Difference Between Firewire 400 and 800

If you own a computer you will surely need cable connectors in order to get your appliances working on your computer. Cable connectors are pretty much a big topic nowadays since, for example, if you are transferring huge amounts of data from an external source to your own computer, you certainly wouldn’t like to wait around 5 hours for it to finish.

The Role of Firewire

The speed at which this data is transferred varies based on a large amount of variables, such as the computer itself, cable length, and so on. The most commonly known type of connection was the USB, which was widely used throughout the world. But, with the coming of Apple, a new type appeared called Firewire. Firewire was developed by Apple itself and it is a little more expensive due to royalties that the company receives on every purchase.

The two most common types of Firewire connectors are Firewire 400 and Firewire 800. One might wonder what the difference between these two is but in fact, it is extremely simple. The difference between these two is simply the speed at which they are able to transfer data. The numbers are referring to Mbps, which means that a Firewire 400 can transfer at the approximate rate of 400 Mbps, and the Firewire 800 connector is twice as fast as this.

As said previously, the speed varies depending on a lot of factors, and the speed of the connectors is certainly not going to be enough to guarantee a speedy transfer. For example, if you computer’s hardware is incapable of handling what a Firewire 800 is, than you won’t be able to transfer at its full capacity.

As opposed to USB drives that need to be connected directly to your computer, Firewire connectors might be connected to one another providing them length whenever you need to the cables to stretch out for a little bit more than what they were supposed to stretch out.

Use of Firewire 400 or 800

Firewire 800 is compatible with peripherals of a Firewire 400, which means that you can connect those peripherals to a port and use your Firewire 800 on a port meant for Firewire 400. These will require adaptors, but they are pretty much inexpensive considering that they will be saving you the trouble of buying a whole brand new computer. For example, some of these adaptors can be found out there on the market for just above $ 10 from renowned brands.

If those brands prove to be too expensive, however, you can search hard for an adaptor that will be at a lower price. As far as we know, it is possible to acquire a Firewire 800 to 400 for just as little as $ 4, which is almost next to nothing.

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