Firewire or USB 2.0 for external burn drive on G4 tower?

KingOvok · KingOvok #1 (**permalink**)

01-04-2010, 06:25 PM

Dropped a USB 2.0 card into my G4 tower (with Tiger) and i'm running an external dvd burner with it. Would I be better off with the built in firewire connection? It's old and I don't know how speed works with those things.

baggss · baggss #2 (**permalink**)

01-04-2010, 07:19 PM

Yes, Firewire (400 or 800) will give you batter performance that USB 2 for ripping/buring from that peripheral.

martyp · martyp #3 (**permalink**)

01-04-2010, 07:30 PM

Firewire is a much better connection, faster I/O throughput compared to USB2 - even though FW400 its theoretically 80Mb/s slower...

harryb2448 · harryb2448 #4 (**permalink**)

01-04-2010, 09:12 PM

And in the event you lose the built in DVD/CD Reader, the Firewire optical drive will be bootable.

hughvane · hughvane #5 (**permalink**)

01-04-2010, 09:38 PM

Have the best of both worlds and get a combo firewire/usb enclosure. One other nice thing about firewire too is that it facilitates daisy-chaining, and you can have numerous (27 I think) external devices linked together through to your Mac.

KingOvok · KingOvok #6 (**permalink**)

01-04-2010, 09:47 PM

The external drive I got has two firewire ports and a 2.0 port on the back. I picked it up cause it had a big MAC sticker on it. Seems to be working well both ways now. I've only been hooking up either/or and know nothing about daisy chaining. If there's a cool trick or two i'm missing i'd love to hear about it.

Sort of unrelated, but will firewire bypass the issues i've been having with the computer sleeping and the 2.0 PCI card? The only solution i've found is to unplug everything, but it's a hassle.

hughvane · hughvane #7 (**permalink**)

01-04-2010, 10:04 PM

I have three optical drives daisy-chained by firewire, toggling between them is fun.

The PCI card-sleep issue is confined to USB only, no worries with firewire, since it's native to the motherboard in the G4.

Re your combo enclosure, for some mysterious reason, firewire occasionally goes awol. USB is a good back up in that event. A pointer I learned - don't have both USB and firewire cables connected at the same time, it's one or the other.

If F'wire does happen to go missing in action, unplug the power to your enclosure completely and find something else to do. Return to the enclosure after an hour or two, plug it in, and try the firewire again. Power disconnection often restores f/w functionality.

KingOvok · KingOvok #8 (**permalink**)

01-04-2010, 10:14 PM

Thanks for the head's up.

hughvane #5 (permalink)
Member Since: May 18, 2008 Location: Banks Peninsula, New Zealand Posts: 3,244 Mac Specs: MacMini 2.4, 4 Gb, OS 10.6.8; MacBook 2.4, 2 Gb, OS 10.5.8; G4 eMac 1.25, 2 Gb, OS 10.4.11	01-04-2010, 09:38 PM Have the best of both worlds and get a combo firewire/usb enclosure. One other nice thing about firewire too is that it facilitates daisy-chaining, and you can have numerous (27 I think) external devices linked together through to your Mac. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Please post your Mac (or other) specs and MacOS version in your post, your profile or your signature. It helps us to help you better. I'm leaving now to go and find myself. If I should return before I get back, please ask me to wait.
	QUOTE Thanks

hughvane #7 (permalink)
Member Since: May 18, 2008 Location: Banks Peninsula, New Zealand Posts: 3,244 Mac Specs: MacMini 2.4, 4 Gb, OS 10.6.8; MacBook 2.4, 2 Gb, OS 10.5.8; G4 eMac 1.25, 2 Gb, OS 10.4.11	01-04-2010, 10:04 PM I have three optical drives daisy-chained by firewire, toggling between them is fun. The PCI card-sleep issue is confined to USB only, no worries with firewire, since it's native to the motherboard in the G4. Re your combo enclosure, for some mysterious reason, firewire occasionally goes awol. USB is a good back up in that event. A pointer I learned - don't have both USB and firewire cables connected at the same time, it's one or the other. If F'wire does happen to go missing in action, unplug the power to your enclosure completely and find something else to do. Return to the enclosure after an hour or two, plug it in, and try the firewire again. Power disconnection often restores f/w functionality. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Please post your Mac (or other) specs and MacOS version in your post, your profile or your signature. It helps us to help you better. I'm leaving now to go and find myself. If I should return before I get back, please ask me to wait.
	QUOTE Thanks

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
No usb, how to connect to a firewire soundcard?	Dupont	Apple Notebooks	0	11-24-2008 10:17 AM
Creating backups and bootable images...	2kx2	Switcher Hangout	4	05-26-2007 08:53 PM
Airport Base Station-How reliable as network drive? What type of hard drive?	markw10	Internet, Networking, and Wireless	0	01-16-2007 01:51 AM
Firewire drive not showing up?	lokerd	OS X - Operating System	0	11-18-2003 08:42 AM

Firewire or USB 2.0 for external burn drive on G4 tower?

Internet Services

Web Development

Digital Marketing

Consumer Tech

KingOvok #1 (permalink)
Member Since: Nov 24, 2007 Posts: 62	01-04-2010, 06:25 PM Dropped a USB 2.0 card into my G4 tower (with Tiger) and i'm running an external dvd burner with it. Would I be better off with the built in firewire connection? It's old and I don't know how speed works with those things.
	QUOTE Thanks

baggss #2 (permalink)
Member Since: Oct 10, 2004 Location: Margaritaville Posts: 10,306 Mac Specs: 27" 3.4 Ghz i7 iMac-13" C2D Macbook-OSX 18.8.2-64Gb iPad 2-32 Gb iPhone 5-ATV 2-14Tb of Storage	01-04-2010, 07:19 PM Yes, Firewire (400 or 800) will give you batter performance that USB 2 for ripping/buring from that peripheral.
	QUOTE Thanks

harryb2448 #4 (permalink)
Member Since: Nov 28, 2007 Location: Nambucca Heads Australia Posts: 14,058 Mac Specs: iMac i5 2.7GHz OS X.8.3	01-04-2010, 09:12 PM And in the event you lose the built in DVD/CD Reader, the Firewire optical drive will be bootable.
	QUOTE Thanks

KingOvok #6 (permalink)
Member Since: Nov 24, 2007 Posts: 62	01-04-2010, 09:47 PM The external drive I got has two firewire ports and a 2.0 port on the back. I picked it up cause it had a big MAC sticker on it. Seems to be working well both ways now. I've only been hooking up either/or and know nothing about daisy chaining. If there's a cool trick or two i'm missing i'd love to hear about it. Sort of unrelated, but will firewire bypass the issues i've been having with the computer sleeping and the 2.0 PCI card? The only solution i've found is to unplug everything, but it's a hassle.
	QUOTE Thanks

KingOvok #8 (permalink)
Member Since: Nov 24, 2007 Posts: 62	01-04-2010, 10:14 PM Thanks for the head's up.
	QUOTE Thanks

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)