USB and FireWire are competing data transfer standards with their own advantages and disadvantages. FireWire was originally designed for high-speed internal data transfer and later submitted to IEEE for external devices. FireWire provides more power and higher throughput, making it suitable for power-hungry devices. FireWire is better for camcorders and external hard drives, while USB is good for low-power devices like keyboards and mice. Both standards are hot-swappable and have a place in today’s interconnected devices.
USB and FireWire® are competing standards for data transfer ports on computers and digital devices. Each uses a proprietary architecture and has advantages and disadvantages. Understanding the finer points can help consumers choose which types of products to buy. In most cases the result is using some devices with USB ports and others with FireWire®.
USB and FireWire® come from two separate camps: USB from the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) and FireWire® originated with Apple Computer, although the specification was contributed by major companies such as Sony, Texas Instruments and IBM.
Apple engineers first designed FireWire® in the 1980s as an internal technology for high-speed data transfer in hard drives. Realizing its potential for external devices, Apple submitted the FireWire® specification to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In December 1995, FireWire® was officially released as an IEEE 1394 specification, with speeds ranging from 100 mbps to 400 mbps. Apple has begun incorporating FireWire® connectivity into its Macintosh line, and Sony has begun implementing FireWire® (called i.LINK) in its camcorders.
The first USB 1.0 specification was released in 1996, with USB 1.1 following a couple of years later. Today we use USB 2.0, a faster specification with a maximum throughput of 480 megabits per second (mbps). While faster than “FireWire® 400,” the architecture that drives USB consumes more overhead, making competing standards stricter than meets the eye. FireWire® 400 is actually faster than USB 2.0 in some applications.
Another significant difference between USB and FireWire® is that USB only supplies 3 volts of power to connected devices from the USB port. In a daisy chain or unpowered USB hub, the power decreases accordingly. Put simply, this makes USB a low-power specification that is good for driving low-power, low-bandwidth devices such as keyboards, mice, memory sticks, and general purpose MP3 players. The iPod, on the other hand, requires the USB connector to be plugged directly into a motherboard’s USB port or powered hub. Cameras equipped with a USB interface also have this requirement.
This is where FireWire® shines. FireWire® 400 provides 30 volts of power and higher throughput, making it more suitable for power-hungry, high-bandwidth devices. Additionally, a specification released in April 2002 called IEEE 1394b or FireWire® 800 boasts transfer speeds of up to 3.2 gigabits per second. Between USB and FireWire®, FireWire® is clearly the better choice for camcorders and products like external hard drives.
Many digital video recorders also have a Digital Video DV port or FireWire® connectivity. FireWire® establishes peer-to-peer connections between devices, allowing a camera to transfer data “without a computer”. FireWire® can also be used to control a device, such as sending commands for rewind, fast forward, and so on.
FireWire® 400 uses a 6-pin cable and, as mentioned earlier, can deliver up to 30 volts or 45 watts of power. FireWire® 800 uses a 9-pin cable, and FireWire® S800T, or “IEEE 1394c” released in July 2007, can use fiber optic cable similar to Ethernet.
Both USB and FireWire® have made computing and digital electronics much more convenient for users. Both types of interfaces are hot-swappable and both have a place in today’s world of interoperable and interconnected devices.
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