[iBook] external drive: USB vs. firewire

[Henry Taylor]

USB is not bootable.

Henry



>On Sep 22, 2005, at 7:49 PM, Michael Elliott wrote:
>
>>Excuse me?  USB2 is plenty fast for mass storage.  I'm a long-time 
>>Mac fan, but I've had lots of crashes or problems with my Macs 
>>refusing to recognize a Firewire drive, even if another Mac does so.
>>
>
>USB2 is fast enough by itself for mass storage. Comparatively 
>speaking, firewire is faster because of a better protocol.
>
>My experience with USB has mainly been related to powering the USB 
>2.5" drive from the USB port. Version 1.1 ports are not spec for 
>powering USB drives. Even 2.0 ports may not work depending on the 
>drive you have in the external case and depending on which port you 
>use (e.g. in the case of my iBooks).
>
>I've had no trouble with Firewire so far. I guess also because I use 
>only one brand of external firewire 2.5" case.
>
>>HOWEVER...one question I have:  will the drive in a USB 2.0 case be 
>>BOOTABLE in case of an emergency?  I know that Firewire is.
>>
>>Michael
>>
>>
>>On Sep 21, 2005, at 10:31 PM, Ben Chong wrote:
>>
>>>Speedwise, firewire is probably faster. The USB protocol is not 
>>>made for fast mass storage transactions.
>>>
>>>Also, if you are looking at 2.5" USB drives, there is the 
>>>consideration of power. In my 1.33GHz and 1.2GHz 12" iBooks, the 
>>>USB ports are not made equal. Only one port (one next to the 
>>>firewire connector) is really capable of powering a 2.5" USB hard 
>>>drive. The firewire port has no trouble at all driving 
>>>firewire-capable 2.5" drives.
>>>
>>>
>>
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>
>--
>Ben
>http://www.svgeek.com
>
>
>
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