Firewire 400 for external HD

[DJ Rep]

Hi I understand that the iBook G4 series comes with firwire 400 interface, and I am thinking instead of buying a bigger internal HD with the iBook, I might buy an external fw HD due to the cheaper/larger nature of it. Will the 400 interface be fast enough or will there be a significant speed difference in HD access time?
Thanks
Dan

 

[Zammy-Sam]

400mbit allows max. 50mb/sec. My current 60gb disc in the powerbook makes max 25mb/sec. But on the other hand, there are 10.000rpm spinning ide discs transfering 60mb/sec. These discs are currently the fastest on ide.
I also read that the latency is very much compareable to regular ide ports.

I other words: yes, it will be fast enough.

 

[Zammy-Sam]

But you should use search to find more about firewire disc issues on panther. I read a lot and don't know what's the current status.