FireWire vs. USB performance is mainly up to the system and drive. FireWire is often a little faster due to efficiencies but you would not likely notice it. If it means buying more cables go ahead and stick with USB. If it isn't much more, get a version that allows either. It can be handy.
If you use XP SP2 you almost certainly have 48bit LBA enabled (unless the hardware or BIOS is funky). You can read more about making certain here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;303013
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There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195
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