Camera Labs

Does it matter one way or the other as far as firewire or usb? Is usb going to be obsolete someday and firewire the way to go, will firewire transfer faster? 500g sounds big enough for an amateur, is it?

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Nikon D90 18-105, 35mm f1.8, Nikon 70-300mm
Nikon SB-600
Panasonic FZ28
Canon SD750
My Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/37592444@N03/

USB isn't going to be obsolete for a lonnnnng time. How many devices do you have that are USB? Firewire?

Firewire is typically faster than USB. eSATA is even better though. Many drives feature multiple interfaces, shop around.

Honestly though, you'll probably be fine with either interface.

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Sony A300 || 18-70 Kit Lens || Minolta 70-210 f4 Beercan || Minolta 50mm f1.7 || METZ 48-AF1 Flashgun || flickr

FW 400 - 400mbps
USB 2.0 - 480mbps
FW 800 - 800mbps
E-SATA - 3000mbps

USB 3.0 promises to be much faster but isn't out yet. USB relies on the CPU for data transfer whereas FW handles everything itself, this means that it puts less strain on the CPU and because it doesn't have to share CPU loading with other tasks, it is faster most of the time. You won't get anywhere near the theoretical maximum for either of them but the drop-off is less with FW. If you've already got an FW port, just go with that.

FW also lets you daisy-chain so many devices can connect to the same port.

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Graham
Flickr

I would suggest a device that gives you the most flexibility. Firewire and USB.

Connection standards are changing all the time and each new standard always has a new shaped connector and therefore requires new leads.

The SCSI (Small computer systems interface) standard went through about 10 transmission protocols and 4 connector shapes. Firewire feels like it is going down a similar route with the 400 and 800 connectors being different shapes.

USB seems to be keeping to the same connector shape but this just means it is more difficult to tell V1 from V2.

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Nikon D90
Nikkor AF-S DX; 18-105 f/3.5-5.6G VR, 55-300 f/4.5-5.6G VR, 35mm f/1.8G
Speedlight SB-700

http://keystrokesukimages.com

Nothing wrong with using firewire but it just isn't as popular for some reason.

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Well FW400 and 800 are compatible with each other via use of a converter cable and USB 3.0 changes the shape of the plug once again.

If it's an external HD, you can get one with all 3 formats. My WD MyBook Studio has all of them and comes with a FW800 -> 400 cable included. It's a bit loud though.

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Graham
Flickr

I was thinking more along the lines of card readers. You can buy card readers cheaply enough so it wouldn't be hard to just get one in either firewire or usb.

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