hi,
first of all, you have not indicated:
- derivative used;
- port (its type) used;
- mode of port (just output, alternative function, external memory access, etc).

You must know:
- there are different variants of 8051s with different output port implementations (3 pFETs, complementary push/pull, selectable pull_up/open_drain; there are even derivatives which allow to select output current via their pins);
- even standard 8051 has at least two ports types (you know, P0 is open_drain one);
- some 8051s may have different modes for each port. For example, it is possible that during usage of alternative function, pin comes to open_drain state or even from input to output mode (RX pin during transmit under UART mode 0).

So, what is the task you need?

BTW, about "unconfortable" pins of 244. It is the reason why I use 245 even on not bi_directional bus. As well, I may suggest registers: 574 as flip-flop buffer; 573 as latch buffer.

Regards,
Oleg