Internal vs External Hard Drives

[Eternally777]

I need an external hard drive that my home network can access and share.

My question is, what type of external hard drive is fastest? Should I buy one that already has an ethernet port on the back? Or is USB 2.0 any faster? How about Firewire 800? What are the speeds of SATA and PATA? Also, any recommendations?

I thought I knew, but I've been thinking about it so long that I've confused myself. Please help.

 

[Crashman]

FireWire seems a bit smoother than USB 2.0, supporting higher sustained transfer rates.

 

[Rob423]

i wouldn't get an external drive for your network to access.

there was a huge article in my latest maximum PC that talked about internal VS External.

Internal WON.

externals advantages were ease of use/installation.. and transportation.

as far as a drive being accessed and things like that. The internal drive won.

 

[Eternally777]

Yeah, I pretty much knew that nothing can yet match the speed of an internal drive.