Is USB 2 faster than Firewire??? (1 Viewer)

[MarkHastings]

I just read that USB 2 can handle 480Mb/sec whereas firewire can only do 400Mb/sec. Is this true???

I am asking because I have one of those DVD burners that uses either Firewire or USB 2 and I figured I'd get better/faster performance by adding a firewire card instead of using the USB.

Is there any reason (because the speed doesn't seem to be an issue now) why I would use the firewire port over the USB 2 port? Or is this a non-issue?

 

[Diallo B]

I just read that USB 2 can handle 480Mb/sec whereas firewire can only do 400Mb/sec. Is this true???

Technically speaking this is true. However, in real world application there is not much of a difference. I have an external dvd burner that can use both firewire and usb 2.0 and to tell you the truth when I create dvd's with my burner I there is not a real speed difference between the two.

I use the firewire port on my laptop and and a usb 2.0 card for my desktop. I burn with nero.

I would go with the firewire port because you can use it to transfer files from a digital camcorder. However, it does not hurt to have both types of connections.

But if that is not important to you, my vote is that it is a non-issue.

djb

 

[Christian Behrens]

I agree, speed-wise they are the same in real-life applications.

One advantage I see for Firewire is that Windows 2000+ and Mac OS have drivers built-in, nothing needs to be installed.

On a colleagues laptop, the drivers for the external USB2.0 card caused some weird behavior which we haven't been able to get rid of yet (not recognizing the card after reboot, or sometimes even causing the BSOD at startup).

-Christian

 

[Carlo_M]

The upper theoretical limits of USB2.0/Firewire won't matter to you, as chances are your hard drive can't even burst out data (let alone maintain a constant stream) at anywhere near those rates. (Unless you're using a SCSI Ultra Wide 320 drive or something similar...)

Most ATA100 7200 RPM drives hover around 60-80 MB/s.

 

[NicholasL]

Don't forget that Apple has for some time had Firewire 800, which is basically 2 times faster than USB 2.0.

 

[Patrick Larkin]

I don't know about USB2.0, but with Firewire and Firewire800, the upper thoughput ranges are of circumstance when using multiple devices on the same Fiewire port. I believe it would come in to play if you had an external FW DVD burner and an external FW hard drive. Plug in an iPod and you just cut down the throughput again...

 

[MarkHastings]

That's why I've always been iffy on those USB Hubs.

 

[NicholasL]

Well that's only because the ipod does not currently support firewire 800, just like many fax machines, printers, scanners, etc. don't support usb 2.0 either. both the computer and the peripheral device must support the method of transfer. just like the apple airport card will limit the airport extreme hub.