Firewire V USB2

Personal experience.

1. usb2 should be up to sustained thruput , but i have found it not to be on two pc's with dedicated usb2 pci cards.
2. firewire doesn't have the same problems for me.
3. usb2 is theoretically faster than (firewire) ieee1394a.
4. i don't believe ,even if such a device existed , that it would be any better than the usb2 , as it has that inherent problem.
5. usb2 is fine for moving data to and from a drive , but not video editing realtime.

Thanks Gary

I have tried swapping files between the PC and the Ext. HD and a 15GB AVI file must have taken about 5-6 hrs. whereas swapping between the internal C: to D: or to another Ext. firewire drive took less than 9 mins. I think that I will need to try and exchange it for a Firewire drive.

Harry

something seriously wrong with that amount of time.

is drive definitely connected to a USB2 port ?
that speed seems to be sub USB1 , never mind USB2.

I agree -- that amount of time doesn't seem right. Did you install the drive properly? You might have to make the jumper settings either "Master" or "Cable Select" -- it depends on the type of HD.

I have found USB2 to be sufficient for DV .avi capture/transfer. Make sure it is connected directly toa USB2.0 port on the computer, and not one of those USB Hubs. I also think that other USB devices on the same "chain" might slow down the overall connection (like USB scanners and webcams...)

I suspect that it will probably be USB 1 but how can I tell which is which?

Harry

I think I may have an answer to my own question. Tried Google and in my Device Manager there is no mention of "ENHANCED" USB so I reckon that mine is USB 1 or 1.1.

Thanks to all, so it's now down to the shop for a USB 2 card.!

Harry

A usb2 device plugged into a usb1 connector should alert that 'it would work better in a usb2 connection' or words to that effect.

depending upon your case , many manufacturers put the usb2 connectors on the front and leave older usb1 on the rear.

Looks like USB 1 was the answer. Bought a USB 2 card today and it seems to be work OK. Now there's another tempt at fate!

Harry

Harry,

May be too late to take back, but did you consider a usb2/1394 pci card?
(Instead of one/other)....

That way at least you would be futureproofing (as much as you can)

Cannot vouch for this particular product, but gives you the idea...
http://www.mrusb.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=10&products_id=331&osCsid=a1ff03379c3201105f37e7f478443510
This one includes an internal 5.25 bay for extra connections.

Kind regards
Stuart

Stuart, it's in and working. Just captured an hour of video with no frames dropped. Also transferred 35 GB data without yawning. I did consider your recommendation but it is a bit dearer and I don't really need any more Firewire sockets, but thanks anyway. BTW Stuart in one of your posts you mention the HP lightscribe. Could I ask what price are the DVD discs and where do you get them from, also are these DVD-R?

Thanks

Harry

I know this is weeks out of date, but it might be worth putting in print anyway, for reference.

For what it's worth, I have a Western Digital 250 GB external drive, which has BOTH Firewire (400) and USB interfaces built in to it.

Without very precise timing, I have found that it transfers to and from my PC's hard drives at approximately 1 GB per minute and it makes very little difference which interface is used. Regardless of theoretical figures, in practice, I actually find a very slight speed advantage using the USB port, but it really isn't significant. Of course, 'your mileage might vary', as they say.

I also have a Lidl (Supermarket) 250 GB drive, branded as 'Targa Databox II 250', which is equipped only with a USB 2 port. I believe that it actually contains the very same model Western Digital hard drive as the Western Digi branded case, though it is considerably smaller, having no gaudy neon lights but containing a very effective (and quiet) cooling fan instead! It does indeed run considerably cooler than the neon lit model, so much so that I perch it on top of the Blackpool Illuminations and its air flow keeps the other cooler as well! More to the point, it transfers data in both directions at near enough the very same speed as the WD branded unit - approx 1 GB per minute.

A year or so ago, I was using a Maxtor 250 GB external (5000 DX I think). It also had both interfaces, which, again, both operated at around 1 GB per minute transfer rate. That one went to the USA with my American girlfriend. It had always run worryingly warm and, in Southern California, it quickly failed in the significantly higher ambient temperatures. It was readily replaced by Maxtor in the USA, where the little brute (the drive, not my gf!) now permanently resides. But, sadly, I have little doubt that the replacement will also fail in time - cooling is important in tiny plastic cases and that particular Maxtor model seems to have been particularly vulnerable to over heating - simply a poor case design with little air space, no fan and a plastic body for insulation - eedjits.

Hope this info is helpful to someone, some time.

i have one of those external USB and Fireware capable boxes for 3.5" HDD.... it works quite well... and its seems to be a better option than an external HDD cause you can switch HDD with it...

Good thinking above!

I also have a cheap external USB case, into which can be put virtually any old 3.5" HDD - versatile indeed.

However, to develop the idea still further: I don't actually put anything into it. I just leave the outer case off and plug in any old (or new) drive of the several I have hanging around, which includes optical CD and DVD burners and perch it anywhere convenient. It looks incredibly amateurish but swapping drives is a matter of a few seconds only!

Big internal drives inside one's PC are nice but far from the best way to work.
What we need is a neat, compact USB case into which can be easily shoved 4 to 6 standard drives, as and when we can afford to buy the drives. You can get these cases in USA, but they are currently grossly overpriced at around $300 US for a 4 bay case with no drives in it! Silly money for what you get - hell, you can nearly buy a complete PC for that. Hopefully prices will drop and these cases will become readily available over here. They would sell like hot cakes at the right price - this is the future of economical, large capacity storage. Little, compact PCs with separate, compact storage racks that you can take anywhere.

Is this what you want?

http://www.span.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=29_1302_1322

That's the way to go, but at well less than half those prices and with USB as well as IEEE1394.
It will happen in time! :)

Firewire is the way to go.
I have had several students attempting to edit on home computers using usb2 - after all that's the lead their Panasonic cameras came with. All had no success until they got a firewire card installed and then yeh! it works! and they into editing at home. I don't know why Panasonic persists in supplying a USB lead, even with cameras which don't have a SD card slot.
Gordon

Probably because USB is standard on PCs now, whereas FireWire is not. So the thinking in the camcorders' product management meetings is probably: "the humble user can get connected up straightaway".

The fact that they NEED FireWire to connect up for video transfer (and NOT USB) means this decision is nuts. It's primarily a camcorder after all, NOT a stills camera.

They all do it, it's not just Panasonic.

But bear in mind that USB2 does work for video. I edit video on a Vaio laptop, with the camera plugged into firewire and an external drive (LaCie 250G) plugged into USB2. It's faultless. For some operations, I move onto a desktop and take the entire project on LaCie with me, and connect it via firewire because that PC hasn't got USB2. That works faultlessly as well.

You can't be didactic about this, it most certainly does work in some circumstances, although I'm perfectly happy to accept that it doesn't in others. DV is only 25Mb/s, about 3.6MB/s, hardly difficult these days.

As a link betwee a PC and a HD, USB2 can work for video - agreed. But the point here is surely: USB out of a camcorder NEVER (?) carries video: only ever stills? Or am I wrong?