FireWire 800 vs USB 3?

Firewire is faster. Especially for video editing. It doesn't require the CPU cycles to transfer data.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1384454

See what you make of this http://www.macworld.com/article/2039427/how-fast-is-usb-3-0-really-.html

If you have the capability to use Firewire 400 then it will increase your performance at least 2 to 3 times faster than USB-3. Firewire 800 will increase that 6 to 8 times faster than USB-3. So if you are doing Video Editing and have Firewire 800 it will be more than enough for anything you want to do.

Cheers

Don

Don, the Macworld link I posted above indicates different......very different. Their video testing indicates that USB 3.0 is twice as fast as FireWire 800 when working with video.

You're correct - USB 3 is faster than any Firewire. But I do not know if it is recommended for video - haven't looked into that since my iMac does not have USB 3 (and that is the machine I do my video work on).

I've always used FireWire for video also. I had to read the Macworld article twice to make sure I understood what it was saying. My understanding has always been that USB speeds were rated in short bursts but that FireWire was sustained speed. The Macworld article specifically tested with a 2gb video file and said USB 3 was faster.

I read through that article again - interesting how much faster USB 3 is vs. FW 800 - I knew it was quite a bit faster, but didn't expect that much difference! This article is a really good resource. Also interesting to note the differences of the various methods on a regular HD vs. an SSD - obviously, the SSD is faster, but why would there be such a difference when comparing the same connection?

The 2 GB video might be faster via USB 3 (than Thunderbolt), but I'm wondering what the speed would be (and how reliable it would be) with a "realistic" 50 - 100 GB video - when I'm in the middle of a project, I regularly amass 150+ GB of files which may stress out the USB connection?

In my experience Firewire 800 is better allround both for video editing though Premier Pro CC 2014 to a 4TB G-Drive and copying, the speed difference is quite significant on the Mac I am using:

Mac Pro (Early 2009)

2.93 GHz Quad Core Intel Xeon
16GB 1066 MHz DDR3

NIVIDEA GeForce GT 120 512MB

Whether this relates the same with a newer model I couldn't say.

I have to admit this surprises me as I was always led to believe that USB 3.0 was faster in copying, but that's not the case for me.

http://store.apple.com/us/question/answers/product/MD464ZM/A/what-transfer-speed s-would-i-expect-using-this-adapter/QTCFUTTKTCY9FF9UT