More and more external drives are offered with a USB 2.0 interface only, without FireWire. Even MacBooks are sold without a FireWire interface. PCs hardly ever have FireWire avaialble.
Why should we care?
FireWire is a transfer method designed for data transfer. USB was originally designed for device control. That doesn’t matter so much any more, and USB 2.0 at a theoretical 480 Mbps bandwidth would seem to compete well with FireWire 400 (400Mbps) if not FireWire 800 (800Mbps).
What about real-world data transfer? Does USB really move your files as fast as FireWire?
No.
Macworld did some testing, using a MacBook Pro (2.4 GHz 17″, 160 GB 5400RPM drive, 2GB RAM, Mac OS X 10.6.2) and a 2TB Western Digital My Book Studio drive, copying a 1GB file from the WD to the internal drive on the MB Pro.
FireWire 400 was 23% faster. Duplicating the same file on the WD drive took 10% less time with FireWire 400 over USB. Copying a 2.5GB folder with 5000 files, FireWire 400 26% faster.
Macworld used AJA’s System Test application and found the MBP’s FireWire 400 connection was 46% faster in writing tests, but 9% slower in reading tests.
They then used the same WD drive, connected to a Mac Pro (3GHz 8-core, 250 GB 7200RPM internal drive, 2GB RAM, Mac OS X 10.6.2).
The FireWire 400 connection was 19% faster than USB on the copy test, 21% faster on the duplication and the copy 5000 files tests, and the same results for the AJA read and write tests as the MBPro.
The FireWire 800 cconnection on the Mac Pro tested at 48% faster copying the 1 GB file to the WD external, 54% faster duping the file, and 49% faster copying the folder with 5000 files. The AJA write tests resulted in the 800 connection twice as fast writing as the USB connection, and 49% faster reading.
They then tested using a Verbatim portable drive, with similar results. The article includes a table with all test results.
The conclusion is that FireWire is absolutely superior in transfer speed. This will change when USB 3.0 comes into effect early next year, promising to beat FireWire and eSATA transfer speeds. It will be a while before you see USB 3.0 in new Macs, tho, and those of us with older Macs still will find FireWire a better choice when transfer speed is important.
One thing not mentioned in the article: FireWire and Target Mode is the single most effective for troubleshooting and repairing issues on Macs. I can connect to a Mac in Target Mode, using my MacBook Pro, and run diagnostic/repair software that otherwise would be run from a DVD. The processes are time-consuming, which means $$ out of pocket for my clients, but are 3-5 times faster using Target Mode, rather than booting the problem Mac from a DVD and doing the same processes from there.
I can deliver a lot more bang for the buck using FireWire. If Macs lose this capability, it will cost Mac users more, in the long run.
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