# Opinions wanted: USB 2.0 vs Firewire 400

## Nerevar

I know that the theoretical speed of USB 2.0 (480 Mbps) is faster than Firewire 400 (400 Mbps). However, most articles I've read say that Firewire is faster than USB (by as much as 70% in some tests).

Of course, those articles deal with Windows mostly and some Macs. So, under the Linux kernel which should I use?

Thanks!

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## kardolus

The 480 Mbs is a theoretical maximum and probably never reached due to overhead and design issues. 

However USB 3.0 is going to be the end for firewire, with a maximum theoretical speed of 5Gb/s.

So I think USB 3.0 > Firewire > USB 2.0 

Just my 2 cents ..

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## platojones

 *Quote:*   

> So, under the Linux kernel which should I use? 

 

Is this for an external HD or what?  If you are dealing with an external HD (and your MB supports it), eSata is the way to go.

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## Nerevar

Thanks gpkardol. That's great. I'm glad to hear it's true under Linux too.

Also, eSata is not available on the aging PC. And no, I don't want to buy a PCI card at this time.  :Smile: 

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## Cyker

USB is pretty bad for sustained speed; That 480Mb/s is misleading as really it is the maximum burst transfer speed; Sustained speeds are less than half that!

Firewire OTOH can sustain its maximum speed, or near enough, and can power more demanding stuff than USB (Although in practice, very few things seem to provide the full rated power, and those that do can be easily damaged by short circuits!), and Firewire 800 just laughs in USB's face  :Smile: 

eSATA is the speed king atm; Can transfer at full SATA speeds with very little overhead (Esp. compared to USB!!). Firewire 3200 and USB3 may erode that a bit, at least until the next SATA appears!

TBH I don't know why USB beat Firewire; It's inferior in almost every respect and IMHO  is only useful for low-speed devices. I can only assume it has something to do with Apple being assholes about licensing and making costs go through the roof. Another example of great tech killed by greedy patent holders  :Evil or Very Mad: 

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## energyman76b

a) Apple acted like a dick

b) Intel acted non-dicky

c) firewire insecure by design

d) usb hardware cheaper to produce

ended in:

usb ruled.

'better' is highly subjective. USB is 'better' because it won-

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## Veldrin

well put energyman76b.

 *Quote:*   

> d) usb hardware cheaper to produce 

 

Which causes worse (read slower) controller.

Depending on the Controller (Host and Client) I can sustain speeds of 30MB/s @USB. I do not have a comparable number for Firewire.

just my .02$

V.

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## energyman76b

no, the quality is independ. But cheaper to produce means cheaper to incorporate on mainboards and cheaper devices. Why pay a 10$premium for roughly the same functionality?

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## Veldrin

There is the fine difference between cheep and too cheep... (I was already on the endproduct)

Sure, I want something less expensive, but I has to work (at a decent speed in case of USB)

When buying Computer Hardware (or peripherals), I try to get items from the mainstream part. They are reasonable priced, and you get the full specs. 

cheers

V.

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## energyman76b

except for firewire where you never get decent priced parts.

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## kardolus

What parts? A PCI card with 4 usb ports and 2 firewire ports only costs 20 euro's. 

Anyway, the guy who started this topic asked what was faster.

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## Cyker

I'm glad you don't control those decisions energyman or we'd be using flash drives on 9600 serial ports by that logic!  :Laughing: 

I think if FW had won, its stuff would be a lot cheaper now (USB stuff was also quite expensive when it first came out! I still have my parallel port and USB zip drives lying around someplace  :Very Happy: ).

But, TBH, FW does not add that much more than USB to the cost these days (According to wiki the greed-tax Apple et al had on FW was removed... but alas too little too late), but because its not as universal/ubiquitous as USB it only tends to appear on higher-end stuff which costs more anyway.

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