December 18, 2007 |
Battle of the data titans: USB 3.0 vs. FireWire 3200
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By Triston McIntyre
If you didn’t know, both interfaces USB and FireWire are preparing to release new iterations of their interfaces; Firewire will go “3200″ and USB will move from 2.0 to 3.0. That begs a few questions: what’s so special about the new interfaces and which one is better?
So, its fairly common knowledge that the majority of computer users are much more acquainted with USB than they are FireWire. Somewhere along technology adoption train, someone decided the world needed USB more than FireWire.
And here we are. However, its very important that the masses know the distinction between USB and FireWire, and why USB might not be the only good method for data transfer.
What is USB all about? USB, or Universal Serial Bus, is in everything, and you’ll never be short of a data transfer interface. The current USB 2.0 claims to transfer data at 480 Mbps. Those are the perks.
On the flip side, there’s FireWire. Many common computer users might never see a FireWire cable; professionals and Mac owners tend to be more familiar with the technology. Right now, there are two versions of FireWire in use; FireWire 400 and 800. If you’re catching on to the number scheme by now, you might guess that FireWire 400 transfers at 400 Mbps and 800 transfers at 800 Mbps.
Where’s the difference, aside from speed? FireWire delivers about 97% of the performance it claims, where USB tends to deliver substantially less…maybe half of what it promises. This is mainly because FireWire operates largely on its own, using very little processor power. It runs on a peer 2 peer setup rather than the master to slave setup of USB.