[X4U] USB 2.0 vs Firewire?

[Randy B. Singer]

On Apr 28, 2007, at 12:03 PM, Robert A. (Bob) Hall wrote:

> Will someone tell me  why I should use FireWire for an external  
> Backup drive instead of USB 2.0.

The biggest reason is speed.  FireWire 400 is almost twice as fast as  
USB 2.0 on a Macintosh in the real world

See:
http://www.barefeats.com/usb2.html

(The theoretical speeds of both USB 2.0 and FW400 are more or less  
irrelevant to their performance in the real world.  Neither come  
close to their theoretical speed.)

Especially when you are using an external drive to backup to, you  
want a fast drive.  Backups can take a long time.  The longer you  
have to wait for a backup to complete, the less likely it is that you  
will be willing to actually do it.  Since backups are vitally  
important, it is best to make them as painless as possible so that  
you are encouraged to actually do them.

___________________________________________
Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html
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