Mb/sec diff. between FireWire800 & IDE HDD?

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PacknHeat

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 19, 2002
Messages
385
I just purchased a dual 3.5" external enclosure that is FireWire800 (FireWire2 IEEE 1394b). Which is "up to" 800MB/sec over the standerd FireWire 400MB/sec.
Of course I have to buy a FireWire2 PCI card to get the "up to" 800MB/sec speed.

My question is, what would be the theoretic data transfer rate difference be between a RPM WD on FireWire2 and straight IDE?

Thanks
 
Firewire 800 is 800Mbit/sec. 800Mbit / 8 bits per byte = 100mb/sec transfer rate. So Firewire 400 is only 50mb/sec.

Transfer rates could theoretically be the same, since standard drives max out around 50-60mb/sec. Straight IDE would probably respond faster, since most external firewire/USB drives still use PATA drives and have to translate it.
 
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