need advice: firewire vs usb2

[Tony]

Hi All,

I am putting together a backup system with external
USB 2 or Firewire hard drives. The computer has an open
firewire port and several open USB 2 ports.

USB 1 was HORRIBLE. USB 2 "seems" to have cleaned up
a lot of USB 1's problems, but I have never been able
put it through its paces with an external hard drive.
On the other hand, I have never had any problems with
Firewire.

Any advice?

Many thanks,
--Tony

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Tony" <[email protected]>

| Hi All,
|
| I am putting together a backup system with external
| USB 2 or Firewire hard drives. The computer has an open
| firewire port and several open USB 2 ports.
|
| USB 1 was HORRIBLE. USB 2 "seems" to have cleaned up
| a lot of USB 1's problems, but I have never been able
| put it through its paces with an external hard drive.
| On the other hand, I have never had any problems with
| Firewire.
|
| Any advice?
|
| Many thanks,
| --Tony

It doesn't make a difference which technology you choose because the limiting factor isn't
FireWire or USB. External hard disks use cheap IDE hard disks and the chip-set that
converts USB or FireWire to IDE, on the external chassis, adds additional latency to the
total transfer rate.

 

[Tony]

From: "Tony" <[email protected]>

| Hi All,
|
| I am putting together a backup system with external
| USB 2 or Firewire hard drives. The computer has an open
| firewire port and several open USB 2 ports.
|
| USB 1 was HORRIBLE. USB 2 "seems" to have cleaned up
| a lot of USB 1's problems, but I have never been able
| put it through its paces with an external hard drive.
| On the other hand, I have never had any problems with
| Firewire.
|
| Any advice?
|
| Many thanks,
| --Tony

It doesn't make a difference which technology you choose because the limiting factor isn't
FireWire or USB. External hard disks use cheap IDE hard disks and the chip-set that
converts USB or FireWire to IDE, on the external chassis, adds additional latency to the
total transfer rate.

But which would be the more reliable? (Speed is really not much of
an issue, unless one is significantly faster than the other.)

I have also though of internal, removable hot swap SATA drives,
but to remove them, I have had to power off the machine off, to
keep XP from freaking out. (I keep hoping there is a way to
"eject" them, like a USB memory stick, but have not found one.)

Many thanks,
--Tony

 

[Gene K]

USB 1.1 is much too slow for use with an external Hard Drive.I agree that
Firewire seems to transfer data faster than USB 2.0; however, that may be
simply a bandwidth problem since most have multiple devices connected via
USB 2.0 as opposed to only one via Firewire. That said, please explain what
"put it through its paces" means?
Gene K

 

[Tony]

That said, please explain what
"put it through its paces" means?

I have no USB 2.0 hard drive experience. I have
some with Firewire. I have a lot of experience with
USB 1: it is terrible. But, none with USB 2.0. (I
am not too proud to ask.)

--Tony

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Tony" <[email protected]>


| But which would be the more reliable? (Speed is really not much of
| an issue, unless one is significantly faster than the other.)
|
| I have also though of internal, removable hot swap SATA drives,
| but to remove them, I have had to power off the machine off, to
| keep XP from freaking out. (I keep hoping there is a way to
| "eject" them, like a USB memory stick, but have not found one.)
|
| Many thanks,
| --Tony


They are about equal in reliability.

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Gene K" <[email protected]>

| USB 1.1 is much too slow for use with an external Hard Drive.I agree that
| Firewire seems to transfer data faster than USB 2.0; however, that may be
| simply a bandwidth problem since most have multiple devices connected via
| USB 2.0 as opposed to only one via Firewire. That said, please explain what
| "put it through its paces" means?
| Gene K

As I stated in my reply, the limiting factor is the chip-set that converts USB or FireWire
to IDE, on the external chassis, and adds additional latency to the total transfer rate.
This actual transfer rate will be well below the max. transfer rate specification of USB
v2.0 and FireWire.

 

[David]

The external drives I use have both USB-2 and Firewire 400 connectors,
and I've never had any problem with either one. If reliability is your
biggest concern, I think that the quality of the drive inside and
whether the case keeps the drive cool and has a stable power supply are
bigger factors than the method of connection.

There is one big advantage for Firewire on Mac computers, but I'm not
sure it exists for any XP comuters. On Macs, you can boot from Firewire
but not from USB. I use Firewire on those, so you can have the OS in
one partition and a full backup in the second partition. If the
internal crashes or you want to upgrade it, you boot from the external
and copy the second partition to the new hard disk. My XP computer
won't boot from either, and when I replaced the hard drive I had to
reinstall the OS and a million updates before copying my data. I'm not
sure whether any XP computers can, but I would check whether your
computer can boot from either USB 2 or Firewire, and if it will I'd go
with the one it will boot from.

 

[Lil' Dave]

Hi All,

I am putting together a backup system with external
USB 2 or Firewire hard drives. The computer has an open
firewire port and several open USB 2 ports.

You're using the plural "drives" here. You're the perfect candidate to
determine USB 2.0 vs Firewire reliability and speed. Get a couple of
Firewire/USB combo external boxes. And, a couple of identical name brand
hard drives.

USB 1 was HORRIBLE. USB 2 "seems" to have cleaned up
a lot of USB 1's problems, but I have never been able
put it through its paces with an external hard drive.
On the other hand, I have never had any problems with
Firewire.

Can't speak on USB 2.0 interfaced hard drives. Like you, have only
experience with Firewire connected hard drives. Mine was an Acom box whose
HD failed after two weeks. The HD was made by a little known mfr: Jupiter.
I installed a WD 60GB into it, has worked fine since.

Any advice?

Stick with what works for you.