ESATA, USB 3.0 or Firewire for an external HDD?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Advice Pro

Distinguished
Feb 25, 2009
164
0
18,680
I'm going to put my HDD into an external enclosure. My PC only has USB 2.0 ports, but I can always get either adapters, a hub, or add-in card for ESATA, USB 3.0 or Firewire. I don't know if USB 2.0 will be too slow with an enclosure of 480 Mbps of whatever speed is available. The HDD has 320GB 7200rpm Serial ATA II/300 hard drive w/ 8MB cache. I want to know what is the best are my best options!

Also, would you know of, or could find, a good SATA II & IDE external enclosure?
 
Solution
In performance terms they're all about the same (except for USB 2.0 of course). I decided to use USB 3.0 because it's more universally available. Although not all computers have USB 3.0, they've all got USB 2.0 and you can still use a USB 3.0 drive on them (with reduced performance) if you need to.
In performance terms they're all about the same (except for USB 2.0 of course). I decided to use USB 3.0 because it's more universally available. Although not all computers have USB 3.0, they've all got USB 2.0 and you can still use a USB 3.0 drive on them (with reduced performance) if you need to.
 
Solution
Status
Not open for further replies.