*** From the Archives ***
This article is from January 30, 2003, and is no longer current.
Under the Desktop: It’s on Fire(Wire)! Hardware and Software Too Hot to Handle
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After reading my previous column about the Macworld Expo held earlier this month in San Francisco, you might think everything new at the show was to be found in Apple’s new PowerBooks. No way. There was plenty of hardware and productivity-related products to interest the professional content creator at the show, for those on the Macintosh as well as those running Windows.
In fact, a Martian walking the floor (and who’s to say that one wasn’t, after all it is San Francisco in the new millennium) might have mistaken this Macworld Expo for a semi-professional video production show. Almost every aisle held some kind of FireWire hard drive and a demonstration of digital video.
Pieces of 800
The introduction of next-generation FireWire products was a highlight of the show (for me, at least), although only a few vendors announced products with the interface. The new standard, IEEE 1394b, is called FireWire 800 since it runs at 800 megabits per second (or 100 MB), compared with the current FireWire 1394a standard, which is now FireWire 400. Vendors expect to ship FireWire 800 drives this spring. Given content creators’ need for speed, the advent of even faster throughput should fire up creative professionals.
Storage executives disagreed on how quickly the new standard will take hold in the market. Some vendors said they plan to offer the faster interface at a premium price and only on high-end, very high-capacity drives; FireWire 400 products will be offered for cost-conscious customers and for applications that don’t need the extra speed.
Other companies plan to move the interface across their product lines quickly. The availability of parts will surely play a role in this rollout, and the supply of FireWire 800 electronics parts may be constrained for a while. And there’s currently only one manufacturer of FireWire 800 cables, another bottleneck for drive vendors.
Performance however, will be less constrained. I was interested to hear reports that the FireWire 800 interface will allow faster throughput from some hard drive mechanisms (faster than the current FireWire 400 interface, that is). Scott Philips, LaCie North American CEO, reported that some drives will achieve maximum data transfer rates between 45 to 55 Mbytes per second, well up from the top 35 to 45 Mbytes-per-second range of current FireWire 400.
Note the word “some” above. This caveat will become important later in the year as FireWire 800 enclosures come onto the market. The expanded throughput available from the new interface that’s available with these enclosures will support faster performance from fast drive mechanisms. Depending on the particular drive mechanism, you may, or may not, see better performance with a FireWire 800 enclosure. But, for a particular drive mechanism, a classic FireWire 400 upgrade kit may yield similar performance at a lower cost.
In addition, FireWire 800 uses a new connector, although similar in appearance to the current plug. And an adapter will be needed to connect legacy FireWire 400 devices, both the 4-pin and 8-pin versions. A number of vendors will offer the drives with both FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 ports.
For example, LaCie announced a variety of high-capacity, desktop drives offering both FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 ports, including several of its Big Disk models with capacities of 400 and 500 GB (see figure 1).
Figure 1: LaCie’s Big Disks really aren’t that big on the desktop. But they are large enough inside to hold two high-capacity hard-drive mechanisms. Thanks to the unit’s firmware, the disks appear as a single, very-large drive (either 400 GB or 500 GB) to your Mac or PC. The Big Disk case is made from aluminum, which improves heat dissipation. Its heft and integrated stand makes the case stable, compared with many plastic enclosures.
Both Maxtor and SmartDisk announced forthcoming drives with FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 interfaces.
Although the only computers today with a FireWire 800 interface are Apple’s new Power Mac desktops introduced the other day and the new PowerBook, storage vendors will provide PCI cards supporting the interface for upgrading Mac and Windows desktops. At Expo, Unibrain showcased its FireBoard 800, a multiport PCI card due by the end of the quarter. Indigita also recently announced 1394b PCI host adapter cards.
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