Firewire question

I just purchased an external western digital 160g hard drive that is USB2 and Firewire compatable.

I know I have firewire capability on my PC as well as USB2. I'll have to look see where the connection will go.

I have heard that Firewire is faster? As I have never used firewire, can you tell me? is it just like USB in that it is plug and play? I guess I probably should wait for the drive to arrive and then read the instructions.

Thanks for any all information.

Oh while I am asking....would it be a good idea to purchase Partion Magic to use with my new drive?

 

Yep firewire is a lot faster than USB, something like 400mb/sec is it???
I use firewire to connect my ipod and did an experiment last week with firewire and usb. Started with wiping my ipod completely and timed how long it took to put 1000 songs onto it using usb then wiped it and did the same with firewire, wouldn't recommend this as it can damage your ipod but as mine's still under warranty
And yes you guessed it, the firewire was a lot faster, USB 2.0 took 22 minutes to put 1000 songs on whereas the firewire took only 16 minutes ---- you do the maths

 

Ok, how about this question.

You're considering buying an external hard drive and come across 2 that priced exactly the same, from the same manufacturer (Maxtor).

The only difference between the 2 is one is 250G and the other is 200G, but the 200G has both firewire and USB while the 250G has only USB.

You mainly want an external hard drive to store MP3s, pictures, and videos, but consider the option of storing and running your CD-ROM games from it.

Is firewire a necessity for that type of application?

 

Firewire vs. USB:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,847716,00.asp
http://www.usb-ware.com/firewire-vs-usb.htm
http://www.digit-life.com/articles/usb20vsfirewire/
Firewire is faster, USB2.0 is more common.

 

firewire is alot faster then usb naturally, usually you can grab it fairly cheap too around $40 AU. I got mine with the thermaltake xaser III skull series (1934) but you will find that mostly people will use it for video editing took hook up their camcorder and so on. Its a must if you're going to be serious about vid. editing

 

I guess my real question is: Go for the extra 50GB or go for the firewire capability?

 

Hi:

I use 2x250GB Maxtor One Touch External Ultra ATA-133 7200 RPM HDDs
One is running from one of the motherboard's (Asus P4T533-C s478/i850e) USB2 ports and the other is running from an OrangeLink FireWire 800/1394b (1394a + b) PCI card on the same system.
I've noticed no appreciable difference in speed between the two.
The only annoyance I have is with the firewire drive.
I like to defrag with the MS defragger while in Safe Mode.
The USB2 drive is available but the firewire partitions don't appear.
I have to defrag the firewire drive in normal Windows.
Why this happens, I don't know. My IDE HDDs are on a controller PCI card and they show in Safe Mode.
AFAIK, there should be little difference between USB2 and firewire HDDs with normal use. Firewire is supposed to have the edge in sustained throughput so if you are moving large files often (video work especially) then firewire is the way to go.