Re: Fastest External HDD Interface?

Mike <wxyz09@xxxxxxxxx> wrote
Rod Speed <rod.speed.aaa@xxxxxxxxx> wrote
Mike <wxyz09@xxxxxxxxx> wrote

While looking for an external HDD to hold me over 'til I build a PC
in six months or so I've been exploring external HDD interfaces.
Currently, I have a 4 year old Dell Dimension w/ XP Pro. I'm going
to buy a USB2 Firewire 1394b internal card for it .I'd like to find
out if 1394b is worth the additional expense. I believe 1394b is
capable of 800Mbs while 1394a is capable of 400Mbs.

Its more complicated than that physical layer
speed, and firewire is a bit faster than USB2.

External sata is quite a bit faster than both.

SATA = 150MBs SATA II = 300MBs

Those physical layer speeds are irrelevant, the
actual thruput is determined by the drive physical
characteristics, sectors per track and rpm.

A SATA II HDD (300MBs) in an external case w/ a 1394b interface
will a PC be able to make use of this high speed data transfer

Yes.

OK, so the through put will be about 100MBs?

No, less than that, determined by the drive physical characteristics.

1394b 800Mbs divided by 8 = 100MBs.

Again, there's a lot more involved in thruput than the physical layer
speed.

or will the high data speed be wasted because the PC and XP Pro don't
know how to handle these speeds?

No.

What is the most cost effective combination for an external HDD?

Cost effective complicates things because external sata isnt that cheap.

Does the speed actually matter that much for the 6 months ?

Not really, it became an intellectual exercise and I want to buy hardware
that'll be fast to compliment my new fast PC.

Then sata is the way to go, at a higher cost than usb2 and firewire.


.

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