External Hard Drive interface

  • Thread starter Thread starter whiteflyer
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whiteflyer

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I know there are USB, firewire400 and firewire800 external hard drives but is there such a thing as an Ethernet external hard drive.

I'm thinking connecting one of these to my router would give me the fastest speeds, or is firewire800 fast enough, to store and access my photos on.
 
Cheers, now I know what I'm looking for I've found them at scan too. :)
 
Ethernet would be the slowest out of USB, FW and Ethernet, assuming it's not gigabit Ethernet, and especially if you're running Wireless.

If you can get a Gigabit NAS (which it looks like that one on Dabs is), you'd need gigabit everything else (Router, Network card), and at least CAT5e cables. And although it's connecting at 1000mbps, it never likely to reach that.

FW800 would be faster, as it's a constant 800mbps link (which is why FW is used for video capture). If you're happy to have it plugged in locally, I'd go for that. Be aware that FW800 might mean you have to buy a FW800 card for your computer though, I don't think many are coming with them as standard at the moment.

For reference:

USB 2.0 = 480mbps (but not particularly constant... see: http://www.usb-ware.com/firewire-vs-usb.htm )
FireWire 400 = 400mbps
FireWire 800 = 800mbps
Ethernet = 100mbps
Fast Ethernet (gigabit) = 1000mbps


Network attached storage is good for a domain style environment, where you're sharing a drive; many people can access the drive over the network. If you're just giving yourself an external HD, you might as well go for FW or USB (which you can still share if you want!).


EDIT

Forgot to mention eSATA... if it's speed you're after, buy an eSATA card and an eSATA drive, that's rated at 3Gbps (3000mbps)...
 
I would concur with the eSATA option. This will give you the same transfer speed as your internal hard drive, Cards are not that expensive, but the drives are, compared to normal USB as most externals are. After that go for Firewire 800. You may need an additional card for those and even so these drives are also not as common as USB
 
If you're after speed don't go for the NAS. I've got a gigabit NAS system & rarely see more than 25Mb/s.

The only advantage of a NAS is the fact that it can be accessed by all the PC's on the network (which is why I got it )
 
Thanks for the info guys.

I'm just doing research before get an iMac or Mac Pro. So FireWire 800 if I go iMac.
 
If you get the Mac Pro then watch out for a coming TIP on the Mac TIP thread that shows you how to make one of the two spare SATA ports (there are 6 on the mac pro but only 4 are used) into external ports using a £3-4 backplate.

You can also use this TIP on a Windows PC :)
 
mrgubby said:
my newer motherboards came with an eSATA plate as standard :)
Click to expand...

I know even motherboards from 2-3 years ago can have them but you can always use more or add an external SATA connection to a motherboard without an eSATA port. Note this mod adds an external SATA port but not hot swappable. For hot swapping you require an interface card but then you spend more dosh!
 
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