User Name
Password
AppleNova Forums » Apple Products »

Question regarding hard drive speeds...


Register Members List Calendar Search FAQ Posting Guidelines
Question regarding hard drive speeds...
Thread Tools
Robo
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
 
2005-02-07, 00:23

The Mac mini HD is 4200RPM...and I know that's slow compared to most internal hard drives. What I want to know is, how does that compare to external hard drives? What if I had a 7200RPM or so external hard drive connected through FireWire or USB 2.0? I know external hard drives are usually slower, but would the Mac mini be the exception?

If I wanted to use my Mac mini as a DVR, would an external HD be fast enough to record to?

Thanks.
  quote
Paul
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: New York City
 
2005-02-07, 00:29

fw is fast enough that any external drive (assuming it is the only device using the bus) will be nearly as fast as if it were mounted internally. So that 7200 drive should be plenty for DVR duty...

1215/234215 (top .51875%)
People really have got to stop thinking there is only one operating system, one economic system, one religion, and one business model. -EvilTwinSkippy (/.)
  quote
Brad
Selfish Heathen
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
 
2005-02-07, 00:31

Actually, the idea that external hard drives must by definition be slower is a misconception. Well, it used to have some truth, but it hasn't for a while. With FireWire or SCSI and a fast drive, it can be just as fast if not faster than the internal drive.

In the case of the Mac mini, I believe a good external FW drive would work wonders!

The quality of this board depends on the quality of the posts. The only way to guarantee thoughtful, informative discussion is to write thoughtful, informative posts. AppleNova is not a real-time chat forum. You have time to compose messages and edit them before and after posting.
  quote
Robo
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
 
2005-02-07, 00:53

A USB 2.0 drive should be about as fast as a FW400 one, right? I'd like to keep the 'Wire open for camcording, if possible.

I can't believe it...I'm actually getting a Mac...it's the cheapest Mac ever, but Apple still made it very appealing.

The reason why I ask about the external hard drive is that I'm only planning on using the Mac mini for my primary computer while I save up for a Powerbook (likely a Rev. A of whatever the next generation is, by the time I can afford it...). Thus, I'd want to have a usable computer, but I wouldn't want to pour too much money into it. I'll just get the 40GB version and buy an external HD (who wants to bet they'll make some to match the Mini soon?). Then, when I get my Powerbook, I'll retire my Mini to DVR duty...and when I go on a trip, I could take my recorded shows with me. Yum.

Thanks again everybody.
  quote
Paul
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: New York City
 
2005-02-07, 00:57

Firewire drives can be daisy-chained so you can connect your camcorder to the back of the drive when you want to import video.

Anyone know of a good usb2/firewire comparison on the net somewhere? there has to be a decent one.

1215/234215 (top .51875%)
People really have got to stop thinking there is only one operating system, one economic system, one religion, and one business model. -EvilTwinSkippy (/.)
  quote
Brad
Selfish Heathen
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
 
2005-02-07, 01:01

I thought the vast majority of camcorders still use FireWire for transfer, no?

I can't seem to pull up any reliable stats on USB 2.0 vs. FireWire average transfer rates. The overwhelming consensus is that USB is slower, but not on how much.

The quality of this board depends on the quality of the posts. The only way to guarantee thoughtful, informative discussion is to write thoughtful, informative posts. AppleNova is not a real-time chat forum. You have time to compose messages and edit them before and after posting.
  quote
Brad
Selfish Heathen
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
 
2005-02-07, 01:02

Damn it, Paul! Quit beating me to the punch.

You're fired! What? You don't work here? You do now. Now you're fired!
  quote
Robo
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
 
2005-02-07, 01:05

Daisy-chaining with Firewire? Spiff.

And the vast majority of camcorders still do use Firewire.

I know it's not on the Mini, but I'm just curious: Does anything really use FW800 yet?
  quote
Brad
Selfish Heathen
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
 
2005-02-07, 01:07

Well, this is actually pretty damning evidence...

http://www.usb-ware.com/firewire-vs-usb.htm

Quote:
Read and write tests to the same IDE hard drive connected using FireWire and then Hi-Speed USB 2.0 show:

Read Test:
  • 5000 files (300 MB total) FireWire was 33% faster than USB 2.0
  • 160 files (650MB total) FireWire was 70% faster than USB 2.0
Write Test:
  • 5000 files (300 MB total) FireWire was 16% faster than USB 2.0
  • 160 files (650MB total) FireWire was 48% faster than USB 2.0
Score a big one for FireWire!
  quote
Brad
Selfish Heathen
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
 
2005-02-07, 01:09

Quote:
Originally Posted by Roboman
I know it's not on the Mini, but I'm just curious: Does anything really use FW800 yet?
There are a few external drives that use it, yes, but not much else that I know of.
  quote
Robo
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
 
2005-02-07, 01:22

A FireWire drive it is, then...

