External Harddrives

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  • Reply 21 of 23
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by JohnnySmith

    sure... in 2001.



    USB 2.0 = 480 Mbit/s

    IEEE 1394a = 393.216 Mbit/s



    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus




    Bear in mind, firewire is usually more consistant, and usually more stable, which is why HDDs, video cameras, a/v interfaces, and a host of hi-bandwidth pro level devices use it and not USB2.
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  • Reply 22 of 23
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by DanMacMan

    The reason I regret getting a USB2 HD is the simple fact that it wont boot OS X. I don't get why Firewire HD's will but USB2 HD's wont...



    USB is designed to be strictly a periferal technology, stuff that loads after the system is up and going, FW is more like an internal bus that can interface with the outside world, think of FW like the connector from your mainboard to your harddisk and USB as the serial link from the PC to the printer.
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  • Reply 23 of 23
    telomartelomar Posts: 1,804member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by DanMacMan

    The reason I regret getting a USB2 HD is the simple fact that it wont boot OS X. I don't get why Firewire HD's will but USB2 HD's wont...



    USB is arbitrated by the computer itself, Firewire is designed to be peer to peer. This is why it has a slightly higher cost associated with it though. The added arbitration in USB is also one of the reasons why there is a greater overhead in its transfer rates so it in reality ends up performing worse than the theoretically slower firewire.
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