USB and FireWire, authoritatively called IEEE 1394, are standard interfaces utilized on PCs. As IEEE 1394 firstly presented a speed benefit, USB has turn into default standard as almost every PC today, despite platform, has many USB ports. USB is generally utilized for attaching keyboard and mouse to PC; though, many peripherals are USB well-suited, containing printers, scanners, flash drives, exterior hard drives, MP3 players, and Webcams and Bluetooth adapters, among others.

History

1. USB introduced in 1996, and gave tech industry capability to have a standardized interface for peripherals. As original USB specs had a data transfer rate of a mere 12 Mbit/s, USB 2.0 increases transfer rate to 480 Mbit/s. FireWire was really visualized by Apple in 1980s as successor to parallel SCSI bus, and was finalized in 1995.

Types

2. USB and USB 2.0 devices have equal connectors, and interface has not modified as its inception. On other hand, there are some various ranges of FireWire, namely standard 6-pin connector with new 9-pin connector. Both FireWire and USB 2.0 have successfully changed many ports that were standard on PCs, containing SCSI, parallel, Apple ADB and 6-pin DIN connectors, along with many other lesser-used connectors.

Identification

3. Both USB 2.0 and FireWire devices aspect a typical logo: USB 2.0 utilizes a red and blue logo resembling a USB plug, as FireWire utilizes a yellow "Y" icon. Few FireWire devices feature both 400 and 800 ports, as others just have either 400 or 800, not both.

Considerations

4. Main benefit FireWire has over USB and USB 2.0 is its capability to "daisy chain" devices, specifically exterior drives. USB devices require to be attached straight to PC, but FireWire devices can be attached to other devices, much in similar way SCSI devices could be attached. Unlike SCSI, every FireWire device does not need particular number, and there is no limit to number of FireWire devices you can have attached.

Potential

5. Advances are being created on both USB and FireWire protocols, containing USB 3.0 along with FireWire S1600. Though, as of late 2009, devices using either of these protocols are not commercially available.

Expert Insight

6. In spite of actuality that USB is everywhere, there still is demand for FireWire devices, mainly by Macintosh users. As there are third-party IEEE 1394 cards accessible for Windows machines, many PC users prevent IEEE 1394 devices overall and stick with USB for any attached devices.