Some are designed as Firewire to USB cables. Thus, the most common use case for an adapter is to connect a Firewire device to a USB port.Īdapters are typically dongles, small devices with a short wire that plugs into the USB port and an integrated Firewire port. It is significantly more likely for a computer to have USB ports and potentially Thunderbolt ports than it is to have a Firewire port. USB has enjoyed significantly wider adoption than Firewire. Both technologies support Plug-and-Play and hot-plugging (hot-swappable). If you cannot purchase a Firewire® to USB adapter, using a hub allows you to use devices that are compatible with either technology. The combination hub is actually two separate ports combined into a single form factor for convenience there is no conversion between Firewire® and USB taking place when you use one of these hubs. This type of device has two ports in a single hub, which may be either external or internal one port is used Firewire® and one for USB, allowing either type of device to function. A Firewire® to USB adapter cable for transferring digital video (DV) is available from at least one manufacturer, but it can be expensive and difficult to find.Ī USB cable to the left of two Firewire® cables.Įven if you don't have a Firewire® to USB adapter cable, it doesn't mean that your Firewire® devices are useless if you have a USB port, or vice versa. The two technologies are not integrated, meaning it is not possible to connect a USB device to a Firewire® port directly. Firewire® ( IEEE 1394) and USB (Universal Serial Bus) are two separate high-speed bus technologies that allow multiple devices to be connected to a computer.

Firewire 800 to usb converter