external HD cases

[scorman]

just saw an ad on techbargains for an external firewire HD enclosure for about $35

I have a laptop that fried the original 40GB (IBM/Hitachi crap!) and only have a backup 6GB installed now ..they are very expensive to replace compared to deals on standard drives and their reliability stinks ( I can give you a list of over seven associates that have fried laptop HDs)

so, my bottomline question is:
are there any significant performance HD read/write differences between USB 1.0 and firewire enclosures ..the laptop has both ports, but not USB2.0

are there any specs that are key to this when looking a diff manuf

BTW, portability of an external is also a big +

TIA
Stew Corman

[thekingofpain]

I just bought one, USB 1.0 will be very slow compared to 2.0 or Firewire---you might look at a laptop drive enclosure since you plan on moving it around as those drives are meant to used in a mobile situation unlike a desktop type drive...


Edit----> Have a look---USB 1.0/2.0/firewire 2.5" notebook drive w/leather case for mac/PC---you could use this on almost ANY machine---$26

http://www.globalpremier.com/hotdriveusb2+1394case.html

[thekingofpain]

Read write test comparing USB 2.0 to Firewire---

Read tests performed by copying the data files from the hard drive back to the RAM disk while timing the process, write tests consisted of transferring the contents of the RAM disk to the hard drive and timing how long it took---
Read/write results are in megabytes per second; higher is of course better.

[scorman]

thanks for the link

so USB1.0 is much slower than USB2.0
laptop has both, so firewire would be a no brainer

other puters would need a firewire card ( probably something to add anyway) if want to swap

[thekingofpain]

Not with the case I linked to, it will work on USB1.0 also USB2.0 as well as firewire and comes with the cables---all bases covered...

[scorman]

I agree, but the requirement of a small HD is the limiting factor there ...a larger model for full size HD would do just that ..thanks for your input

[scorman]

just curious ...if you have a digital camera with USB output, could you download files to these external HDs or is an operating system required and is lacking in a direct connection?