Speed diff usb2 firewire 400/800

KIPAX

KIPAX

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KIPAX Lancashire UK
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can anyone give me a rough idea (laymens terms, idiot guide) how much difference there is between usb2 and firewire 400 and then 400 to firewire 800? I am talking pictures off a compact flash card..

I can read technical jargon all day and still not know :)
 
KIPAX said:
can anyone give me a rough idea (laymens terms, idiot guide) how much difference there is between usb2 and firewire 400 and then 400 to firewire 800? I am talking pictures off a compact flash card..

I can read technical jargon all day and still not know :)
Click to expand...

I have a Sandisk CF firewire 800 reader and a Sandisk USB CF reader.

I noticed a difference between USB and Firewire 800 although it's definitely quicker but honestly speaking, 'marginal' at best and also could possibly be influenced by the transfer speed of the CF card anyway. (y)
 
I thought firewire 800 was supposed to be mega fast apposed to usb 2 .. hence why wondering about firewire 400 if inbetween so to speak.. but if your not getting much difference between usb 2 and f800 then i am confused...
 
Dunno about 800 but 400 and USB2 are about the same except the firewire connection is much more stable/constant, USB2 speeds can vary during file transfer.
 
KIPAX said:
I thought firewire 800 was supposed to be mega fast apposed to usb 2 .. hence why wondering about firewire 400 if inbetween so to speak.. but if your not getting much difference between usb 2 and f800 then i am confused...
Click to expand...

I'm no expert but I have a fairly 'quick' system:
Macbook pro, 2.4 GHZ, 4 GB ram and the best CF's are 8 GB transcend x133 speed cards which (when full) take around 3-5 minutes to transfer using the firewire reader and 6-8 minutes when the USB. :shrug:
 
hmm mine are 4GB 30MB s and take 20 minutes to download :(

have a new motherboard going in tommorow and thats got firewire 400 so thoguht would be faster... crappy usb2 card reader might not help.. this firewire 400 card reader should speed it up then
 
Tomas Whitehouse said:
I'm no expert but I have a fairly 'quick' system:
Macbook pro, 2.4 GHZ, 4 GB ram and the best CF's are 8 GB transcend x133 speed cards which (when full) take around 3-5 minutes to transfer using the firewire reader and 6-8 minutes when the USB. :shrug:
Click to expand...

So Thomas you're saying the FW is twice as fast.. that's a pretty decent speed increase no? :D

I've got a FW800 reader and it's pretty amazing. Sucks up data at a rate I would never have believed when using a USB reader (it was a particularly carp reader though ;)) ... It'll definitely do a 4GB card in less than a couple of mins.
 
Depending on your CF cards it wont make much difference between USB2 & firewire 400 as you are most likely going to be bottlenecked by the CF card unless its ubber fast with a transfe rate faster the 48mb/s which i believe is the limit of USB2 then firewire 800 which is 80mb/s will be the faster & then again you will have to check the speed of your HDD see if it can write justs as fast as your CF card can.
 
I've got the extreme reader on both firewire (office computer) and the Extreme USB (laptop) and there's no real difference in the speed that the read cards .... they are both really quick. the difference is in which card i'm reading. The etreme IV's are lightning fast compared to the old ones.
 
Hi Tony

My understanding the 400 and USB2 are of a similar speed and in theory the 800 is faster, but it also depends on your reader and card being read. I'd possibly upgrade your motherboard and see if that makes a difference, might be worth trying a new card reader -> I'm happy to bring my Sandisk reader down if you wish to try a new one to see if that makes a difference

Cheers

Andy
 
Cheers Andy.. I ahve the motherboard and a 400 reader .. just waiting for my son to come and fit it all in this morning :)

Cheers though :)
 
cheers mho :)
 
KIPAX said:
Cheers Andy.. I ahve the motherboard and a 400 reader .. just waiting for my son to come and fit it all in this morning :)

Cheers though :)
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Did you get it up and running, did it make a difference :shrug:
 
dissapointing.. the firewire 400 is slkwer than the usb2 .. the usb 2 will take around 20 mins for 4 gig... i tried to the hard drive built in and two externals.. but even loking direct at thumbnails.. first dozen or so fast then slows :(

however the room is in almost silence so worth the changeover for that :)

gonna get a really good usb2 compact flash reader but I cant find owt decent on ebay .. need to look somewhere for one.
 
KIPAX said:
dissapointing.. the firewire 400 is slkwer than the usb2 .. the usb 2 will take around 20 mins for 4 gig... i tried to the hard drive built in and two externals.. but even loking direct at thumbnails.. first dozen or so fast then slows :(

however the room is in almost silence so worth the changeover for that :)

gonna get a really good usb2 compact flash reader but I cant find owt decent on ebay .. need to look somewhere for one.
Click to expand...


Sorry to hear that Tony

This is a good one

http://www.wilkinson.co.uk/store/product.php?productid=16692&cat=0&page=


See if Accy Asda still has some in - I think they were around £18 in there not too long ago. (y)

Cheers Andy
 
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