USB 3.0 vs FireWire 800

[NSXrebel]

Although USB 3.0 is WAY faster than USB 2.0, it's not that much faster than FW800 if at all. I just replaced a bad Verbatim external enclosure. The original enclosure was USB 2.0 & FW800 with a 3.5" 7200 RPM HDD. The new enclosure is USB 3.0. The other drive I compared it to is a G-Technology G-Drive Mobile 2.5" 5400 RPM HDD with FW800.

This was tested on the latest 15" MacBook Pro w/ Retina display. The FW drive was connected to the Thunderbolt port via a ThunderBolt-FW800 dongle, so I don't know how much difference that would make since FW800 is still the limiting factor. Even then I was still expecting the USB 3.0 drive to be faster since it is a 7200 RPM drive.

And that's probably why they tell us to use FW800 drives in film school. Once I need another external, I'll look for a 7200 RPM FW800 drive and do another comparison, or maybe Thunderbolt will drop in price even more by then.

 

[Hapa88]

Macworld did a test using the same Hitachi drive across the different connections. They compared the two and showed USB 3.0 results were in the range of 112 MBps to 115 MBps range meaning they were almost twice as fast as FW800.

http://www.macworld.com/article/2039427/how-fast-is-usb-3-0-really-.html


I would double check your settings or look into another drive.

 

[akira3d]

It's my understanding that USB 3.0 performance, as is the case with earlier incarnations, can degrade based on CPU load...which is why Firewire makes a lot of sense for people working with video over said connection (especially if the CPU is responsible for decompressing / compressing files stored on a Firewire drive). I just get around the issue using an enclosure with an eSATA interface (it also has a USB 2.0 connection, which makes it extra convenient since not all computers have eSATA, Firewire, or USB 3.0 ports available).

NSXrebel, where are you attending film school?

 

[NSXrebel]

It's my understanding that USB 3.0 performance, as is the case with earlier incarnations, can degrade based on CPU load...which is why Firewire makes a lot of sense for people working with video over said connection (especially if the CPU is responsible for decompressing / compressing files stored on a Firewire drive). I just get around the issue using an enclosure with an eSATA interface (it also has a USB 2.0 connection, which makes it extra convenient since not all computers have eSATA, Firewire, or USB 3.0 ports available).

NSXrebel, where are you attending film school?

​I'm attending Brooks Institute