LaCie 400USB user manual FireWire Questions & Answers, What is FireWire /IEEE 1394?

LaCie d2 DVD±RW Drive	Helpful Technical Information
User Manual	page 26

4.5. FireWire Questions & Answers

■What is FireWire /IEEE 1394?

A serial bus used to connect external computer and consumer electronic devices to computers and consumer electronic consoles.

■What does IEEE 1394 mean?

“1394” is an abbreviation of IEEE 1394, the name given to this highperformance serial bus. IEEE (the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) is the name of the engineering corps that developed this stan- dard. The 1394 refers to the 1,394th standard that the IEEE has produced.

■What is the relationship between IEEE 1394, FireWire, iLink and DV?

These four names all refer to the same interface:

❖IEEE 1394 - the name of the standard, used in the computer industry.

❖FireWire - the brand name used by Apple.

❖iLink - the brand name used by Sony.

❖DV - logo used by video camcorder manufacturers.

FireWire is also a point-to-point interface, mean- ing that a FireWire device can transmit data to another FireWire device without having to go through a com- puter. This lets several computers share a given device, and also allows up to 63 devices to be daisy-chained to the same FireWire bus (with a max of 16 devices on one branch). To daisy-chain, connect your one FireWire drive directly to the computer, then connect another FireWire drive to the first FireWire drive.

■Does my computer have a FireWire port?

All Macs and most recent PCs come with FireWire or i-Link interfaces. If your computer doesn’t include a FireWire interface, an extension card can be purchased from your LaCie reseller or from the LaCie website:

www.lacie.com

■Will my LaCie drive work faster if con- nected to a FireWire 800 port ?

No. Your LaCie drive can be connected to a FireWire 800 port (cable not supplied) but the speeds will remain identical.

■What can the FireWire interface be used for?

With its high data transfer rates, FireWire is a great interface for consumer electronics, like BD, DVD and CD recorders, external hard drives and video devices, such as digital camcorders, because it has an extremely large bandwidth and supports two types of data transfer (anyschronus and isochronous) which help to guarantee the transfer of time-critical data.