The different kinds of FireWire® connectors can be identified by the number of pins that they have, though a few different physical shapes are used as well. Two of the common versions of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1394 standard are FireWire® 400 and 800. The numbers refer primarily to transfer speeds, but each standard also uses a different number of pins. FireWire® 800 also uses a connector type that is substantially different from the others, as it is more square in shape while the previous types were flat with a notch or a pointed end. Some FireWire® connectors use different configurations, though they are less common.

1. FireWire cable uses a specialized copper cable which can be up to 15 feet long in most common implementations. It moves data at 400 Mbps in its basic form. The newest IEEE-1394b advancement, FireWire 800, moves data at twice that speed. FireWire cables are incredibly versatile when it comes to supporting multiple connector types.
2. Jan 05, 2016 USB port can be used to transfer data, act as an interface for peripherals and even act as power supply for devices connected to it. There are three kinds of USB ports: Type A, Type B or mini USB and Micro USB. USB Type-A port is a 4 pin connector. There are different versions of Type – A USB ports: USB 1.1, USB 2.0 and USB 3.0.

FireWire features simple plug-in connectors using thin serial cables that can be hot-plugged without interfering with your system’s operation. FireWire connectors are based on the Nintendo Game Boy connector. The copper cable it uses in its most common implementation can be up to 15 ft long.

Each version of the FireWire® standard uses a unique number of pins, offers varying transfer speeds, and in some cases also makes use of connectors that are shaped differently. These different connectors are not always directly compatible with each other, due to the differing pin configurations, sizes, and physical shapes. All of the versions of the FireWire® standard are compatible though, which means it is possible to bridge different FireWire® connectors using a variety of adapters and cables.

When FireWire® was first introduced, the connectors used four pins. This version of the standard is referred to as FireWire® 400, and it uses the smallest connector out of all the different versions of the standard. A variation on this connector type uses six pins instead, though the additional connections only provide power to external devices, and do not offer additional transfer speed. Both four and six-pin FireWire® connectors are referred to as alpha connectors, and the six-pin version is substantially larger.

The third type of FireWire® connector is typically known as a beta connector. This connector uses nine pins and is physically larger than either the four or six-pin versions. Beta connectors are used with FireWire® 800 devices, though they are backward compatible with the correct adapters. When a FireWire® 800 device that is designed to use a beta connector is plugged into a FireWire® 400 device or port, performance and transfer speeds will typically suffer.

1394 Firewire Port

There are a few other types of FireWire® connectors, including proprietary connector types that use different versions of the IEEE 1394 standard. One example is IEEE 1394c, which is a variation of the specification that is designed to use a traditional Ethernet connector and twisted pair cable. This version of the standard allows one port to function as both an Ethernet connection and an IEEE 1394c connection at the same time.