FireWire (IEEE1394) Interface

FireWire, also know as i.Link, Lynx or IEEE 1394, is an external bus standard originally developed by Apple that supports data transfer rates of up to 400Mbps in 1394a and 800Mbps in 1394b. FireWire uses serial transmission for data. A FireWire hard drive connects through a PC using a 1394 external port, internal 1394 expansion card or 1394 port built directly into the motherboard. Most motherboard manufacturers have been slow to include FireWire support, favoring USB instead. Therefore, most external PC devices use USB rather than FireWire.

Sixty-three devices can be connected to a single FireWire port. FireWire also supports isochronous data, which makes it useful for devices that need to transfer large amounts of data in real-time.