Is firewire fast enough?

UnknownSoldier · 26 Apr 2007 at 14:19

I think I need to upgrade my external HD. At the moment all use it for is to store Pictures/Music/Video but I was wondering if I was to get a firewire HD would I be able to install games and other software and then just run them of the HD. I know firewire is listed as 400mbps but is that true in reality?

Craig321 · 26 Apr 2007 at 14:26

Don't do that.

There's not that much speed difference between Firewire and USB2.0

If you run your programs and games off your external they'll lag like hell.

Shadez · 26 Apr 2007 at 14:47

ive got a external usb2 hd and have installed games on and run video ect from it.

ive not noticed much lag from the games(mostly older games new games go on my fast sata's). With video you wont notice any difference.

btw usb2 is upto 480 Mbit/s

artaxerxes · 26 Apr 2007 at 14:47

Erm... Firewire 400 is entirely fast enough, firewire 800 faster. USB will work, but has a lot of CPU overhead that firewire lacks, and doesn't have the same sustained rate as even Firewire 400, though it peaks higher.

However your best choice is eSATA, but that is pricey compared to mature tech Firewire.

I often ran my iBook and my MacBook off firewire drives, booting from them infact. The 7200 drive in the LaCie firewire external was faster then the 4200 and the 5400 in the laptops and actually boosted perfomance.