USB external hard drive fast enough?

[wutisupmonSD]

I have a friend who is going ballistic because I am considering the unibody macbook. He thinks that a computer without firewire is death. I try to assure him that I have never needed firewire before, but I will be buying an external hard drive with it.

How much of a performance difference does it make between USB 2.0 hard drives and firewire 400?

 

[dukebound85]

what do you plan on using it for?

playback of videos, music is fine on usb

 

[alexbates]

I have never used Firewire. USB has been fast enough for me over the years. I think that USB is supposed to be faster on the new MacBook's. Does anyone know if the new MacBook has USB 3.0?

 

[dukebound85]

I have never used Firewire. USB has been fast enough for me over the years. I think that USB is supposed to be faster on the new MacBook's. Does anyone know if the new MacBook has USB 3.0?

it doesnt

 

[wutisupmonSD]

sweet.

anyone have any experience video or photo editting using a USB hard drive?

 

[robanga]

sweet.

anyone have any experience video or photo editting using a USB hard drive?

I have done both on a Windows PC via a USB 2.0 drive with no real complaints. Yes FW is faster but in my opinion unless you are doing this activities as part of your job or business for 10 hours a day, the speed is not going to be an issue.

 

[Knolly]

USB 2.0 vs Firewire 400 is negligible.

Firewire 800 IS significantly faster, but I only noticed it when copying files.

Let me put it this way... I used to have a HD that had FW 800 and USB, but I used it with USB for convenience so I could just have a single USB hub to plug in. So basically, the difference was so minor in day to day use that it wasn't worth the hassle.

 

[Sun Baked]

USB2 is a darn good storage medium and really works well if you aren't constantly moving files around as you work.

You'll be more likely notice the speed difference editing a large/complex movie more than you will editing pictures (unless the USB drive is also designated the swap drive.)

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However, with the problems with FW800 on the Macs since introduction ... the USB2 drive will likely give you fewer problems than the FW drive over its life.