my firewire is going at usb 1.1 speed

my computer is an a8js

I just got an external case to back up my old laptop hd which is a 60 gb western digital entirely full.

i got this case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817146035

because I wanted to use the firewire port. I figure i might as well I dont have any other firewire devices.

But when I plug it in it takes about 5 minutes just to read the files from.

Next I use it in usb, about 15 seconds.

The speed of the firewire port is so slow its about usb 1.1 speed Not useful for this purpose at all. I dont know what purpose it would be useful for perhaps a camera upload.

Whats going on here? Have any of you used firewire hard drives? Is it possibly the enclosure, or a driver?

Or is my firewire port somehow bottlenecked into another device like usb?

 

Try not to double post, people will see it, no need for two discussions about the same thing.

 

Update what driver controls you firewire port?

 

My assumption is the drive enclosure is the cause. This guy had the same problem
http://www.epinions.com/content_180581666436

I use my 7200rpm Firewire hard drive with my Asus A8Jm daily.
Autorun/Autodetect new media is disabled in Windows, and it recognizes the drives within seconds.
Moving files feels fast enough, and HD Tach quick test says it transfers at 42MB/s.
I'm using the drivers that shipped with the machine.

I've never used Newegg. Can you exchange the enclosure?

 

thanks poly that at least gives me a better idea. I assumed it was the enclosure

usb 2.0 works fine.
It was a real bad buy if the firewire only goes slow. The usb only version was 14$ and this one was 24$.
on the left side of our computer theres a firewire and a usb port for power, that would make it convenient. but I have to use it on the 2 usb ports on the back until i can get it to work.

But it might be a setting too.

 

firewire is a misleading title....fire wire is a fancy term for 1.0 usb...2.0usb is faster.....or so I have read and been told....feel free to correct me but I'm pretty shure I'm acurate.

 

They're two separate standards. Firewire is an Apple code name for the IEEE 1394 standard, which is different from USB. Firewire 400 (which I assume is on Stamar's laptop) will beat USB 2.0 for transfering files any day of the week. This is because although USB 2.0 maxes out at 480Mbps, it really goes half that on average due to the way it's implemented in PC's. Firewire 400 by comparison will go between 300Mbps to 400Mbps.

However, Microsoft saw fit to restrict the speed of Firewire in its SP2 for XP, so it is operating only at 100Mbps max. This is because MS is evil. No, just kidding. You will need to follow these easy-to-use (not) instructions to restore full functionality to your Firewire port.

It would be best if you could test another Firewire device---maybe an older i-pod---on the port first. If your enclosure still goes really slow on Firewire, then it may just be a lemon.

 

so I stand corrected...oh well....ya win some ya lose some...thanks for the update anyways.

 

I THINK thats it gatordude thanks a lot

I need a test program though because two things are standing out.

First my firewire was going a lot slower than 100 mbps before

it was going really slow. How slow I dont know but slower than an external usb 1.1 hd

Ok I just did that fix and its a lot faster. but still not as fast as usb 2.0

eyeball estimate is its going about twice usb 1.1 speed now. I need a testing utility to be sure though.

 

Hmmm it shouldn't even be comparable to USB1.1, Firewire blows USB away really and it employs much more sophisticated hardware to do it.

I'd suggest trying a different Firewire enclosure, maybe get one with a HDD from Western Digital. If it works fine then you know it's a hardware issue. If it doesn't, then you know it's a software issue---it's unlikely the port itself is broken somehow and still functioning.

 

heh i guess i can get another firewire device to test it but im pretty sure a utility will show me the firewire speed lol.

Ive just got an eyeball test from plugging it in usb 2.0 dls the file instantly and firewire takes about 30 secs

cueing up 10 gb of mp3s in winamp the usb 2.0 is almost instant the firewire takes a while.


edit usb 2.0 is going at 119 mb/s

the internal sata hd goes at 118 mb/s so this must be what a 5400 rpm hd reaches. the external case has a 60 gb 5400 rpm western digital drive.

fire wire is going at 41 mb/s not good but functional. this is according to hd tach.

 

wow thats quite sad, beacuse i was thinking about picking up an external drive with a friewire port.

 

oh well dont get this one i guess lol.

It would be really great if I can figure out whats wrong because its nice and solid, and it also is very rare for this size in that it can daisy chain firewire.

So I actually pictured someday getting yet another external enclosure for the 100 gb sata drive that came with my computer and putting in, oh say, a 200 gb 7200 rpm drive in my laptop

then with 2 external hds just rubber banding them together and using a firewire to daisy chain them. Only using one connection as oppose to usb 2.0 would require me to use 4 usb ports and use lots of cables.

anyhow tommorow is another day thanks for the help so far.

 

firewire should NOT be that slow. My theories are that either you have a bunk firewire controller or driver (some firewire chips are not very good, and then there is the windows OHCI bug) check device manager and see if you can determine what manufacturer made the chip. TI good, VIA bad. Ricoh, agere, Lucent ok. Also check driver details to see the date of the driver. If its less than a year old you are cool. If its much older you may have been bitten by the MS 1394 bug.
Secondly, I have read in other forums that a lot of dual interface boxes have a pretty shoddy 1394 interface. Seems they arent capable of large sustained isochronous transfers. Again, see what your results are with other devices.
PS. firewire is Apples word for 1394 because they pretty much invented it. IEEE implemented it as a standard after apple had already come up with it. Likewise iLink is Sony's word for 1394 on the tiny connector.