Does USB2.0 work as well as FW on external drives?

[bweston]

I have a bunch of external 7200RPM drives. All the newer ones have both FW and USB2 ports.

I'm wondering about using the USB2 port - I use the external drive for my DP projects. I use the FW port for my MOTU 828 interfaces (and usually the HD too).

I ask because I feel like it would be nice to split the load between the different busses, as opposed to laying everyuthing on the FW bus. Any reason to not use USB2?

Thanks
Bob Weston

1.33GHz Powerbook G4 - 12 inch
1.2 GB RAM
DP 4.5
OS 10.3.5
MOTU 828 mk II (x2)

[Antidote]

I have the exact same configuration you do (except DP 4.12) and I'm using a WD 250gb HDD through USB 2.0 with no problem so far (it's been 5 months).

[giles117]

How many tracks are you running? with 2.0????

[Patrick Bateman]

Usb 2.0 will transfer 10mb more a sec than FW but will never be a valid transer protocol because it is host dependent. Meaning if the processor has to move to think about something else(PCI, etc) it will just drop the USB signal all together. Scary if you are in the middle of a good take. This is why Motu wont make a USB audio interface, and the ones that are USB are only 2 tracks at a time, tops.

[Patrick Bateman]

Usb 2.0 will transfer 10mb more a sec than FW but will never be a valid transer protocol because it is host dependent. Meaning if the processor has to move to think about something else(PCI, etc) it will just drop the USB signal all together. Scary if you are in the middle of a good take. This is why Motu wont make a USB audio interface, and the ones that are USB are only 2 tracks at a time, tops.

[slipstream]

Originally posted by Bob Weston:
I have a bunch of external 7200RPM drives. All the newer ones have both FW and USB2 ports.

I'm wondering about using the USB2 port - I use the external drive for my DP projects. I use the FW port for my MOTU 828 interfaces (and usually the HD too).

I ask because I feel like it would be nice to split the load between the different busses, as opposed to laying everyuthing on the FW bus. Any reason to not use USB2?

Thanks
Bob Weston

1.33GHz Powerbook G4 - 12 inch
1.2 GB RAM
DP 4.5
OS 10.3.5
MOTU 828 mk II (x2)

This was discussed on osxaudio.com in the hardware page a while ago and if you look at the specs it seems USB 2 is quicker than firewire 400.
there was a few links to som sites showing you full details and proving that firewire 400 is way quicker than usb 2.0
it's abit like comparing PC GHZ to a G5 GHZ you cant do it
One thing that really stands out is the CPU usage.. firewire makes a big big difference here and we all know how much we need ever inch of our CPU free.. check out those pages i mentioned to get the real info