Are Firewire backup drives faster than USB backup drives?

I have a USB 2.x 80GB drive that I regularly backup my ibook with Retrospect (been using it for many years and did not dare touch any shareware backup apps in my move to OSX). Yes it was much cheaper than a Firewire version and why I bought it instead. It cant boot, but when I restore I boot my Retrospect boot CD (much, much slower than the OS 8.1 version. But that the nature of OSX). OSX is a wonderful OS and MUCH SUPERIOR to OS9, but there are drawbacks no doubt. For one is that it takes forever to boot from a CD/DVD, and I dont have access to the entire finder like I did with my Performa.
Just like with my old Performa when I backup my computer I need to boot with extensions off to avoid crashes. So I do so and backup the drive. Before I was using a ORB drive, but such a drive would not work natively in OSX so this backup drive suites me fine for know.
So just out of curiousity how much faster would a FireWire backup drive be?
This is the speed I get with this USB 2.x drive.
http://johnw.freeshell.org/graphics/ibookg4.jpg
Thanks,
John

I've always been sold on FW400's 400Mbp transfer rate, but when I tested my external drives attached to my eMac (where each device was the only thing on that bus, adn the computer wasn't busy)
USB1 <0.5MB/s
FW 400 drives just over 2MB/s (2 drives on twodifferent brands of FW enclosures tested)
ATA 9->15MB/s (I attached one of the drives from a FW enclosure directly on a spare ATA bus). This speed was the only one that seemed to vary according to the test run- ie the access was limited by the drive response.
Unfortunately I haven't got serialATA or USB2 buses on the eMac to do further tests, but the take home message is that the quoted speeds must be taken with a pinch of salt.
One other thing is that the new MacBook seems to have lost FW800!

Similar Messages

Are Intel-only applications faster than Universal applications?

I'm just curious. I still have a G5 running Leopard. But I know that many future apps coming out, such as the next versions of Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop will be Intel-only. It makes sense that Intel-only would be faster.

But I know that many future apps coming out, such as the next versions of Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop will be Intel-only.
Actually nobody knows whether or not this will be true except Microsoft and Adobe. When and if it becomes true, those titles in those versions will not run on your G5s. However, as long as Adobe and Microsoft support registration for their titles on the older versions, they will run on your G5s. Backup your registration keys someplace safe away from your computer, in event you can't afford an Intel Mac right away and your Mac for some reason has a hard drive issue or controller issue. See my backup FAQ*:
http://www.macmaps.com/backup.html
- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

PowerBoook G4 as Target to MacPro (firewire 800 bearly faster than 400)

I have a MacPro Dual Xeon w/ Firewire 800 and a Powerbook 17" G4 also w/ Firewire 800. I set the G4 as a target and transfer a 4.07gb file. Took 7.42 minute via firewire 400 and 7.10mins via Firewire 800. Should I not expect a much better result?
Anyone, thanks.
John

He could have a bad 800 cable, or it is not configured to run at 800, but any time you have a scenario like hard drive - HDD controller - Bridge (I/O) - 800 controller - 800 cable - 800 controller - Bridge (I/O) - HDD controller - hard drive...... anything in the chain can be a bottleneck if not set correctly and/or is limited by its maximum I/O. If I were him, I'd run QuickBench on each hard drive to see what max it has, then check the train above for proper operation. You may be right that it should be faster, but only measuring each part will tell you if all is kosher.
Michael

Whither firewire? looking for SATA / Firewire (1394A) drive enclosure

I still think (rather I know) that Firewire (1394A) is faster than USB, for applications like storing an external music library for iTunes.
However, I won't go so far as to say FW is being phased out but I am having a dickens of a time finding a FW enclosure.
can anyone reading this steer me to a good SATA / firewire enclosure out there? something that takes a SATA drive on the inside and connects to a firewire 1394A 400 port on the outside.
I came across this - and it says "ATA-133" - am not sure if that's P-ATA or S-ATA, as far as I know, those connectors are NOT compatible. elsewhere on the page it says IDE to FW, so maybe this unit is NOT what I need:
<http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=firewire+enclosure&cid=400903329999346 1364>
help!
w

Okay - here's the specific scenario - am intending to run iTunes from a G4 powerBook with an 80 GB internal drive.
I want to add to the library by using an external drive of roughly 200 GB, maybe more.
The only issue is that I know the larger the drive, the slower iTunes will be, the harder it will be to work in the program etc.
And it will make it even slower if part of the library is external. Since I assumed Firewire is at least somewhat faster, I wanted to go with a FW drive...
so I ask you: will it make any difference? will FW be any faster for the program than USB?
Also, I see that there are TONS of drive enclosures for SATA drives with USB ports - more than I can count - and quite a few with both USB and eSATA (I would love to use that with the powerBook, but of course it doesn't have PCI slots). Am surprised at the dearth of Firewire enclosures!
(yes, you guessed correctly, I have a number of SATA drives lying around that I wanted to re-use for this purpose...)
thanks
W

FireWire Backup Drive?

