VAIO External Hard Drive

OK so my new VAIO FZ has a 4 pin iLink. How does this translate to Firewire (400 or 800).

I need a large (500+GB) Hard Drive and was wondering what I should look for and if there are any recommendations. I want it to be fast (7200 RPM overheat?).

 

The first question here is do you want the drive to be portable as in lets say in a laptop/messenger bag?
If thats the case you have a few options; Currently the highest capacity in a 2.5" chassis is 500GB. Those incarnations run (for the moment) up to 5400 rpm.
In the 7200rpm class the upper limit is 320GB. Most external drives in this class utilize USB as the interface and for the most part also for power. USB is the not the fastest interface but it is ubiquitous and the fact that it also powers peripherals is always a plus. You can also buy enclosures that use eSATA for true speed or even Firewire 400 and 800, but those tend to cost a bit more and will definitely require/come with a separate power supply as those interfaces typically do not supply any form of power.

To answer your first question, the ilink is a firewire port but they don't seem to differentiate between 1394 a or b so odds are its the "a" variety and that translates into firewire 400.
Theorethically USB 2.0 is rated at being faster 480mbs vs 400mbs for 1394a but from what i have read and experienced, firewire has better thoroughput so essentially data transfers happen quicker.
If its capacity and speed you are looking for just opt for the full sized drives. You can get them up to 1TB incarnations, with some portables combining drives for up to 4TB or so. These are not so portable because of size, weight and power requirements.