USB faster than FireWire

[prehensile]

this Microsoft web page says that USB is faster than FireWire

USB 2.0, with a hefty 480 Mbps data transfer rate, making it faster than IEEE 1394 (FireWire),

...huh?
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...2august05.mspx

[b0redom]

You do realise that article is from 2002 right? That was before Firewire 800 was commerically available.

They're both theoretical speeds anyway, it's highly unlikely you'll have something able to communicate for sustained periods at that rate.

[Funkstar]

on paper HighSpeed USB is faster (480mbps vs 400mbps). But in practise Firewire is actually faster.

Basically FW uses a better protocal and is all driven by the controller chip so makes less of a hit on the host system.

A good example is copying data from one drive to another. With USB the data has to go all the way to system memory and back out. With Firewire i believe it can go straight from one device to another.

Note that the article is from 2002.

Oh, there was a Windows bug that limited FW to 100mbps for a while, but i think that was back in Win2K days, or perhaps WinXP pre SP1

[fuddam]

likewise if capturing video from camera - firewire def better. for continuous data flow, is more stable, whereas USB fluctuates because is subject to other demands of the system.