External drive -Firewire800 or eSATA?

ajf · 7 Oct 2009 at 19:37

I am after a 1 to 2Tb external drive with the fastest interface I can get.
In reality, which is faster, Firewire800 or eSATA?

I would also require the relevant PCI/PCIe card. Can anyone make some recommendations for the card and drive?

Thanks
Andrew

Fahim · 7 Oct 2009 at 21:16

eSATA is faster than firewire, so go for eSATA.

wesley · 7 Oct 2009 at 21:21

i'd stay away from esata external hard drives, many people having problem with them, oftenly windows ask "do you want to format this disk?" when they plug in.

esata arent real 'plug n play' device.

ajf · 7 Oct 2009 at 21:55

Thanks.
The plug n play ability would be pretty critical so if that is a known issue I think I will look at Firewire. Just haven't seen many large Firewire800 drives.

I am assuming that both of these formats are faster than standard USB 2?

johnerz · 7 Oct 2009 at 22:06

Yes, but usb 3 is not to far away and that will be faster than firewire iirc