VMWare handles USB 2.0, as for Firewire I'm not certain... Googling looks like you just mount it in the host OS and mount a new HD in the VM. I'm not certain how the transfer speed or latency would be affected by that. My recommendation, download it and give it a try. If it works good for you, come up with a new clean build and populate that with your must haves and VMWare. Image that, and party on....
-MJ
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