external hard drive: USB vs Firewire

argeliusargelius
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I want to get an 80GB external 2.5" portable hard drive for my 15" (Al) Powerbook for back-up purposes.



I specifically want a drive that requires no separate power supply (i.e. powered via the USB or firewire port). From my previous Windows days, I had a Lacie 2.5" USB drive that will not work with my Mac unless a separate Power supply is present (either from a second USB or separate AC power supply).



In investigating drives, I fine USB 2.0 and/or Firewire models.



In terms of selecting a drive as far as power is concerned, should I stick to Firewire, or should USB work too?



Thanks

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    ireneirene Posts: 17member
    http://www.g4tv.com/freshgear/featur..._FireWire.html
  • Reply 2 of 4
    nofeernofeer Posts: 2,427member
    macworld has reviews of all kinds of drives i'm looking for an external harddrive for backups i'll get firewire, if it also has usb2.0 fine but i have a g3 and g4 mac. both have firewire the ibook g4 has firewire and usb 2.0 so i will need firewire at least, usb is a bonus

    lacie has a nice dvd dual layer optical drive

    but i'm waiting for any updated stuff for christmas season for both the hard drive and optical drive. probably will buy both with firewire
  • Reply 3 of 4
    neutrino23neutrino23 Posts: 1,562member
    I've been looking at the same thing. I'm currently leaning toward a Kano drive because it has FW400, FW800, USB. I'll use it with FW on my Macs and USB or FW on PCs when swapping data.



    It seems that FW easily powers a small HD. It is not clear if USB will do so. For example, at the Kano site they say that USB usage requires an adapter of some sort to operate.



    http://www.kanotechnologies.com/prod/surefire.cfm
  • Reply 4 of 4
    curiousuburbcuriousuburb Posts: 3,325member
    USB delivers 500mA per plug.

    Some portable hard drives with USB connections actually come with a dual-USB plug, because the drive requires more than 500mA, and a single USB plug can't deliver enough power for stable use. In these cases your portable drive may actually require both USB plugs... effectively tying up 2 USB ports on your machine just for non-flakey basic function.

    Beyond 1000mA, even a pair of USB plugs cannot power your device, so it'll need an external adapter.



    USB devices are non-bootable on OS X.





    FW drives are bootable.

    FW drives with 6-pin cables require no external power adapter.



    FW is up to 70% faster than USB 2.0 (despite the 'theoretical max speed' that gets advertised, making USB 2.0 look faster on paper). FW also generally requires less CPU overhead, in part because it's a peer-to-peer connection, while USB is master-slave and must wait for CPU instructions at times.



    Some users have reported that combo USB/FW drives still aren't FW bootable, (particularly those with "push-button backup") so you'll want to double check reviews and ensure you've got at least an Oxford 911 or greater chipset..



    In short, get a FW (6-pin) drive. Or a combo FW/USB2 if you know it's still FW bootable.



    edit: for more comparison info, see http://www.digit-life.com/articles/usb20vsfirewire/
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