[G4] USB2 HD

John Baltutis baltwo at san.rr.com
Mon Oct 15 23:15:44 PDT 2007


On 10/15/07, "O'Brien" <obgraph at hiwaay.net> wrote:
>>> Can I use a USB2 external HD with an 800mHz Quicksilver / OSX.4.8?
> On Mon, 15 Oct 2007 11:05:46 -0400, wilkinw wrote:
>> Sure, just doesn't run as USB 2 speeds.
>> On Oct 15, 2007, at 10:01 AM, O'Brien wrote:
> OK...Thanks.
>
> About how slow is USB compared to USB2 or Firewire? (Just a rough idea if
>this is possible to answer)
>
> I want to add an external HD just for backup of 200-300 Gigs. I thought I
>might just get a USB HD because they're so much cheaper than Firewire. I don't
>think the transfer speed is a big issue because I'd be doing the backup while
>I'm not otherwise using the Mac.

Get a FWHD. If your machine isn't an ICBM (Intel-chip-based Mac), then your
backup/clone isn't bootable and, IMHO, a nonbootable backup/clone is relatively
useless. FWIW, FW 400 is at least 30% faster than USB 2 and well worth the
additional expense.


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