This may not be a linux issue, but I'm not sure what the problem is. The older, slower kind of Firewire is supposed to be able to transfer data at speeds up to 400 mbits per second with the s400 mode, and at slower speeds of 100 and 200 mbits per second. I seem to be on s100, judging by some low tech speed tests that I did. I've got a couple of external hard drives that I use for backups and storage, and sometimes I need to transfer quite a bit of data over my firewire cables, and it takes hours.

Do I just have cheap cables that can't do s400? Can I just switch on the high speed mode somewhere? Could it be that the port on my computer or the external drives just can't use s400?

I can't seem to find the information anywhere, and almost all the help available is for Mac computers, which I don't have (dual booting Ubuntu and XP).

So maybe someone here knows their way around a firewire connection.

Thanks.