USB2.0 or Firewire?

Which would be the better choice for transfering files to the iPod?
I have both USB2.0 and Firewire cards on my computer, but I am not sure which would be better to use. Does anyone know?

Go with firewire, its at least 10 times faster. Also it charges your iPod when you plug it in with firewire.

Firewire

I was wondering the same thing a few days ago. You might find some of these useful

http//www.cwol.com/firewire/firewire-vs-usb.htm
http//www.barefeats.com/usb2.html

I was pretty surprised, I can finally put that firewire port on my Audigy card to good use. wink

Thank you for your help!!!

Not saying you shouldn't use firewire, neither is "10x" faster, except in theory. If you get a difference itll be by a few seconds at most.

AND usb 2.0 charges 4g Ipods and Minis, so using that as a plus for firewire doesnt really work.

[quote7d8ce31a3c="burdenedreflect"]Not saying you shouldn't use firewire, neither is "10x" faster, except in theory. If you get a difference itll be by a few seconds at most. I transferred 10 gigs of music over to my ipod in about 6 minutes over usb 2.0

AND usb 2.0 charges 4g Ipods and Minis, so using that as a plus for firewire doesnt really work.[/quote7d8ce31a3c]

So if you had the option of having both which would you chose?

I would test them both out, and time them. See which one is faster with the iPod, and which one does a better job of charging the iPod while I was transfering music

[quote7165ea227a="blahman"][quote7165ea227a="burdenedreflect"]Not saying you shouldn't use firewire, neither is "10x" faster, except in theory. If you get a difference itll be by a few seconds at most. I transferred 10 gigs of music over to my ipod in about 6 minutes over usb 2.0

AND usb 2.0 charges 4g Ipods and Minis, so using that as a plus for firewire doesnt really work.[/quote7165ea227a]

So if you had the option of having both which would you chose?[/quote7165ea227a]

Probably firewire, cause there still is that couple seconds gain.


If a guy with an axe was coming after you while your ipod updated, youd have 4 extra seconds to grab it and run.

[quotecef9bfecbf]Probably firewire, cause there still is that couple seconds gain.


If a guy with an axe was coming after you while your ipod updated, youd have 4 extra seconds to grab it and run.[/quotecef9bfecbf]

That Puts it in a whole new perspective....FIREWIRE IT IS!!! I don't feel like getting killed by a guy with an axe.

Actually...it depends VERY MUCH on your computer. USB 2.0 can theoretically transfer at I believe 450mbits/s while FireWire maxes out at 400mbits/s.

HOWEVER, there are a LOT of factors to consider, namely the speed of your hard drive and setup (SATA is faster than ATA/IDE so transfer from HDD to iPod will be faster with SATA) and how fast your motherboard's bus is. There's a good chance FireWire and USB 2.0 will be the same speed.

A big difference is going to be your bus...I know nothing about AMD but boards that support Intel processors generally have a 533MHz FSB on machines with Celeron or slower P4 processors. P4 processors that support HyperThreading use an 800MHz FSB, which is a pretty big difference.

If you're that concerned about slight discrepancies...if you have integrated USB 2.0 (all new computers do) then test it with that, then get a FireWire PCI card and test with that. Otherwise, get a combo PCI card and test both. You might find that they are very close in transfer speeds, or one is much faster than the other. In any case, it depends on the hardware you have, etc.

Not to mention I doubt they put 7200rpm HDDs in the iPods. I don't know what's in the iPods or hPods but if the drive is 4200rpm and your computer's drive is a 4200rpm then that's going to make a difference.

See? )

Oh, and...

[quotec1e3dd96a7="PallarAndersVisa"]I would test them both out, and time them. See which one is faster with the iPod, and which one does a better job of charging the iPod while I was transfering music[/quotec1e3dd96a7]

The iPod does not charge via computer while trasnferring music. All USB or FireWire charging devices that I've used are like that. While you are syncing or working with data to and from the iPod, it will not charge. While the iPod is idle, it will. Both charge when the iPod isn't being used but is plugged in to your computer, so unless there's a time difference (which I think I'd doubt) worth noting, it's not much a factor to consider.

My iPod charges while I'm copying files to it via USB2.0... the +5v doesn't just turn off while its in use.

Also, I'm pretty sure the official speeds are 400mbit for FW and 480mbit for USB2.0... but as shifui said, there are TONS of other factors involved. Personally, I top out at 5.5mB/sec via USB2.0. But that's to an old laptop via a PCMCIA card, and the laptop's HD is 4200rpm. Personally I think the difference between the two is going to be negligible no matter how you slice it.

i'd use firewire, but I don't really want to buy a firewire card, so I'm stuck with USB

[quote0001abbad7="Admin"]My iPod charges while I'm copying files to it via USB2.0... the +5v doesn't just turn off while its in use.

...Personally, I top out at 5.5mB/sec via USB2.0.[/quote0001abbad7]

That's my bad...in the manual it says "the iPod loses charge while songs or files are transferred using USB 2.0", and I just noticed that the section on charging the battery mentions that it takes LONGER to charge the battery while files are being transferred. Sorry! P

I've got a P4 HT with an 800MHz FSB and USB 2.0 integrated onto the motherboard...I max out between 65 and 75 mbits/s when doing big file transfers (like my first big sync to the iPod) and around 55 mbits/s when transferring just a few songs. My hard drive is IDE/ATA on an ATA/133 controller card...it's a 7200RPM Maxtor 160GB with 8MB cache, so I think I'm going about as fast as I ever will on this machine.

