Hardware :: FireWire Faster Than USB For External HDD?
Mar 19, 2009
I was wondering if firewire is faster then usb for external hard drives. As I mentioned in another post I have a bunch of mac g4s. I want to make use out of but sata cards are very expensive if they're Mac compatible. What I was thinking is that since I can get a firewire sata adapter for $20 if not less it would be about the same cost as a good sata card and would be allot more likely to be compatible. I could just drill a few holes in a pci placeholder so I can run some cables through it to have the drives internal without compromising the case.
If I needed to I could swap the drives in between PC's allot easier then with a sata card. Because it would be far too expensive to get one for each system. My main concern is what the speed of firewire is since I've never used it before. If it's better then usb then it would probably be pretty feasable. I'm not going to be using them for any intensive software but I think it would be nice to have a good r/w speed.
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Jul 22, 2010
Iv seen there is an update coming for the iMac and mac pro coming at the end if summer. USB 3.0 and faster FireWire. Does anybody think that it will get HDMI so I could plug my xbox 360 in? I'll be buying one when the update comes anybody else?
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Feb 8, 2012
I just got the external harddrive "Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex USB 3.0 1TB" with a Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Upgrade Kabel FireWire 800. I have neither a USB 3.0, nor a Firewire 800 on my white macbook (2008). I already know, that it's possible to use USB 3.0 with an USB 2.0 port, but I would like to use it with the firewire to spare the USB port for other devices. My question: Is there an adapter or cable to use the Seagate Firewire 800 with my Firewire 400 port? I don't know, where and what to look for.
Info:
MacBook (13-inch Early 2008), Mac OS X (10.6.8)
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Apr 7, 2009
I just got a new 2010 mini to use for some web development, as well as a media streamer for my tv. I want to be able to stream standard and HD mkv/h.264 video from either the internal HD, external HD, or my server.
Obviously, the internal HD should work well...my question is, would it be faster to stream from an external HD or my server? The server and mini are wired into the network via Gbit ethernet, and the external would be USB (or it could be FW800 if that would make a difference).I'm going to use Plex as the front-end.
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Sep 8, 2010
Parallels is expected to announce as early as Thursday the sixth major upgrade to its Windows virtualization software for Mac OS X, delivering a significant performance boost over its predecessor, as well as 80 other new features.
The new Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac has been shown on average to run 40 percent faster than last year's edition, according to people familiar with the matter. Those same people said that the upgrade -- expected to retail for the same $79.99 price as its predecessor -- will also feature Windows boot times that are roughly two times faster than version 3.1 of its primary competitor: VMWare Fusion.
VMware and Parallels have gone head to head in the virtualization market since 2008, when the Fusion product was first introduced. Parallels has existed since 2006, and both products retail for an identical prices. In a recent study, Parallels 5 was already found to be 30 percent faster on average than VMware Fusion 3.
Parallels 6 is also expected to showcase tighter integration with its users' natural environment, adopting support for the Mac OS X's keyboard shortcuts, Spotlight search engine, and Expose windows management features. Similarly, the upgrade will offer the option to automatically apply a Mac's parental controls to their corresponding Windows applications, according to those familiar with the product.
Another major focus for Parallels is said to be gaming. Version 6.0 will reportedly deliver up to two-fold performance improvements while adding support for Dolby 5.1 surround sound and better handling of 3G environments.
Parallels 6 will sport compatibility with an enhanced Parallels Mobile application that will offer users the option of remotely accessing their virtual machines on an iPad, as well as an iPhone or iPod touch.
Parallels Transporter, previously a standalone application that allowed users to migrate a virtual PC image to the Mac, will come built into the new release as well.
Earlier this week, Parallels Desktop 6 was spotted on the shelves of a Fry's Electronics store in California. The product has not yet been formally announced.[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
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Aug 7, 2009
My father owns one of the original G5s, so its power pc not intel. Today while browsing an excel spreadsheet he says part of the screen turned black, then the monitor shut off, then the monitor came back on but not video. Mean while the fans started spinning out of control. Now when he tries to turn it on, he gets power, but all that happens is the fans spinning faster and faster and faster until he turns it off. No video or anything. Just speeding fans. He fears the CPUs died since they control the fans. Any suggestions? He also says the fans were spinning unusually fast these last few days.
