Time Machine drive- worth buying with firewire?

[Porsche1209]

I have a question about getting a new backup drive for time machine. It will be for a new macbook pro with a 7200 rpm 500 gb hard drive. Is it worth spending the extra money on an external hard drive that supports Firewire 800? Will it make a big difference with backups? I've been using USB 2.0 external hard drives with my family's computers without any problems, but was wondering what experiences the board has had with speed differences between these two interfaces.

(Note: I plan on enabling filevault on that laptop in case of theft. Let me know if that will significantly affect backups, other than the fact that I will have to be logged out for them to occur.)

 

[MacDawg]

I would definitely spring for the Firewire myself

I have the 1 TB Western Digital MyBook with Firewire
I highly recommend it

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[Le Big Mac]

Worth it. Especially FW800. Not to rehash the arguments, which you can find with a search easily, but for most people FW800 is faster than USB 2.0.

 

[thegoldenmackid]

I don't think that is at all necessary for Time Machine, but getting it would sorta be useful in case the drive is used for other purposes...

 

[alphaod]

Yes a firewire drive is definitely worth; it's a faster interface. And since the MacBook Pro only has 2 USB ports, using a firewire drive will free up on of those ports.

And I would advise against Filevault—it really sucks.