I'm more excited then I'd ever thought I'd be with a $500 computer. (Actually, even though it's not going to be my primary computer for long, I'll likely opt for the RAM upgrade, because I don't want the next eight months or so to be total hell. And I'm tempted to spring for the Superdrive, but I'll wait and burn all my stuff to DVDs when I get my 8x SD equiped PB-Something. )

I'm Switching as fast as I can sell my laptop.
  quote
Brad
Selfish Heathen
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
 
2005-02-07, 01:27

We're always glad to help ease the transition into the Mac foray.

Once you get your new Mac mini, I'm sure you'll have lots of questions. Please do hang around AppleNova and share your thoughts, experiences, questions, and problems with us.

Cheers!

The quality of this board depends on the quality of the posts. The only way to guarantee thoughtful, informative discussion is to write thoughtful, informative posts. AppleNova is not a real-time chat forum. You have time to compose messages and edit them before and after posting.
  quote
kaupena
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
 
2005-02-07, 02:35

I'm expecting my new 15" this week and I need to put together a nice fast external drive. Anybody have a favorite FW800 case that'll hold one of the new seagate 400GB drives?
  quote
Nuendo
New Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Germany
 
2005-02-07, 03:34

Quote:
Originally Posted by kaupena
Anybody have a favorite FW800 case that'll hold one of the new seagate 400GB drives?
Keep a look at the MacPower Pleiades 800+. It is designed to match the PowerMac G5 but I think it works with the PowerBook just as well. I will be getting one of these for my new 15" too.

Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted. - Aldous Huxley
  quote
Luca
ಠ_ರೃ
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
 
2005-02-07, 03:55

Interesting that they have no information at all on their site about how to buy it, or even a price. However, I managed to find it here. It's being sold under the "Rosewill" brand name, a huge budget PC parts company. Another option is this one by MacAlly, for about $10 less.

The problem is that NewEgg only delivers to the US. Where are you going to go to buy one in Germany?
  quote
scratt
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: M-F: Thailand Weekends : F1 2010 - Various Tracks!
Send a message via Skype™ to scratt 
2005-02-07, 04:23

When daisy-chaining FireWire stuff make sure there are no known issues with the bridge boards... Back along a while I had to sent my Formac back to the company because it looked like the whole drive had gone down..

The internal HD was a 'DeathStar' so I wasn't suprised...

In the end it turned out that it was [according to Formac] the 'iPod I had conneted off the back of the drive drawing too much power and blowing the bridge board' in the Formac'.

The replaced it free of charge and all my data was still on the drive..

But when you look at the issues with Firewire ports on G5s (particularly where iSights are concerned) I have to think that there are still some issues even at the high end of manufacture with daisy-chaining certain items of hardware with certain other items...

I now use independant ports for everything and try to ease the load as much as possible...

'Remember, measure life by the moments that take your breath away, not by how many breaths you take'
Extreme Sports Cafe | ESC's blog | scratt's blog | @thescratt
  quote
intlplby
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
 
2005-02-07, 13:06

be wary of getting any 2 identical firewire devices and daisychaining them....

for some reason using 2 of the same firewire enclosure does not allow both to be recognized.... only one or neither are recognized..... if you have 2 firewire ports this isnt a problem, just with daisy chaining....;.. i had this happen with 2 FW400 enclosures and also with 2 FW800 bridgeboards

pain in the butt since i only have one port so i never use the other bridgeboards
  quote
Posting Rules Navigation
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Post Reply

Forum Jump
Thread Tools
Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
"update" process & hard drive ticking -- Calling *nix gurus! Brad Genius Bar 77 2006-05-19 19:50
iBook dead - hard drive failure suspected fiddler Genius Bar 12 2005-04-27 05:51
Obligatory "Windows XP is a Giant Turd of an OS" Thread Moogs General Discussion 40 2005-03-17 10:13
Replace hard drive in iMac Flat Panel balboa Genius Bar 4 2005-02-02 04:38
Dumb PowerBook hard drive question... psmith2.0 Genius Bar 12 2004-11-16 10:54


« Previous Thread | Next Thread »

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:46.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004 - 2024, AppleNova