Question about USB and FireWire

Crusha19 · 31-12-2007, 08:49 PM

I have a USB 2.0 external hard drive and I was just wondering if it would still work if I used a firewire cable instead. If it does work i figure it would give me faster transfer speeds, but I am just not sure if the driver would be compatible with firewire. Thanks

Impotence · 03-01-2008, 06:25 AM

does your external hard drive have a firewire socket? if no then its not going to work

Crusha19 · 03-01-2008, 07:37 AM

isnt the firewire and usb sockets the same mini type B?

donkey42 · 03-01-2008, 01:56 PM

personally i've never used firewire, but, USB2 & firewire work very differently, i don't actually know if firewire cables can be used with USB devices but USB3 is due out in the first half of this new year & has a transfer rate of 4.8Gbits/s (about 10 times faster than USB2) but devices won't be available until about 2k9 / 2k10

Tech · 03-01-2008, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by donkey42

personally i've never used firewire, but, USB2 & firewire work very differently,

Yeah...Donkey's right. Just look at the differences in supplied voltages! (FireWire 30v, USB 5v...ish

donkey42 · 03-01-2008, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tech

Yeah...Donkey's right. Just look at the differences in supplied voltages! (FireWire 30v, USB 5v...ish

thankies Tech, but, i was referring to:

USB networks use a star topology, but FireWire uses a repeater based topology.
USB uses a "speak-when-spoken-to" protocol & peripherals cannot communicate with the host unless the host specifically requests communication. A FireWire device can communicate with any other device at any time, subject to network conditions.

Edited Source

BTW: thanks anyway

Crusha19 · 03-01-2008, 09:06 PM

ah ok thanks for the info everyone

31-12-2007, 08:49 PM	#1 (permalink) Top
Crusha19 Aspiring Poker Player Join Date: May 2005 Age: 19 Male Posts: 159 Times Helpful: 2 Status: Offline	Question about USB and FireWire I have a USB 2.0 external hard drive and I was just wondering if it would still work if I used a firewire cable instead. If it does work i figure it would give me faster transfer speeds, but I am just not sure if the driver would be compatible with firewire. Thanks __________________ Click Here for free AMD FX-57 PC

03-01-2008, 06:25 AM	#2 (permalink) Top
Impotence May the source be with u! Join Date: Dec 2004 Age: 19 Male Posts: 1,877 Times Helpful: 126 My Mood: Stressed Status: Offline My Computer	does your external hard drive have a firewire socket? if no then its not going to work __________________ Dear intel,Already Made My Decision Never trust a computer you can't repair yourself. Windows Vista - Viruses Intruders Spyware Trojans Adware Why Linux is Better!\|Pastafairianism\|Say no to National ID\|Firefox Extensions Guide scientology has been getting alot of attention recently When the rich wage war, it is the poor who die. Where are the WMD's that our governments used to justify the war?

03-01-2008, 07:37 AM	#3 (permalink) Top
Crusha19 Aspiring Poker Player Join Date: May 2005 Age: 19 Male Posts: 159 Times Helpful: 2 Status: Offline	isnt the firewire and usb sockets the same mini type B? __________________ Click Here for free AMD FX-57 PC

03-01-2008, 01:56 PM	#4 (permalink) Top
donkey42 Paranoid Geeky Geek Join Date: Mar 2006 Age: 34 Male Posts: 5,746 Times Helpful: 306 My Mood: Paranoid Status: Offline My Computer	personally i've never used firewire, but, USB2 & firewire work very differently, i don't actually know if firewire cables can be used with USB devices but USB3 is due out in the first half of this new year & has a transfer rate of 4.8Gbits/s (about 10 times faster than USB2) but devices won't be available until about 2k9 / 2k10 __________________ GRUB manual \| Google Linux \| Distrowatch \| Linux Chix \| Kubuntu \| My Mini City

03-01-2008, 09:06 PM	#7 (permalink) Top
Crusha19 Aspiring Poker Player Join Date: May 2005 Age: 19 Male Posts: 159 Times Helpful: 2 Status: Offline	ah ok thanks for the info everyone __________________ Click Here for free AMD FX-57 PC

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