticalcube]

It will be slower than the internal (depending on what Mac you have), especially FW400.

 

[michael.lauden]

It will be slower than the internal (depending on what Mac you have), especially FW400.

that's not true.

if you have a Mac Mini - like me. you probably have a 2.5" 4200RPM 1.5gb/s HDD.


if you put a 3.5 7200RPM at 3.0GB/s via FW400 - the performance can be boosted by FAR.


it's what i do to run 10.5.6 on my mini

 

[flopticalcube]

that's not true.

if you have a Mac Mini - like me. you probably have a 2.5" 4200RPM 1.5gb/s HDD.


if you put a 3.5 7200RPM at 3.0GB/s via FW400 - the performance can be boosted by FAR.


it's what i do to run 10.5.6 on my mini

As I said: "depending on what Mac you have". The OP has a 2007 iMac. The internal will be faster. And how can you possibly get 3.0GB/s via FW400 (the 400 stands for 400MB/s)?

 

[Dadfrod]

I have the iMac 24 inch that came out in October 2007 with leopard. Anyone know what HD that has in it or a way I can tell?

 

[flopticalcube]

I have the iMac 24 inch that came out in October 2007 with leopard. Anyone know what HD that has in it or a way I can tell?

7200RPM 3GB/s SATA II. The FW port is FW800.

EDIT: actually you have one of each FW400/800.

 

[Schtumple]

It'll have a 3.5" 7200RPM bog standard desktop hard drive. The external won't be faster.

 

[Dadfrod]

ok so is the 800 Firewire port going to faster than the internal? or about the same?

 

[Consultant]

Firewire 800 is not faster than internal, however if you have RAID set up, then it'll be faster than internal when the drive fills up.

Either internal or external would work.

 

[michael.lauden]

7200RPM 3GB/s SATA II. The FW port is FW800.

EDIT: actually you have one of each FW400/800.

actually i only have the firewire 400 and i see some performance gains. maybe i'm crazy though

 

[flopticalcube]

actually i only have the firewire 400 and i see some performance gains. maybe i'm crazy though

Its quite possible. Seek times will be quicker on the external but data transfer will be MUCH slower. Small files good, big files bad.

 

[James Cole]

Not a problem just slower.

 

[localoid]

actually i only have the firewire 400 and i see some performance gains. maybe i'm crazy though

Try this simple "benchmarking" test from Terminal and compare the results for your external vs. internal drive.

Write test:

time dd if=/dev/zero bs=1024k of=tstfile count=1024

Read test:

time dd if=tstfile bs=1024k of=/dev/null

You can delete the temp file (tstfile) created with the write test afterwards...