Firewire Test 1: from PC to external USB Hard Drive
Results: approximately 20 MB/s, or 169 mbps

 

From PC to an External Western Digital 300 BB Hard Drive, via Firewire port (on Audigy 2 ZS card).
A "Cut and Paste" operation from PC Hard Drive to External Hard Drive using Windows XP.
The External WD drive is an ATA-100 drive.

Files:

371 Files, 33 Folders:
13,305,183,589 bytes
12,993,343 KB
12,688 MB
12.3 GB

Transfer Time: 10 minutes 30 secs = 630 seconds

12,993,343 KBs / 630 seconds =
20,624 KB per second or
about 20 MB/s (MegaBytes per second)

13,305,183,589 bytes = 106,441,468,712 bits, so transfer averaged about 168,954,712 bits per second
or 169 mbps (megabits per second).

This is at the low end of the "100 to 400 mbps" listed for FireWire, and (at 20 MB/s) about the same as USB FS (USB FullSpeed; typically 20 - 25 MB/s).

* 1 megabit= one million bits; 1 MegaByte= 1,024 KiloBytes.

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