Best 2.5" USB/Firewire/eSata external hard drive solution?

[dfumento]

Trying to get the fastest interface (USB 2.0/Firewire IEEE1394 4 pin 400/eSata). Two different systems...

1. Brand new Lenovo Thinkpad X61 with PCMCIA and Firewire 4 pin 400 and USB 2.0.

2. New Lenovo Thinkpad T61 with ExpressCard and USB 2.0.

For each system, which would be the fastest solutions? Can you give specific components?

I heard that eSata II on the X61 with PCMCIA would not be as fast as the Firewire because of practical Cardbus speed limitations. Is that true?

I'd assume with the ExpressCard interface, the fastest solution would be eSata II.

 

[Flingpoo]

Your fastest solution would probably be USB 2.0

USB 2.0 is rated at 480 MPS
Firewire is at 400 MPS

eSATA at 3 gigs a second would be best if one of your systems supported it.


I recently purchased an external HD that has all three interfaces and my motherboard is eSATA capable, but the HDD did not come with an eSATA cable. I searched all the local retailers in my area with no luck. I finely uses the USB interface and the speed at which it worked was just fine. I moved a few gigs each of MP3/Wav, photos, and regular files from one computer to the next with not much effort at all.

Next time I make a purchase online I will order an eSATA cable, but for all practical purposes I've learned that USB works just fine and I would recommend not going to far out of your way for a faster solution. Maybe only if you were using the external HDD to daily backups of large files.

 

[Babar]

USB 2.0 is rated at 480 MPS
Firewire is at 400 MPS

fireware is fastest than USB because fireware is at 400MPS stable, and USB 2.0 is rated at UP TO 480 MPS, I have aexternal hard drive with USB and Firewire and I prefer fireware it's really better