What is a realistic transfer speed when transferring data from my Cube's internal HD (7200 rpm IBM Deskstar, 45 gig) to an external APS Firewire HD (7200 rpm 30 gig)? Using CopyAgent, I'm seeing transfer rates of about 100k/second, +/- 10k/sec.

Should I expect more? I've been told on other forums that Firewire is pretty slow, especially considering that the drives aren't "true" Firewire drives, but IDEs with a bridge.

Would this lead you to believe there's something wrong with the drives, or am I expecting too much in terms of speed?

Thanks for any feedback.

RALPH

[Paul S]

From what I understand about external FireWire drives is that they use an EIDE bridge, not an UltraATA33 or 66. 100k translates to 12.5MB per second, which is very typical for an EIDE connection. We think in terms of 400k or 50MB per second with FireWire, but until native FireWire drives, or faster IDE-FireWire bridges come out, we'll never see those speeds.

[mattmarshall]

i got a maxtor fireiwre drive last week, and i get 5-6 megabytes a second....

[GORDYmac]

I'll just add a real-world comparison. OS9 runs faster on my external Firewire drive (Pyro Case & Quantum Fireball 30GB 7200).

Draw your own conclusion.