What Is a 4-Pin IEEE 1394 Port?
- The Firewire port on the back of this computer is shaped like a medieval shield.motherboard image by Valentin Mosichev from Fotolia.com
There are three standard types of Firewire connection types. Type 1 has six pins, Type 2 has four pins, and Type B has nine pins. The number of pins each port has doesn't effect its ability to communicate with other ports as long as the connection cable supports the correct number of pins on both sides. - This is a six pin to four pin adapter cable.c?¡éble firewire image by yknups from Fotolia.com
Firewire ports come in different pin counts to create different sized ports. Because of the multiple sizes, a smaller device can use a four pin connection port and still communicate with a larger computer that supports the nine pin type. - USB and Firewire don't play well together.usb 3 image by Bosko Martinovic from Fotolia.com
While Firewire and the USB data transfer standards use similar looking cables and ports, the two operate in completely different methods. Because the two work so differently from each other, there is no quick-and-easy way to adapt a USB device to a Firewire port..