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    SATA external hard drive.

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by cypark621, Nov 3, 2006.

  1. cypark621

    cypark621 Notebook Enthusiast

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    So here is my situation. I have a 80gb sata I hard drive that is just sitting in my house, never used. What i want to do is buy an external casing that that is compatible with my SATA I hard drive and that transfers data through firewire 800. Ive searched some sites and found this one

    http://www.cooldrives.com/sataenclosures.html

    I have a couple of questions though.

    1. Will i notice any real difference in speed if i transfer data through firewire 800 vs usb 2.0?

    2. For external hard drives does it matter what speed/type the hard drive is (7200,5400) (IDE, SATA)? since the transfering through usb/firewire bottlenecks the speed anyway?

    i would prefer the firewire 800 casing, but its expensive and if the speed is unoticible i might as well just go with usb 2.0

    types of data transfering i will be doing is large movie files around 4.5 gbs - 20 gbs.

    thanks in advance!
     
    cypark621, Nov 3, 2006
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  2. ajfink

    ajfink Notebook Deity

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    1) Not really.
    2) No, you're right. The interface limits things a bit.

    Definitely go with USB 2.0. Besides the speed, nearly every computer has USB ports, while there are a number that do not have firewire 800 ports. I know you might be thinking, "but I don't use any computers that don't," but you'll probably run into a situation where you will.
     
    ajfink, Nov 4, 2006
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  3. cypark621

    cypark621 Notebook Enthusiast

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    planning on getting a macbook pro, so i will have access to the firewire 800.
     
    cypark621, Nov 4, 2006
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  4. ajfink

    ajfink Notebook Deity

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    But if you want to take your drive along to transfer files to someone else's computer...?
     
    ajfink, Nov 4, 2006
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  5. cypark621

    cypark621 Notebook Enthusiast

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    well the external case i was planning on getting has both USB and firewire 800. But if i just get an external case that only has the usb i will be getting it for half the price.
     
    cypark621, Nov 4, 2006
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