[HM] External drive types

[Jane Sprando]

I have an iMac G4, 800 MHz. Checking the Apple System profiler, it says USB
0, then under it says 1.5.9. Then it says USB 1, 1.5.9. But my Epson
printer/scanner is USB 2. My firewire drive says 2.8.7.

Do these numbers mean anything to you?

Jane

> From: Brett Forrester <bforrester at macconnect.com>
> Reply-To: "A place to discuss Macintosh Computers in the home."
> <homemac at listserver.themacintoshguy.com>
> Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 22:33:52 -0500
> To: homemac at listserver.themacintoshguy.com
> Subject: Re: [HM] External drive types
> 
> Dear Jane,
> 
> I'm going through some e-mail digests I've missed, so perhaps you've
> already made your decisions, but still here are few more pieces of
> information to consider:
> 
> 1. LaCie makes external drives with FireWire-only, USB-only, and dual
> FireWire and USB ports.
> 
> 2. USB ports come in two speeds, USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 (high speed),
> but both ports look the same.
> 
> 3. FireWire ports also come in two speeds, FireWire 400 and FireWire
> 800, but both ports look different.
> 
> 4. FireWire 400 ports come standard on all Macs, but so far FireWire
> 800 only arrives with PowerMacs (towers).
> 
> 5. All Macs also arrive with USB ports, but only recently have the
> high speed variety (USB 2.0) ports been included. This means that
> older Macs have only USB 1.1 ports, which is fine for mice and flash
> drives, but sluggish for movements to an external hard drive. Which
> kind of USB ports does your Mac have?
> 
> 6. USB 2.0 is generally equivalent in terms of speed to FireWire 400.
> 
> 7. Most PCs don't yet come with FireWire ports, but both USB ports are common.
> 
> So what sort of ports does your Mac have? Will you want to connect
> this external drive to PCs also? My older iBook only has the older
> USB ports (which really are slow for hard drive connections), so when
> I shopped for an external drive, I wanted it to include FireWire 400
> ports. Also, as I have no need to share my external drive with any
> PCs, I found that LaCie offered FireWire-only versions of the drives
> I was investigating at a lower cost than the dual port type, so I
> bought direct from LaCie and have been very pleased. Also, you could
> do worse than check out LaCie's sale page.
> 
> I hope these reminders help.
> 
> Brett
> 
>> I have been looking to buy a LaCie External drive. I have been watching ebay
>> and noticed that there are 2 types of drives, USB and Firewire.
>> 
>> Is there are a great deal of differences in the drives? I see that the USB
>> drives are cheaper.
>> 
>> Comments and opinions, please.
>> 
>> Jane