I've heard some stories of people's iPods getting fucked over by firewire with an Audigy card. It completed ruined the iPod, and it wouldn't turn on.

They got a refund for it, but still.

I'm using firewire.

I heard firewire tends to be faster but the difference is negligible. I only have USB (

[quoteabc40ed06d="shifuimam"]Actually...it depends VERY MUCH on your computer. USB 2.0 can theoretically transfer at I believe 450mbits/s while FireWire maxes out at 400mbits/s.

HOWEVER, there are a LOT of factors to consider, namely the speed of your hard drive and setup (SATA is faster than ATA/IDE so transfer from HDD to iPod will be faster with SATA) and how fast your motherboard's bus is. There's a good chance FireWire and USB 2.0 will be the same speed.

A big difference is going to be your bus...I know nothing about AMD but boards that support Intel processors generally have a 533MHz FSB on machines with Celeron or slower P4 processors. P4 processors that support HyperThreading use an 800MHz FSB, which is a pretty big difference.

If you're that concerned about slight descrepancies...if you have integrated USB 2.0 (all new computers do) then test it with that, then get a FireWire PCI card and test with that. Otherwise, get a combo PCI card and test both. You might find that they are very close in transfer speeds, or one is much faster than the other. In any case, it depends on the hardware you have, etc.

Not to mention I doubt they put 7200rpm HDDs in the iPods. I don't know what's in the iPods or hPods but if the drive is 4200rpm and your computer's drive is a 4200rpm then that's going to make a difference.

See? )

Oh, and...

[quoteabc40ed06d="PallarAndersVisa"]I would test them both out, and time them. See which one is faster with the iPod, and which one does a better job of charging the iPod while I was transfering music[/quoteabc40ed06d]

The iPod does not charge via computer while trasnferring music. All USB or FireWire charging devices that I've used are like that. While you are syncing or working with data to and from the iPod, it will not charge. While the iPod is idle, it will. Both charge when the iPod isn't being used but is plugged in to your computer, so unless there's a time difference (which I think I'd doubt) worth noting, it's not much a factor to consider.[/quoteabc40ed06d]

U sure know ur computers! Do u study systems engineering?

You don't need to study anything to become proficient at computing. It's all about experience, as far as I'm concerned...

that stuff has nothing to do with engineering.

my comp is ancient so it only has usb 1.1. I am thinking of just getting 2.0 b/c more things seem to support usb 2.0 (i.e. usb drives) than firewire.

i have to buy a new pci card for the ipod..

it wont do any good if your computer is slow

yea it will, it'll allow him to transfer stuff to his ipod D

usb 2.0 is backwards compatible with 1.1

When ur talking about bus speed you are talking about engineering, more specifically computer organization. Thank you.

well in that case, Since we are talking about iPods, we all must be talking about engineering.

in some form or another.

[quote1f7d5fb9ab="PallarAndersVisa"]usb 2.0 is backwards compatible with 1.1[/quote1f7d5fb9ab]

I'm pretty sure that the iPod won't work on USB 1.1. Don't take my word for it as set in stone, but everything I've seen on the iPod says that it requires USB 2.0. Now, it may be like the MuVo2, where Windows just tells you it's a USB 2.0 device running on USB 1.1..guess the only way to find out is to try it.

As far as engineering and whatnot goes, you don't need a degree to know computer-related vocabulary. I just know what I know through experience, friends, and general interest on my part. Most of the shit I know, except stuff specifically about ASP.NET, I didn't learn in school.

I'm a Computer Information Technology major, I know absolutely nothing about systems engineering.

[quote09061dbbeb="flatline"]I've heard some stories of people's iPods getting fucked over by firewire with an Audigy card. It completed ruined the iPod, and it wouldn't turn on.

They got a refund for it, but still.

I'm using firewire.[/quote09061dbbeb]

That's interesting, because that's exactly how i've been using my iPod....Firewire on my Audigy 1 card. Seems to work better than USB 2, but I may switch back after seeing that.

[quote028d900794="shifuimam"][quote028d900794="PallarAndersVisa"]usb 2.0 is backwards compatible with 1.1[/quote028d900794]

I'm pretty sure that the iPod won't work on USB 1.1. Don't take my word for it as set in stone, but everything I've seen on the iPod says that it requires USB 2.0. Now, it may be like the MuVo2, where Windows just tells you it's a USB 2.0 device running on USB 1.1..guess the only way to find out is to try it.
[/quote028d900794]

It WILL work on USB 1.1, however, it will be really slow AND because there's no cooling mechanism on the iPod, it will heat up your iPod (perhaps leading to damaging the iPod itself). Ultimately, it's NOT a good idea to use 1.1 if you are transfering a lot of data. (I got this from the FAQ at iPodlounge. Also, a guy I know online used USB 1.1 to transfer to his iPod)

Thanks for the info!

[quote5c8156183f="Avenger55"][quote5c8156183f="flatline"]I've heard some stories of people's iPods getting fucked over by firewire with an Audigy card. It completed ruined the iPod, and it wouldn't turn on.

They got a refund for it, but still.

I'm using firewire.[/quote5c8156183f]

That's interesting, because that's exactly how i've been using my iPod....Firewire on my Audigy 1 card. Seems to work better than USB 2, but I may switch back after seeing that.[/quote5c8156183f]

Don't worry about it. I think it was with select cards which had bad wiring. If it worked the first time, it'll work now.