Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

About firewire and the new intel macs...

Nov 30, 2006 3:10PM PST

... just got curious as I sit here looking at the external hard drive blink while it talks with my G4 iBook... the old G4 and G5 models supposedly worked best when they connected to external peripherals using firewire (what is it's official designation... ieee 1394?).

Anyway... is the preference for firewire connectivity continued with the new mac-intel machines?

grim

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Firewire (IEEE1394)
Nov 30, 2006 9:00PM PST

I believe that Firewire is still the preferred connection method, even with the Intel Macs.
Although, on paper, the USB 2 has the edge in speed over Firewire 400, that speed is seldom achieved. USB is processor intensive while Firewire does not rely on the processor to control the flow of data.

(Heads up for flack)

Currently, if I remember correctly, you cannot boot the Mac from a USB device, which is another tick in the minus column for USB.

P

- Collapse -
(NT) interesting... thanks peter.
Nov 30, 2006 9:15PM PST
- Collapse -
I agree. Firewire for Mac...
Nov 30, 2006 11:34PM PST

It's a little history lesson about egos and more why this is so. Here's my quick connection preference chart and a tip.

1. Mac? Firewire for all devices you can connect with it.
2. PC? USB 2.0 all over except for video/camcorders. Don't cry to me about your firewire connected hard disk. May or may not keep it's data.

Tip: Over the past months I'm seeing a lot of external drives "lose it all." A common theme is FAT32 volumes. While what we use to move from PC to Mac and back with such, I'm going to write from now on that this is not to be trusted and you better have a backup somewhere. Treat it like you did your floppy disk (pretty unreliable.)

Bob

- Collapse -
The other thing I vaguely recall about USB2
Nov 30, 2006 9:58PM PST

is while is can be pretty speedy, and it bursts really well, but sustaining the throughput is its challenge... where as, in comparison, FireWire sustains the throughput. I am considering looking for a reference...

And yes, FireWire and IEEE1394 are the same - so is iLink, but Sony changed a pair of wires - I forget what they did, but it is *essentially* the same.

- Collapse -
Well THAT was easy...
Dec 1, 2006 12:03AM PST
- Collapse -
All good info people, merci!
Dec 1, 2006 6:07AM PST

people on mac forums are so smart Wink

grim