external: fw or usb?

pdc76

pdc76

New Member
last night i removed everything from my computer desk, dusted, and rewired everything tangle-free. i ran out of usb's hooking everything back up (i added a webcam and a scanner), so i hooked up an old hub i had. the hub is only usb1.1 though.

i plugged my external into it, and formatted the drive. it took FOREVER. that's when i realized i could hook it up firewire. what else was i going to use that port for anyway?

now, i'm gonna get a new hub probably tomorrow. when i do, should i go back to usb, or keep it on the firewire? i'm just using it for storage and system backup purposes. speed is secondary. is one more stable than the other?
 
Random access, you probably won't notice much of a difference. However, with long transfer rates, Firewire is the fastest. If you look around for benchmarks, firewire's usally about 20% faster than USB2.0.

As for formatting the drive, that shouldn't take any longer no matter what interface you use. A full format takes a long time. Next time, try a quick format.
 
so backing up my whole computer will be faster with firewire? i think i'll leave it like it is then. still gonna get a new hub though, lol.
 
i have another question. is firewire hot swappable? i mean, can i turn my external on at any time, or should i only turn it on before booting the system? what could happen if i do it wrong?
 
because i just turned it on and it's not showing up. i formatted it yesterday, and it is still empty, but when i turned it on, and it doesn't show up, not even when i go to manage my drives. can i get it back?
 
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