> > >Simon James wrote: > >I've purchased a Macbook Pro and running LAP 7.2 and looking to > >purchase an external drive to put all the music stuff on. One thing > >is that I am looking at a Rocstor FW / USB powered drive for their > >dependability. Are there any other recommendations? > >Another thing is that now that there is an option for USB 2.0 as well > >as FW, is there any reason that there would be a preference for > >either type other than 2.0 (I understand) is a little faster. > >From: "f-erenc szabo" >Although the USB2 spec says 480Mb/s and FW400 says >400Mb/s, USB sucks up CPU horsepower but FW doesn't. >So it's not a clearcut situation where USB2 is 80Mb/s >faster - not all other things are equal. Made some tests a while back, (on PC). Large files, heavy load: USB 2.0 used 6.0 to 8.0 percent of the available CPU for sustained transfers. Firewire 400 used 1.0 to 3.0 percent of the available CPU for the same file transfers. I rebooted in between tests, nothing was cached. No noticeable speed difference between FW400 or USB 2.0. in this test. Howard