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A FireWire® hard drive connects to a computer via FireWire® cable system, and is an alternative to USB. They are portable, but can be used in one location. Look for alternative names such as IEEE 1394 interface. Some PCs do not have FireWire® sockets, so look for drives with both FireWire® and USB jacks. They can be used for backing up machines and digital video, but may be slower than internal drives. A FireWire® enclosure can be a cheaper option.
A FireWire® hard drive is an external drive connected to a computer via the FireWire® cable system, an alternative to the popular USB system. Most FireWire® hard drives are designed for portable use. However, they can have some benefits even when used in only one location.
When looking for a FireWire® hard drive, remember that there are several alternative names for the technology. The technical name is an IEEE 1394 interface, which is why you may see a FireWire® hard drive listed as a 1394 connection in Windows. While “firewire” is the more common spelling, the word is actually a trademark of Apple and spelled FireWire®. The same technology is known as i.Link from Sony and Lynx from Texas Instruments. While most hard drives are sold under the name FireWire®, it can be worth looking for alternative names to do business with, particularly on auction sites where fewer people are likely to find and bid on the listing.
While FireWire® sockets are available on all Macs, they are not available on all PCs. This may not be a problem if you only want to use the drive on a particular set of computers, all of which have FireWire®. If you need to make sure the drive works on all computers, such as if you travel to different offices, you should still look for a drive that has both FireWire® and USB jacks. This usually costs more but will give you peace of mind.
You may want to use a FireWire® hard drive as an easy way to add extra capacity to your computer’s memory without opening up the machine. Note that this will be more expensive than fitting an internal drive. It will also be slightly slower: which PC? estimated that a FireWire® connected drive is about a third slower to access than an internal drive. Unless you have little confidence installing an internal drive or lack space inside your computer, a FireWire® hard drive usually won’t be an efficient choice for staying permanently connected to a machine.
A FireWire® hard drive can be useful for backing up your machine. The large storage capacity available makes these drives particularly suited to backup systems that copy primary hard drives in their entirety rather than simply individual files or folders. The portability of a FireWire® drive means you can back it up and then store it somewhere other than your computer so you’re better protected against data loss in the event of a fire or flood.
If your primary reason for using a FireWire® hard drive is digital video, you will need a higher specification drive. The key metric to look for here is sustained transfer rate which measures how much information the drive can send to and from your computer at a steady rate rather than bursts. This figure will usually be significantly less than the maximum transfer rate on the drive. Digital video requires a constant bit rate, so you’ll want the highest sustained bit rate possible.
An alternative to a FireWire® hard drive is a FireWire® enclosure. This is a special case that houses a traditional hard drive, but has a FireWire® connection that works between the drive and the computer. This can work as a cheaper overall option, particularly in higher capacity drives where the savings from purchasing a traditional drive over a FireWire® hard drive usually outweigh the cost of the enclosure. It’s also a useful option if you buy a new PC and need a convenient way to occasionally access files from your old computer’s hard drive.
