What is a Firewire to USB Adapter?
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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. The two technologies are not integrated, and it is not possible to connect a USB device to a Firewire port either directly or through the use of a Firewire to USB adapter.
However, that doesn't mean that your Firewire devices are useless if you have a USB port, or vice versa. Although a Firewire to USB adapter does not exist, and cannot exist because of differences in the two technologies, several companies do provide dual Firewire/USB hubs. This type of device has two ports in a single hub, which may be either external or internal; one for Firewire and one for USB - allowing either type of device to function. 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.
Another alternative is simply to add two separate cards, assuming your computer has enough available slots. Firewire and USB cards are both coming down in price, and adding whichever one is missing should not represent a major expense.
Both Firewire and USB are efficient, high-speed bus standards. A Firewire hub can support a data transfer rate of up to either 400Mbps or 800Mbps, depending on the standard, and a single Firewire port can connect up to 63 devices and deliver a guaranteed rate of speed to each one. Because of this guarantee, Firewire is often used for devices that require real-time operation such as audio and video systems, and is also used frequently in storage area networks.
USB can connect more devices (up to 127), but supports data transfer rates of only up to 12Mbps. It is more often used for standard peripherals, such as mice, modems, and keyboards. The USB 2.0 standard supports speeds of up to 480Mbps, which makes it more competitive with Firewire.
Although there is no such thing as a Firewire to USB adapter, using a hub allows you to use devices that are compatible with either technology. Both technologies support Plug-and-Play and hot-plugging (hot-swappable).
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New: Discuss this ArticlePosted by: anon15534
I'd like to connect USB 2.0 devices - through whatever miraculous blackbox - to a Firewire port. More and more devices are USB 2.0, but I've got an early G3 Dual USB iBook (yes, this Mac still works fine ... perhaps the last one on the planet) and there's obviously no possibility to upgrade to USB 2.0 (and I'm not planning to spend my coming vacations waiting for 40+GB to be transferred at 1.1 USB's "breathtaking" 12Mbps).
Posted by: anon15305
Firewire to USB for $119, boy oh boy, just buy firewire card only $19 included cable.
what a rip off. Posted by: anon14612
The statement "...it is not possible to connect a USB device to a Firewire port either directly or through the use of a Firewire to USB adapter" is false if we assume the term "adapter" to mean more than a simple cross-wired cable. Several previous posts have correctly outlined how such a conversion could be done. This is also already being done to convert several legacy protocols: Serial->USB (not as simple as one would think and requires chips-on-cable); PATA/SATA->USB; PATA/SATA->Firewire; SCSI->FireWire; etc. Pretty much any USB or Firewire device is already doing similar types of bridging -- Ethernet->USB; WiFi->USB. Unfortunately, as far as i know, no one sells a generic USB->Firewire or Firewire->USB converter -- yet! I'm hoping that at the very least the USB->Firewire video cable mentioned by several above gets Mac OS X and Windows Vista driver support.
Posted by: giffard1
I have a standard USB on my Toshiba Tecra and I want to connect my Sony PCR9E Camcorder and download from the tape so i can edit and copy to CD/DVD. the Camcorder has a USB connector on it but when I attach it to the Laptop it is not recognised. Anyone have any ideas how I can transfer from the digital tape to the laptop? (I have read somewhere about possibly 'Firewire' but not sure how to go about it/hardware to buy etc?
Editor's reply: good question! check out our article, how can i turn my home movies into dvds? for more info!
Posted by: anon13141
"Although there is no such thing as a Firewire to USB adapter ..."
Wrong. I found two -- visit the "usbfirewire" website or google for "USB to FireWire adaptor" and it should be the first hit. It is a small pod with a normal USB-A male connector on one end, and a 4-pin FireWire connector on the other. If you want to hook a FireWire-only DV camcorder up to a computer that only has USB ports, then this is the adaptor you need. Not cheap, and it is limited to Windows XP, but it does work. Posted by: jadio182
I have a laptop that only has two usb ports and i want to download video from my camcorder but it can only be done with a firewire port wich my computer doesn't have I also don't have a slot for a card bus is there any hub that actually works that anyone knows of???
Posted by: rpls
I am using Vista on a new laptop with only usb ports, I would like to connect a firewire from my canon 1d to operate tethered. Please does anyone know if this can be done and if so how, Thank you
Posted by: anon9045
About that post above this one: you can add firewire to your laptop by adding a Laptop FireWire Card, connected in the expansion slot. I found one for my levovo laptop, at the ibm site...quite expensive but worth every penny.
Posted by: anon9043
I also found a usb to firewire cable
Runs about 120, but says it's guaranteed to work. Guess it must...
Posted by: anon8992
Where can i find a dual/usb hub? my laptop doesn't have an express port or a firewire port and thus has no way of getting firewire, however according to this article there are usb/firewire hubs but so far i haven't found any online that does this. ADS DLX-182 Tech Dual Link Hub and the weird LaCie hub were ones i was looking at, however on the bottom of the ADS one it says note: this unit does not convert USB to FireWire or vice versa and i have no clue how the LaCie hubby connects to the computer or if it will connect a firewire device through usb. If anyone knows a device that works can connect a firewire device to my usb port or if anyone knows more about these two devices please respond thanks.