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Oct 30, 2010
My main computer is a MPB17 with 256gb SSD and 750gb HD in an optibay. I have huge media libraries and like to have ready access to all my photos and videos. I have a Gen 1 Air that I use at home for mail and surfing and I have been using my iPad for mail and web when out. I have a max spec 11" Air arriving this week. It weighs the same as my iPad with Vaja case so I'm going to take it everywhere and leave the iPad for a reader in bed. Now I'm starting to think I might leave the 17" in my office and sync the 11" Air up and use if when I'm out. Problem is I want a fast, light USB drive to hold my media. Ideally with USB and FW so I can sync it fast with the MBPro.
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Dec 2, 2010
which is faster & more efficient? to download photo & or video content from a memory card directly to an external hard drive? or to the computers main drive & then move to the external hard drive?
I am after faster transfer/download speeds with less hang ups
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Dec 27, 2008
this year santa brought me a brand spankin' new LaCie 500GB external hard drive. It has both USB2 and Firewire ports. Which one should i use? will one be noticeably faster or is there more benefits of using one over the other?
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Sep 12, 2010
Is firewire worth the extra money? For the price of a 1 Tb firewire drive, you can buy a 2 Tb USB drive for the same money.
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Jan 30, 2010
Alright, just bought a 1tb WD my book for 17" macbook pro. didn't look too closely and realized when I got home that it's usb2.0 and not firewire. Is this a problem? Does anyone actually run files (say, music or videos) off their HD (and seamlessly, at that?)? I imagine if I only use it for back up, I'd get away with usb, but if I wanted to do the former?
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Mar 8, 2008
Can I boot to an .iso on a firewire drive? I've been having trouble with my disc drive lately, so this is how I'm trying to work around it
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Oct 6, 2010
Anyone have a recommendation? I wish they still sold the Seagate one.
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Jul 10, 2008
I am looking for an eSata, Firewire 800, USB external enclosure that has removable trays for two or more hard drives. Specifically I am trying to find one that has the similar apperance of the Mac Pro, aluminum case and such.
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Dec 27, 2008
I've been on the fence about getting an external hard drive to back up my system via Time Machine and am thinking about finally biting the bullet and getting one.
Here are the specs I'm looking for:
At least 500GB of space (my iMac's internal HDD is 250GB)
Firewire 400 or 800
A manufacturer's warranty of more than 1 year
I've been looking for some time but it seems most external hard drives have gone the way of USB 2.0 (of which I'm using all the USB 2.0 ports on my iMac and don't want to have to bother with a USB hub).
The only one that I have really found to fit my situation is the Seagate FreeAgent Desk for Mac 500GB USB 2.0/Firewire 800. However, that is priced pretty high - I'm looking to spend no more than $100.
I am open to purchasing an internal HDD then putting it in an enclosure but have no knowledge of what I would need to look for.
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May 6, 2009
I have some iMacs (running 10.5.6) each with an external direct-connect FireWire hard drive. About every ten minutes, these drives will spin up for a minute or two, then spin down again.
Background: The drives are set as Time Machine backup volumes on their respective iMacs. I assume the frequent accesses I observer are not related to Time Machine (because the accesses are much more frequent than the hourly backup schedule). The drives are not remote-mounted anywhere.
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Jun 10, 2009
With an external HD that has both firewire and usb 2.0, is it possible to use both at the same time? Can you plug firewire into your MBP and USB into another computer or router? Just wondering if there are any downsides to this. I would hate to be sucked into a black hole by plugging in both at the same time!
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Jun 26, 2009
I'm planning on buying an external firewire 2.5 disk, and i am wondering if there is any real difference between firewire 400 and 800 if the disk is 5400 rpm speed. The reason i am asking is i cant find the passport studio with firewire 800 anywhere here where i live, only the firewire 400 version.
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Jul 19, 2009
i am looking to buy a external HD that don't run on AC and use firewire 800. i know LaCie have one, is there any other one that does? hit me up with a link or something or branding and model.