Hello.
I'm considering a FireWire backup hard-drive for my iMac. I understand FireWire drives can be made bootable for iMac G5's. Two questions:
1. What are the 'best' choices of these drives out there for my iMac G5 (Rev. B)? Do they need to be Serial ATA drives?
2. And what are the steps involved in making a bootable clone of my internal drive? (Which format for the FireWire drive is recommended here - Mac OS Extended?)
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Steve.
iMac G5 17" 2.0 GHz / ALS (Rev. B) Mac OS X (10.4.6) 1.5 GB RAM / Airport Express / iPod 5G White

Stephen, I also highly recommend SuperDuper for full clones and incremental clones. I have used it since last year and have been constantly impressed with the ease - and speed - of using it. The first clone may take hours, but the Smart Updates will be done in 10-15 minutes. It is well worth the $27.95.
I will respectfully differ with the others on the drive recommendation. I think that LaCie is a little overpriced and there were a few problems reported with LaCie drives when Tiger was released. Users had to wait for an update from LaCie to use their drives.
Personally, I think you can do it better for less by buying a bare ATA drive (make sure you get ATA/IDE, and not SATA) and then adding it to a quality FW enclosure. As long as you get an enclosure with the Oxford 911 chipset, it will work very well with your Mac. Avoid the Prolific chipset. It is unreliable in Macs. It is cheaper, but if it doesn't work - what did you save? The 911 chipset is USB as well as FW also.
I use a Mercury Elite Pro shown here from OWC. It was very easy to assemble and was reasonably priced at $64.99 also. This week Best Buy has a 400GB Seagate ATA hard drive on sale for $159.99, so you could do the whole thing for $225 - which is less than the 400GB drive usually runs by itslef - nice.
One word of advice on the size of the external drive. Get one that is at least as large as your internal (obviously) but also consider your future needs. It will always be cheaper to spend a little more now instead of buying a whole 'nother drive because the first one got to be too small.
I know you are looking for a 160GB drive, but that 400 is a very nice price. My advice is to not skimp now to save a few bucks and then regret it later.
EDIT - SATA is a serial ATA drive used internally and has no bearing on whether you can use SATA or not externally. It is simply another interface for HDs.
You can use an ATA drive externally. No need for a SATA drive at all. SATA/FW enclosures are hard to come by for now - and the drives are often a little more expensive anyway. Get the FW enclosure and an ATA (sometimes called ISE also) drive and you will be fine.

Time Machine backup with firewire external drive

I am having issues with a brand new firewire external drive and I am not sure if it is a drive issue, a configuration issue or what.
I have a 6tb Firewire hooked up to my machine. This is the drive which is being used as the destination for Time Machine. I have had this drive for awhile and seem to be having no problem with it and have not had an issue with Time Machine previously. I have a new added a second firewire drive (2tb) in daisy chain to the first (the 6tb). Whenever this drive is included in my TM backup profile, TM fails. Whenever I remove it, TM seems to work. I am wondering if the issue is the sequence of the drives (the TM drive perhaps needing to be the last in the chain), an issue with TM or perhaps an indication of a hardware problem with the new drive itself. Anyone got a clue?
Thanks.

Okay,apparantly no one else seems to be having this issue. That being the case then, how do I find a log file to get an error code so I can try to determine *why* Time Machine is failing?

I want to add more capacity on hard drive of time capsule. Can i add a normal usb driver? I will see it as an external drive in the time capsule network? It will work as fast than time capsule? Thanks

I want to add more capacity on hard drive of time capsule. Can i add a normal usb driver? I will see it as an external drive in the time capsule network? It will work as fast than time capsule? Thanks

Can i add a normal usb driver?
Yes, but be sure that the drive is formatted correctly for Mac in Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
I will see it as an external drive in the time capsule network?
The drive will appear as a shared network drive, like the Time Capsule.
It will work as fast than time capsule?
No, the drive will operate at about half or 50% of the speed of the Time Capsule.

Installing a Time Machine Backup to an external Firewire Hard Drive

How would I create a bootable duplicate OS on my external Firewire Hard Drive? Allowing me to bring my External Hard Drive to my friends home and booting to it and showing them what I have worked on rather than bringin my entire computer.

Figured it out!

2011 MBP - why is the optical port faster than the hard drive port?

In looking at an earlier discussion (April I think) I found a screen grab that showed a 15" MBP with a 6.0Gbp/s hard drive connection and a 3.0Gbp/s optical bay connection. That is image number one below.
Images two and three are from my brand new MBP 17". Can someone please explain the Link Speed and Negotiated Link Speed differnces? What is the 1.5 Gbp/s about?
I would appreciate any input guys.
Thanks!
Hugh

Why did Apple change this?
9-pin FireWire ports use FireWire 800, which is faster than the old 6-pin FireWire 400 ports.
Is there an adapter I can buy so that I can backup my Macbook?
Yes.
(48784)

Is Ethernet Faster Than Firewire

Specifically, in moving files (movies, music, etc.) from my iMac to Mac Mini, and vice-versa, is transfer via ethernet faster than firewire? I assume both are faster than transfer through wireless networking.
Thank you.

