FireWire® connectors are identified by pin number and physical shape. FireWire® 400 and 800 have different pin numbers and transfer rates, with FireWire® 800 having a square connector. All versions of FireWire® are compatible with adapters and cables, but different connectors may not be directly compatible. FireWire® 400 uses four or six pin alpha connectors, while FireWire® 800 uses nine pin beta connectors. There are also proprietary connector types, such as IEEE 1394c, which combines Ethernet and IEEE 1394c connections.
The different types of FireWire® connectors can be identified by the number of pins they have, although a few different physical shapes are also used. Two of the common versions of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1394 standard are FireWire® 400 and 800. The numbers mostly refer to transfer rates, but each standard also uses a different number of pins. FireWire® 800 also uses a connector type that is fundamentally different from the others, as it is more square in shape whereas earlier types were flat with a notch or pointed end. Some FireWire® connectors use different configurations, although they are less common.
Each version of the FireWire® standard uses a unique number of pins, offers varying transfer speeds, and in some cases even uses differently shaped connectors. These different connectors are not always directly compatible with each other, due to the different configurations, sizes and physical shapes of the pins. However, all versions of the FireWire® standard are compatible, which means that different FireWire® connectors can be connected using a variety of adapters and cables.
When FireWire® was first introduced, the connectors used four pins. This version of the standard is called FireWire® 400 and uses the smallest connector of all the different versions of the standard. A variation on this type of connector uses six pins instead, although the additional connections only supply power to external devices and offer no additional transfer speed. Both the 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 generally known as a beta connector. This connector uses nine pins and is physically larger than the four or six pin versions. Beta connectors are used with FireWire® 800 devices, although they are backwards compatible with the correct adapters. When a FireWire® 800 device designed to use a beta connector is plugged into a FireWire® 400 device or port, performance and transfer speeds typically suffer.
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 designed to use a traditional Ethernet connector and twisted-pair cable. This version of the standard allows a port to function as both an Ethernet connection and an IEEE 1394c connection simultaneously.
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