[OverclockedHomoSapien]

I'm considering a zip drive, but I've heard conflicting things about them.

Is there any difference in speed between Firewire and USB zip drives? I was told by several people that the Firewire drives are far faster at data transfer, but another person told me that the limiting factor is the drive itself, and that USB can transfer data faster than the drive's head can read or write it.

This seems fishy to me, since I've noticed that internal Zip drives seem to be faster than external USB drives, but does anyone have any hard numbers on this? Like, what is the data transfer rate for Firewire and USB, and what is the read and write speed for a typical zip drive mechanism?

[fulmer]

usb max theoretical transfer is around 1 MB/sec. Firewire is *much* faster, hence Apple's use of it in the iPod--try transferring even 100 songs over USB and you might as well go out for pizza (a bit of hyperbole, but you understand).

I'm not sure what the capabilities of a Zip drive are--that will most certainly limit recording. However, if it is capable of more than 1 MB/sec (and I'm almost sure the drive is up to it), then firewire would speed up the transfer noticeably. I transferred a 200+ MB DV file over firewire in a short time today from a DV cam. FW transfer burns. It is great and once you've seen it in action you won't ever want to transfer any other way.

[PeteWK]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by fulmer:
[QB]usb max theoretical transfer is around 1 MB/sec.

Um, no. USB can deliver up to 12 MB/s.

As for the Zip question... Iomega's website says that the USB Zip 250 drives can do up to 1.4 MB/s while the FireWire ones are capable of up to 2.3 MB/s. I have one of the small USB types with a FireWire adapter. It's a very fast little machine. I also checked out SmartDisk's site to see what the VSTTech internal Zip 250 I have for my Pismo Powerbook can do and they say it will transfer up to 2.4 MB/s.

As for the real world, I've been very satisfied with my FireWire. It's bus powered like the newer USB models but much faster. I use it to transfer data between my wife's iBook and my Powerbook. Excellent technology for what I need it to do.

As for all the iomega bashers who are waiting out there to jump on my post, I also have superdisk drives, CD-RW and an excellent FireWire powered external hard drive. They all have their place and all serve a need for me. Maybe iomega will go down the tubes. But I'll still be using the Zip 250's after they do.

PeteWK

[joe]

Originally posted by PeteWK:
<STRONG>usb max theoretical transfer is around 1 MB/sec.

Um, no. USB can deliver up to 12 MB/s. </STRONG>

You're both right - sort of. Actually, fulmer is right and you just mixed up bits and bytes:

USB is officially rated at 12.5Mb/s (lower case b=bits)
That translates to 1.56MB/s (upper case B=Bytes)

However, my USB Zip250 never manages more than 1MB/s.

<STRONG>As for the Zip question... Iomega's website says that the USB Zip 250 drives can do up to 1.4 MB/s while the FireWire ones are capable of up to 2.3 MB/s. </STRONG>

That USB benchmark is optimistic. I never get more than 1MB/s on Mac or PC when using USB on my Zip250. However, I have one of the earlier Zip250 drives that has the option to plug in a Firewire module. And it really flies at 2.4MB/s in Firewire mode - almost 2.5x what it can do in USB mode! I'm sure the Zip250 will be upgraded to USB2.0 at some point. But for now, Firewire is the way to go even if you have a PC.

Lacie has a good idea with their U&I interface. One small portable drive (hard drive or burner) will work on Mac and PC via USB1, 2, and Firewire! No modules to plug in. And the pocket line is bus powered when using Firewire and USB2. I hope the other manufacturers follow suit ....joe

[ 02-19-2002: Message edited by: joe ]

[Eug]

It depends. For sequential transfers the Firewire one (bigger) should be significantly faster.

However, if you your discs are heavily fragmented (like mine are), it wouldn't always be hugely faster (but still would be faster). The seek time specs between the USB and Firewire drives are identical, and thus holds the Firewire back a bit. The IDE drive, is spec'd the same as the Firewire one for sequential transfers, but in real life usage it's also faster because it has much better seek times.

I currently have the USB-powered 250, the USB 250 one that can be upgraded to Firewire, and the IDE 250.

I'm tempted to buy the Firewire adapter simply to have one of each (since nobody will buy my USB non-powered one), but I can't really justify it at $80 and more bulk.

So my advice:

If you only ever use recent Macs - go with Firewire.
If you only have PCs without Firewire - go for IDE for fastest speed for an internal, or else bus-powered USB if you need to carry the drive around.

[fulmer]

[quote]Originally posted by PeteWK:
<STRONG>

Originally posted by fulmer:
[QB]usb max theoretical transfer is around 1 MB/sec.

Um, no. USB can deliver up to 12 MB/s.
</STRONG>

um, yeah, the best you're gonna get is about 1 MB/sec.

[PeteWK]

Trip! Splat! I stand corrected.

PeteWK