Hi Brent NYC,
Which is faster still depends on what you're dealing with as fard as the drive space. If you have slow drives (5,400 rpm drives) and you're feeding the data via Gig-E or Firewire, the ,imitation is going to be the drive of possibly the drives controller.
The theoretical numbers are mostly "burst" speeds and not the consistant, sustained speeds which really count.
I could go on all day about this but the truth is a correctly configure "real world" 100BaseT connection without Disk or LAN switch restrictions can move about 7 Megabytes a second.
Same situation on a Gig-E netowrk will over about 40 with todays technology.
This is based on using an IP protocol.
Firewire800 can be faster, but will typically have less "jumps" (or overhead) to get to the destination.
USB isn't close as of yet.
Food for thought.

Iomega eGo 2TB USB/Firewire 800 drive not working with Time Machine.

The drive I had for Time Machine died and I replaced it with an iomega eGo 2 TB USB/Firewire 800 drive. Time Machine finds it and backs up the disk when I first boot up but then it seems like the drive goes off line. At that point, when Time Machine tires to back up it can't get the drive to respond and my system hangs. To fix that, I turn off the iomega that fixes the hang up and I get the disconnect without ejecting warning.
I ran disk utility and disk warrior. Both apps reported the disk is fine.
Can any tell me what's up? I'm running OS X 10.7.2
Thanks.

I am having this exact same error with my new iMac 21.5" connected to a brand new Iomega eGo 2 TB Desktop Firewire 800 External Hard Drive (Mac Edition - 34796).
The TimeMachine backup works fine, but as soon as the iMac goes to sleep and wakes back up, TimeMachine doesn't respond well to any commands and all sorts of errors appear on the screen.
I will try the tip here from Kappy and report back later if this works for me.
Kappy, one thing to note is that I'm using the Firewire connection from the iMac to the eGo and experiencing this problem. The eGo has its own power supply too.

What is the name of the folders which are your backup of Itunes library? I am recovering from a virus, have no workable desktop in Win XP, but can search and find files and folders. I would like to move these backup files to a new computer

what is the name of the folders which are the backup of Itunes library? I am recovering from a virus, have no workable desktop in Win XP, but can search and find files and folders. I would like to move these backup files to a new computer, authorize it and sync with Iphone 3Gs and Ipod 5th gen.
I

I second the whole iTunes folder approach.
If for some reason you have split the media folder from the library files then the media folder needs to restored to the same path it used to have while the library files can be copied into the music folder of your new profile.
If in dobut, backup up the entire Documents and Settings folder before wiping the infected drive, but be selective about what you restore as many viruses drop active components capable of reinfecting the compuer in the temp folders and internet caches. It is much easier to backup more than you need than to discover after the fact that you no longer have access to some vital project you'd been storing in a folder on the desktop.
tt2

Where are the backups?

Are there backups of my iPhone and iPad stored on my hard drive somewhere? I see iTunes say "backing up" all the time and I wonder, 1) are there multiple copies, and 2) do they involve the whole content (media etc.)? I'm wondering if this takes a significant amount of space on my primary drive and whether I can move them to an attached secondary drive.

Is your backup disk a shared disk? How did you "see" the disk for your first backup- was it drectly connected to your Macbook, or accessed wirelessly over your network? In theory, if you can mount the disk on your desktop, you should be able to use it with Time Machine. In practice, however, TIme Machine appears to be more reliable if the backup disk is either connected directly to your local machine, or to your wireless router via USB.

I tried to export photos from iMac to iPad using a USB flash drive. The photos are on the drive but when I plug it into the iPad, the iPad says the device requires too much power. Any ideas of what type of USB flash drive I should use?

I tried to export photos from iMac to iPad using a USB flash drive. The photos are on the drive but when I plug it into the iPad, the iPad says the device requires too much power. Any ideas of what type of USB flash drive I should use?

You can transfer photos outside of iTunes. I do it all the time. THat said, i have a 50/50 success rate with them. I'd avoid sandisk and kingston, their bundled software triggers the 'too much power' warning.
I've had mixed luck with lexar, some work, some don't.
I did have good luck with an older 4 gig geek squad one.
Look for drives without software on them, without bright LED lights and I haven't gotten any larger than 4 gig to work, but that may just be me.
For a less troublesome way? h onestly, I use a SD card that I've formatted with the DCIM folder. I've never had one of them trigger the 'too much power' warning. Just make sure they're not SDXC. those don't work.

How can I use a firewire hard drive on a new Macbook with one USB-C only?

How can I use a firewire hard drive on a new MacBook with only one USB-C?

kaz-k is correct about FireWire not being supported by any possible connector or adaptor to USB-C and never will. However, there is no such thing as a FireWire Hard Drive. There are only SATA (or if it is a really old one, ATA,) drives in a FireWire enclosure. If you can remove the drive from the case/enclosure - bust it open somehow if it is a glued-up unit - then the drive can be placed into a regular USB3 enclosure. Then it can connect to the new MacBook via any one of the adaptors Apple sells.

Are Firewire backup drives faster than USB backup drives?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for