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Sep 17, 2009
I am on Snow Leopard btw. I have a 1 TB external HD that I'm using with Firewire 400 and I've noticed that it seems to slow down my computer. Like for instance I'll boot up my computer and it will take forever for it to start up. Then, as soon as I turn off my drive it boots up immediately. Or I'll use Spotlight and then basically it gets stuck with a spinning beach ball and as soon as I turn off the drive everything is fast again.
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Sep 21, 2009
I need to extend my iMAC HD. I do not think I can open it and upgrade the HD inside. What I am think about is getting a Firewire 800 external HD. Does there a HD so I can connect it to MAC. it will fall sleep or turn off when Mac is power off and when MAC is power on(Firewire has power) then the HD will wake up auto.
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Nov 16, 2010
im looking for an external enclosure that provides a firewire option for my macbook pro. The reason i am doing this is because my macbook will randomly eject my usb powered one for no reason. I have been reading that firewire does not have this problem. Im only looking for an enclosure as I replaced my stock 320gb hardrive with a 64gb ssd for my main drive. Preferably something in the 30$ range because im a poor college student . Anybody know of a good enclosure to go with?
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Mar 16, 2009
I was wondering if theres an external similar to the Mypassport that runs firewire 400 or 800?
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Feb 5, 2010
I recently bought a VANTEC NexStar 3 NST-360FBSU-BK. In the exclosure, I have a SATA drive capable of 3.0Gb/second. It's attached to my Late 2009 Mac Mini via FireWire 800. Based upon my understanding and in this situation, the FireWire should be the bottleneck. Therefore, I should be enjoying bandwidth somewhere shy of 800Mb/second. nfortunately, I'm not getting any where near that speed. I can transfer a 726MB file in 18.6 seconds. According to my math, that's ~5808Mb/18.6 seconds = ~312 Mb/second. This is not even FireWire 400 or USB 2.0 speed.For completeness sake, I also just upgraded from 2GB of ram to 4GB (both PC8500) but nothing seems negatively affected (in fact the computer is much, much more snappy!).
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Feb 12, 2010
Ever since I traveled across the pond to Ireland my 2 TB HDD hasn't shown up as a drive. I stuck it in my checked bag and made sure to wrap it in clothes pretty well.
This wasn't an issue until my Macbook Pro's HDD died 2 weeks ago and I lost all my data. The external is where I backed up everything. Is there any software to see if the external HDD is still functional? It spins up and doesn't make any odd noises...
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May 21, 2010
I have a few macs running Tiger and Leopard and do not have a hard drive that is filled to more than 20GB of the capacity. Looking for external hard drive solutions. I have found a couple of very good drives that only have FW 400 and USB 2.0, one in particular is a older model G-Drive 500GB for $50 that is supposed to be quite reliable. These drives are being blown out due to newer ones have esata and fw 800. Would I see a difference in speed cloning or backing up to a a fw 400 drive even if I get a newer mac that only has fw 800 ports and I use a 400-800 adaptor? The better drives are faster 7200 RM vs the slower 5400 drives, mostly portable that I have been looking at. I have been reading posts that for applications such as mine I would not see a difference. For the most part I use the computers for office related tasks including Word, Excel etc with not much else, although I have some different utility programs. I just want a bootable drive should my hard drive fail. I use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone my drives. My main comp has two drives where the primary is cloned to a secondary, but want a external that I can easily plug into a new mac and clone the hard drive in that Mac to my external drive!
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Sep 28, 2007
I've been using my external burner for sometime now connecting to my G4 with the firewire. When I connected recently by firewire the computer does recognize or mount on the desktop like usual. When I tried the USB connection the burner is recognized and mounts fine. I repaired premissions and repaired the disk from the install disk I also reset the Pram
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Oct 15, 2008
when i restart and hold down 'T'...a firewire symbol shows on the screen.. my external HD only uses this USB cord/connection
i'm using a new MacBook Pro.
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Apr 24, 2008
After one of the security updates to OSX 10.3 my OWC Neptune firewire external harddrive quit showing up on the desktop and I can't find a way to access it.
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Sep 9, 2008
I am having trouble saving anything to my external firewire hard drive. This started a few weeks ago. I am able to retrieve use but not modify any file on the drive. I have tried changing permissions but no luck.
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