Would there be an advantage to adding a firewire network connection over an ethernet one?

[aka1nas]

My situation: I have all the comps in my house networked into a router for my cable connection. I am putting together a file server, which will go in my room along with my main Rig. the file server will hook up to the router so the other comps can acces it. Both of these comps in my room can have firewire in them. Would it be worth it to get a long firewire cable to link them and have a "dedicated" 400MBit connection between my comp and the server? I will be keeping all my video files on the server and as this server will be containing most of my hard drives, I would like to video edit from my main rig, with the data stored on the server if possible. Also if this is feasable, how long can I get a firewire cable and where are they available?

 

[aka1nas]

bump.

 

[Tallgeese]

Simply info I've found...no personal or professional knowledge of any of this. OS in use on each machine is a HUGE issue in comparing FireWire to GigE

General info (mentions distance limit of 15 feet, cable pricing, IMPORTANT OS limitations, etc.)
FireNet (Mac-centric page, but s/w supports M$ OSs)

HTH, and g/l!

P.S. For the prices quoted, I'd look at a pair of GigE over Copper NICs on special (check AT's "Hot Deals" forum) and a high quality pre-made cable.

 

[aka1nas]

Hmmm. Well I probably need closer to a 25 foot cable for the 2 computers. BTW, Gigabit is way out of my price range. I am currently using 10/100 ethernet and the other computers in the house besides my two are on 802.11b at the moment. For streaming video form one computer to another and maybe video editing, would the extra bandwith of that firewire connection for my computer be worth it?

P.S. Both computer will be running windows XP.

 

[Tallgeese]

Since XP is the OS, and it supports Firewire over IP natively, then FireWire may be the best option to at least try first. I'd get those two machines closer together to get under the max cable length. Honestly, the shorter the cable the better probably.

Transferring LARGE vid files (either pre- or post-edit) will most likely see significant speed improvements over 100TX. Assuming you don't hit another bottleneck (disk channel, most likely) first.

Now you've got me thinkin about my setup...hmmmmm

g/l, and let us know how it goes.

 

[aka1nas]

I will have a RAID 0 array on the server so it should have the I/O capability to fill a firewire pipe. Im gonna have to try that. Thanx for the help.

 

[Z_Amon]

You know, Gigabit ethernet cards can be had for around $50 for copper GigE. That's not a bad price, and probably wouldn't be that much over what the firewire connection would cost you. Then you can just run a crossover cable between the two PCs and get the whole pipe for transfers.

Z.

 

[aka1nas]

I already have firewire cards for the two computers and my router only does 10/100. All I would need is the firewire cable.