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The Daily Insight Hub

What is a IEEE 1394 connector used for?

Author

Jackson Reed

Updated on January 25, 2026

On a PC, the IEEE port (called FireWire) is used primarily for connecting audio or video devices to the console. An external scanner or disk drive may also use the IEEE port. Plug any IEEE device into the computer at any time.

What is 6 pin FireWire used for?

Firewire 400 Cables – 3FT 6 Pin to 6 Pin Firewire Cable FireWire cables are commonly used to connect hard drive, camcorders, printers, scanners, and many other devices to computers. This cable includes fully molded connectors for enhanced durability.

Is IEEE 1394 Fast?

The original IEEE 1394 specifications allowed for speeds of 100, 200, and 400 Mbps (million bits per second); IEEE 1394b provides speeds of 800, 1600, and 3200 Mbps. IEEE 1394 is thus a high-speed bus design ideal for high-bandwidth applications like multimedia.

How many types of FireWire are there?

There are two primary versions of the FireWire interface – FireWire 400 (IEEE 1394a) and FireWire 800 (IEEE 1394b). FireWire 400 uses a 6-pin connector and supports data transfer rates of up to 400 Mbps.

Is FireWire 800 a 9 pin?

9-pin connectors are part of a recent improvement to the IEEE-1394 technology, called FireWire 800 (or IEEE-1394b). This type of connector is commonly found on Apple® computers.

Is FireWire dead?

Firewire didn’t die. It’s still in use in many high-end setups, and you can still buy Firewire drives today. But it definitely became a niche product, with even Apple eventually dropping the port from its MacBooks.

Is FireWire 800 a 9-pin?

Does FireWire still exist?

Firewire didn’t die. It’s still in use in many high-end setups, and you can still buy Firewire drives today. But it definitely became a niche product, with even Apple eventually dropping the port from its MacBooks. Thunderbolt currently looks to be heading the same way.

Can I connect FireWire to USB C?

If you have a USB-C audio interface and want to connect it to a Firewire port then there is a USB C to Firewire adaptor also available on Amazon.

Can I connect FireWire to Thunderbolt?

Easily connect your Thunderbolt-equipped Mac to a FireWire device with the Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter. Small and compact, it connects to the Thunderbolt port on your Mac computer, giving you a FireWire 800 port that supplies up to 7W for bus-powered peripherals like hard drives and audio devices.

When did IEEE 1394a 4 pin connector come out?

Modification IEEE 1394a was released in 2000. It standardized the 4 pin connector already widely in use. The 4-pin version is used on many consumer devices such as camcorders, some laptops and other small FireWire devices. It is fully data compatible with 6-pin interfaces. 9-pin FireWire 800 was introduced commercially by Apple Inc. in 2003.

What can you do with an IEEE 1394 cable?

This means that two IEEE-1394 devices can communicate without the use of a computer. For example, video can be dubbed from one DV camcorder to another through the use of an IEEE-1394 connection. More recently, the development of FireWire 800 (IEEE-1394b) arose with the maximum data transfer speed of 800 Mbps.

How is asynchronous data allocated in IEEE 1394?

To support both elements, FireWire dedicates a certain percentage to isochronous data and the rest to asynchronous data. In IEEE 1394, 80% of the bus is reserved for isochronous cycles, leaving asynchronous data with a minimum of 20% of the bus. FireWire uses Data/Strobe encoding (D/S encoding).

What are the bus categories in IEEE 1394-1995?

The IEEE 1394-1995 standard defines two bus categories: backplane and cable. The backplane bus is designed to supplement parallel bus structures by providing an alternate serial communication path between devices plugged into the backplane.