Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 5/11/2004, 7:53 PM
Firewire for now. I've got both, and firewire is faster, although USB is more stable on *some* systems. The ADS Dual link does both. This is the drive case we're using on the VASST tours. In fact, we're giving one away in each city... :-)
Some brands of Firewire enclosures don't follow spec exactly, as they try to avoid royalty payments for the technology, or they use cheap parts. this is often what makes the difference.
FuTz wrote on 5/12/2004, 4:08 AM
I got two ext. units that both got USB2 and 1394. I tried both and 1394 wins all over the place for video files transfer.

For photography, music and general use though, there's no apparent difference. But we're talking about "lighter" files here...

What's good about having both ports on the same unit is that you can plug the same unit using USB2 for one computer and 1394 for the other. When you need to go from one comp to the other, you simply go in the tray and switch the port off; it then automatically opens in the other comp. And vice versa of course.
farss wrote on 5/12/2004, 4:45 AM
My two bobs worth, don't like either!
I use removable drive bays but then I've got a very big case and a very messy workspace. Just don't like the idea of having something sitting there that can get knocked for a six.
But for mobile stuff 1394 seems the way to go but having multiple devices does seem to be prone to grief. I'm going to try turning my laptop into a small HD based audio recorder with an external firewire drive and the M-Audio firewire 410.
logiquem wrote on 5/12/2004, 8:27 AM
I use my Toshiba laptop, a couple of external (cheapo, off the shelve) USB 2 enclosures with 160 Go drives and Scenalyser for live DV video capture about everydays and never had problems at all. Almost no dropped frames since 4 months and hundred of video files recorded.

In my experience, HD capture and camcorder on the same Firewire port card was very troublesome and sometime just impossible. This is a very good reason in itself to get USB2 / Firewire enabled enclosures.
TheHappyFriar wrote on 5/12/2004, 10:46 AM
I've got an enclosure that does both (& USB 1.1). Like someone said, I can (and have) taken it to ANY computer with a USB/firewire and it works great. The only thing I've noticed is that in Win2k, Windows doesn't like to "remove" the firewire drive, but it will let the USB one go al lthe time. Sometimes I end up re-bootin to disconnect the firewire one.
FuTz wrote on 5/12/2004, 3:39 PM
.... same for me HappyFriar ! With XP: a1a / with 2K: same problem !