Posted by: dimjaun
I have a cable that has the DV connector on one end and a USB plug on the other. My computer calls this "an unrecognized device". My computer does not have a Firewire port. Am I wasting my time and four dollars trying to use this cable? Is there any way to use a Firewire to USB cable without any additional hardware?
Posted by: anon8214
A USB 2.0 to Firewire adapter does exist. However it only works with Windows XP (does not support Vista of Mac)
Posted by: anon7954
I'm a film student who does a lot of editing and I'm even looking into concentrating solely on editing. I have a Lacie external hard drive, but is unfortunately a USB connection. I'd really like to know if there's any way a duel USB/Firewire would allow my hard drive to connect to a computer via firewire. thanks!
Posted by: fillic
There is a firewire to USB (2) connector. You can get one made specifically for cameras and camcorders. It's quite steep but it's better than logging around my dock with my Sony UX ultra mini computer. I'm going to try it tonight if I can capture in real time from the camera to the computer with DVSPLIT. Hope me luck.
Posted by: olittlewood
craig,
have you tried using a card reader? you can pick one up fairly easily and inexpensively, and some are adaptable to read several different types of memory. i had to buy one when my built in computer card reader stopped working, and my usb cable on my camera gave out. it works great! Posted by: craig
i have a pc with only usb 2.o ports and camera with only firewire 400. is there a solution?
Posted by: anon6660
I got an external hard drive on usb, with movies on it, and i got a tv with a firewire input, how would somebody connect the hard drive to the tv?
Posted by: anon6218
Hello, why are sites selling USB to 6 Pin FireWire converters if they are completely different technology, and it couldn't possibly work?
Posted by: anon3725
You say firewire and usb are two different technologies!? How come some sites are selling adapters from firewire(4&6 pin) to usb?
Posted by: anon3593
We're trying to import video from the Sony DCR-TRV19 Handycam onto a Mac. Unfortunately, it's not being recognized as a drive. It supposedly works on the camera owner's Mac at home, and did not need any separate software or drivers. I didn't find any Mac drivers for this device anyway when I searched. The owner seems to think the problem is due to the camera needing a firewire cable to import, but the socket is clearly for a USB cable and is marked as such. The owner believes he used a firewire cable to import before and that we need a "USB to firewire" cable. This article claims that no such thing exists, so...can anybody else offer any ideas on what the problem might be?
Posted by: anon3271
I have an imac flat screen, the usb ports have been damaged so only the firewire port works, the machine is unusable, can't connect the keyboard or mouse, any suggestions?
Posted by: anon2505
I have an old iMac, a similar problem to the one above. I have a TV device which requires a USB 2.0 port and I only have Firewire 400 ports and USB 1.1 ports. I need a cable or a hub that will allow me to plug the TV device into it and I need the hub/adapter to plug into my Firewire 400 port. Is there anything out there??
Posted by: anon2225
The best way i can think to bridge a firewire to a usb device would be to get the chipset for both a firewire and a usb port and put a piece of flash memory in the middle so that one device can store to the flash memory and the other can read from it, the flash memory will just have to have multiple inputs and outputs on it.
Posted by: anon2151
I would like to connect my 16GB flash memory drive to my iMac. The drive is USB 2.0 of course, and my iMac's USB ports are SLOW (USB 1.1). My iMac has a nice juicy Firewire connection (fast) that I would love to plug my 16GB drive into.
Obviously just converting the connection form factors is not sufficient as Firewire and USB protocols are completely different, plus the data rates are different. However, there is no question that such a conversion can be done by means of a "bridge" acting as a broker between the Firewire and USB connections. The broker basically "translates" between the 2 different protocols and does some buffering. This is what the "movibox" mentioned above is doing.
I have searched for an external device that can act as such a bridge/broker but with no success. Adding a fast USB port to my iMac is not an option; all of it's slots are full. If anyone runs across such a device please post the info here! I'm tempted to build one and sell it as it appears no one is serving this need. Posted by: anon1380
I have a PCMCIA firewire card that allows me to add firewire capabilities to my laptop via the PCMCIA slot.
I also have a PC that does not have a firewire port. The PC has USB 2.0 running WinXP. My question here is can I buy a USB PCMCIA card adapter which I can fix on my PC and use my PCMCIA firewire card with it? Posted by: razavi
I have recently bought a laptop which has 3 usb port but no firewire port. What should I do to be able to connect my Digital Video Camera to my laptop?
Posted by: anon1242
In the light of the above,......how does a pinnacle moviebox work.....the output is usb2.0 and the input either analogue video or ilink / firewire / mini-dv using a six pin firewire connection directly to 4 pin dv out from a camcorder. dv in and out are supported and the computer 'sees' the camera which can be controlled from the pc console.... that must be converting something ??????
Posted by: anon1090
I don't really know anything about lingo or computers.... but how do I install a "firewire" if I want to take pictures with my camera phone and then download them onto my computer (I don't have a Mac)???
Posted by: grover
Is it possible to use an external hard drive to 'convert' from Firewire to USB i.e. download from my camera to my external HD using Firewire and then upload to my computer using USB?
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