FireWire 1394 is a technology for transferring large amounts of data between devices. It is also known as FireWire 400, with a transfer speed of up to 400 Mbit/s. The cable and port are both described by the IEEE 1394 standard, which has evolved from a six-circuit to a four-circuit device. The cable length cannot exceed 15 feet, but up to 16 cables can be bundled together. FireWire 800 is available with faster transfer speeds, and two more standards are planned.
FireWire® 1394, officially known as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1394, is a type of technology that allows users to transfer large amounts of computer data between devices. FireWire® 1394 is also called FireWire® 400, because this cable is capable of transferring up to 400 megabits per second (Mbit/s), although this speed may not be constant. IEEE 1394 is used to describe both the cable and the port, which started out as a six-circuit device but has evolved into a four-circuit device. As a standard, the IEEE 1394 length is 15 feet (about 4.5 meters), but up to 16 cables can be bundled together to increase the length. There were some improvements to the 1394 design, and as of 2011, FireWire® 800 was released and two more standards are planned.
Most consumers refer to FireWire® 1394 as FireWire® 400, reflecting the transfer speed of the cable. Many devices are capable of maintaining this constant speed, but some older devices may have slower transfer speeds of around 100 to 200 Mbit/s. While this cable can be used to transfer small items, it is most commonly used to transfer large files such as an entire hard drive, games and movie files.
The FireWire® 1394 standard is used to describe both the cable, which performs data transfer, and the port that connects the cable between two or more devices. When the IEEE 1394 standard was first created in 1995, the cable head and port had a six-circuit connector. Later the four circuit connector was invented; it’s considerably smaller than the six-circuit, but there’s little difference in performance.
As a standard, the length of the 1394 FireWire® cable cannot exceed 15 feet (about 4.5 meters). To increase this length, users connect one cable to another a lot until the desired length is reached. Only 16 cables can be used at the same time, otherwise the data will not transfer properly.
Several improvements have been made to the original FireWire® 1394 design to create faster transfer speeds. FireWire® 800 is commercially available and can support transfer speeds up to 800 Mbit/s. The FireWire® S1600 and S3200, under development starting October 2011, are expected to be capable of transferring 1.6 gigabits per second (Gbit/s) and 3.2 Gbit/s, respectively. We’ve also made minor improvements that don’t increase transfer speed, but improve data streaming and reduce the amount of power required to transfer data.
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