FireWire 400

[Magnum]

I have a 4-conductor alpha FireWire 400 connector on my laptop.

Is that useful for anything ?

The system is commonly used to connect data storage devices and DV (digital video) cameras, but is also popular in industrial systems for machine vision and professional audio systems. It is preferred over the more common USB for its greater effective speed and power distribution capabilities.[citation needed] Perhaps more important, FireWire uses all SCSI capabilities and has high sustained data transfer rates, important for audio and video editors. Benchmarks show that the sustained data transfer rates are higher for FireWire than for USB 2.0, but lower than USB 3.0.

[dedndave]

for a brief time, firewire was promising (aka IEEE-1394)
but, it seems that USB 2 and USB 3 are faster
you may still come across peripherals that use firewire

[FORTRANS]

Hi,

   My small Sony laptop uses FireWire to attach to its DVD player.

Cheers,

Steve N.

[Gunther]

Andy,

FireWire isn't bad and under active development.

Gunther

[Magnum]

for a brief time, firewire was promising (aka IEEE-1394)
but, it seems that USB 2 and USB 3 are faster
you may still come across peripherals that use firewire

True for USB which I don't have, but not true for USB 2.0

Benchmarks show that the sustained data transfer rates are higher for FireWire than for USB 2.0, but lower than USB 3.0.

[Magnum]

Looking for a cable to connect these.

[dedndave]

ummm - no
the second one looks like Ethernet

[FORTRANS]

Hi,

   Just buy a FireWire configured hard drive.

Steve

[Tedd]

Looking for a cable to connect these.

The left is a "USB 3 Micro-B" connector; the right is "FireWire 400 4-circuit alpha".
They are entirely different connectors that speak entirely different languages.

An equivalent request would be "can I get a cable to connect my toaster to my fridge?"

[Magnum]

I just ordered this.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/400664099498

It uses my express card slot to give me 2 USB 3.0 ports.

It should give up to 10X faster data transfers.