# What's faster - eSata vs. Firewire 800/400



## Mhill2029

Hmmm....


One of the key advantages that eSATA offers over USB and FireWire is speed. While the other two have overhead from converting the signal between the external interface and the internal IDE based drives, SATA does not have this problem. Because SATA is the standard interface used on many new hard drives, a simple converter between the internal and external connectors is required in the housing. This means that the external device should run at the same speed as an Internal SATA drive.

USB 1.1 - 15 Mbps
FireWire (1394a) - 400 Mbps
USB 2.0 - 480 Mbps
FireWire 800 (1394b) - 800 Mpbs
SATA 1.5 - 1.5 Gbps
SATA 3.0 - 3.0 Gbps


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## blade007

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mhill2029* 
Hmmm....


One of the key advantages that eSATA offers over USB and FireWire is speed. While the other two have overhead from converting the signal between the external interface and the internal IDE based drives, SATA does not have this problem. Because SATA is the standard interface used on many new hard drives, a simple converter between the internal and external connectors is required in the housing. This means that the external device should run at the same speed as an Internal SATA drive.

USB 1.1 - 15 Mbps
FireWire (1394a) - 400 Mbps
USB 2.0 - 480 Mbps
FireWire 800 (1394b) - 800 Mpbs
SATA 1.5 - 1.5 Gbps
SATA 3.0 - 3.0 Gbps

according to this, firewire is faster than usb 2.0..
http://www.cwol.com/firewire/firewire-vs-usb.htm


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## s1rrah

eSATA = fastest external drive

...

My 500 gig external eSATA drive tests the same as my internal SATA drives when testing with HD Tach.

No difference.

Totally smokes USB and Firewire.


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## Mootsfox

Firewire 800 is faster than USB2.0. Firewire 400 is slower than USB2.0.

While USB2.0 is rated at 480Mb/s, it will likely only run around 300.

SATAII is 3000Mb/s, and will always be faster than Firewire. Cheaper and easier to use too.


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## poohball

esata is excatly same as any internal sata, same speed. esata is just a sata. 150 or 300 whatever you have.
so....it is fast.


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## DuckieHo

Quote:


Originally Posted by *poohball* 
esata is excatly same as any internal sata, same speed. esata is just a sata. 150 or 300 whatever you have.
so....it is fast.

Incorrect.

eSATA is a superset of SATA. It includes tighter tolerence to allow up to 2m cabling (as opposed to 1m). In addition, the plugs themselves are different to improve wear-n-tear, EMI shielding, ESD chances, and locking.

eSATA will work on internal SATA but internal SATA will not always work with eSATA.


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## hardcashe

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mootsfox* 
Firewire 800 is faster than USB2.0. Firewire 400 is slower than USB2.0.

While USB2.0 is rated at 480Mb/s, it will likely only run around 300.

SATAII is 3000Mb/s, and will always be faster than Firewire. Cheaper and easier to use too.

To be brief, USB 2.0 and Firewire 400 are different architectures. Firewire 400 is faster than USB 2.0 though it is bit rate is slower due to USB's slaved architecture.

None of these however, including eSATA, is faster than USB 3.0 which looks to launch later this year in possibly a handful of hardware systems.


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## Mootsfox

Quote:


Originally Posted by *hardcashe* 
To be brief, USB 2.0 and Firewire 400 are different architectures. Firewire 400 is faster than USB 2.0 though it is bit rate is slower due to USB's slaved architecture.

None of these however, including eSATA, is faster than USB 3.0 which looks to launch later this year in possibly a handful of hardware systems.

















USB2.0 has a higher max bandwidth than Firewire 400, but in practice Firewire is faster.

If you have a choice eSATA>Firewire 800>Firewire 400>USB2.0.

What are the rated speeds of USB 3? I doubt it's going to be more than six times faster than USB2.0, though that would be great if it was.


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## Asus Mobile

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mootsfox* 
USB2.0 has a higher max bandwidth than Firewire 400, but in practice Firewire is faster.

If you have a choice eSATA>Firewire 800>Firewire 400>USB2.0.

*What are the rated speeds of USB 3?* I doubt it's going to be more than six times faster than USB2.0, though that would be great if it was.

600 MB/s

But if you believe you will see that kind of bandwidth I have some swamp land in Arizona for sale.









USB 2.0 has 60MB/s. Any of you have external USB HDD? Getting above 20MB/s? If so great not getting close 60MB/s guaranteed!

As Moots said before for external HDD, eSATA>Firewire 800>Firewire 400>USB2.0.


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## {core2duo}werd

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Asus Mobile* 
600 MB/s

But if you believe you will see that kind of bandwidth I have some swamp land in Arizona for sale.









USB 2.0 has 60MB/s. Any of you have external USB HDD? Getting above 20MB/s? If so great not getting close 60MB/s guaranteed!

As Moots said before for external HDD, eSATA>Firewire 800>Firewire 400>USB2.0.









here's my external raid (which supports UBS 2.0, fire wire 400 and firewire 800) using USB 2.0


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## mwilsonii

The one thing you guys are missing is the fact that USB is only able to
send or receive data at any one point in time. While FW and SATA have
two way communication. Meaning, if you have a HD connected w/ USB
It can only read or write at the same time. And, confirmation packets
break the reading process. While FireWire & SATA can read and write at
the same time. Therefore making USB far inferior to FW & SATA.


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## {core2duo}werd

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mwilsonii* 
The one thing you guys are missing is the fact that USB is only able to
send or receive data at any one point in time. While FW and SATA have
two way communication. Meaning, if you have a HD connected w/ USB
It can only read or write at the same time. And, confirmation packets
break the reading process. While FireWire & SATA can read and write at
the same time. Therefore making USB far inferior to FW & SATA.

actually SATA, firewire, and USB are Serial Connections (Serial ATA, and Universal Serial bus)

here's a quote for firewire being serial

Quote:

FireWire is Apple Computer's version of a standard, IEEE 1394, High Performance *Serial* Bus
http://searchnetworking.techtarget.c...212126,00.html


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## Asus Mobile

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mwilsonii* 
The one thing you guys are missing is the fact that USB is only able to
send or receive data at any one point in time. While FW and SATA have
two way communication. Meaning, if you have a HD connected w/ USB
It can only read or write at the same time. And, confirmation packets
break the reading process. While FireWire & SATA can read and write at
the same time. Therefore making USB far inferior to FW & SATA.

Very happy you brought a 6 month old thread back? OK ESATA is faster. Anymore Questions? I thought not. How about limiting bringing old threads back?


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