Fire wire and USB the same?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ritter197
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Ritter197

I have an external drive enclosure that came with a firewire which fits into
any USB opening. BUT it is not beeing detected there.

Is Firewire something special that needs something other than a "normal" 2.0
USB port?

The external unit is on, I can feel the disk inside turning, but cannot
detect it anywhere on the computer. I tried dieerent USB ports and the
computer is new, running Windows XP, SP 2 and I see no exclamation marks
anywhere in the Device manager either.
 
Ritter197 said:
I have an external drive enclosure that came with a firewire which fits
into any USB opening. BUT it is not beeing detected there.

Is Firewire something special that needs something other than a "normal"
2.0 USB port?

The external unit is on, I can feel the disk inside turning, but cannot
detect it anywhere on the computer. I tried dieerent USB ports and the
computer is new, running Windows XP, SP 2 and I see no exclamation marks
anywhere in the Device manager either.
Click to expand...

See: http://www.coolnerds.com/Newbies/Ports/ports.htm

I'm surprised you're able to plug in a FireWire plug to a USB port.

The link above points out that FireWire ports on PCs are fairly uncommon
unless requested.

Craig
 
Firewire (or 1394) is an entirely different interface than USB and not
interchangeable. I can't understand how you plugged a firewire cable into a
USB port, hopefully you didn't fry anything.
 
Ritter197 said:
I have an external drive enclosure that came with a firewire which fits
into any USB opening. BUT it is not beeing detected there.

Is Firewire something special that needs something other than a "normal"
2.0 USB port?

The external unit is on, I can feel the disk inside turning, but cannot
detect it anywhere on the computer. I tried dieerent USB ports and the
computer is new, running Windows XP, SP 2 and I see no exclamation marks
anywhere in the Device manager either.
Click to expand...


FireWire connectors do not fit into USB connectors. They are different
sizes and shapes. FireWire does require FireWire ports, and most PCs do
not come with fullsize FireWire Ports.

If you've somehow managed to connect a FireWire device to a USB port,
there's a possibility it is now damaged and will require replacement.
FireWire has a tendency to be a little delicate electrically and it's not
difficult to burn out the ports.

If you've put the drive in the enclosure yourself, and the drive isn't
detected and it it is simply a USB2 enclosure, you may simply have the drive
jumpers set incorrectly. Most, but not all, use the Master jumper setting.

HTH
-pk
 
Ritter197 said:
I have an external drive enclosure that came with a firewire which
fits into any USB opening.
Click to expand...


Not possible, unless you somehow forced it (in which case it's likely that
you broke something). USB and firewire are two different types of
connectors.

BUT it is not beeing detected there.
Click to expand...


Of course not.

Is Firewire something special that needs something other than a
"normal" 2.0 USB port?
Click to expand...


Certainly. It's not a matter of its being a "normal" 2.0 USB port, it's a
matter of its being a USB port. This is like plugging a telephone line into
a network card. They are two different things. If think firewire is a type
of USB, that's completely wrong.

The external unit is on, I can feel the disk inside turning, but
cannot detect it anywhere on the computer.
Click to expand...


Nope. It would be very strange if you did.

I tried dieerent USB ports
Click to expand...


I hope you didn't break them all doing this.
 
<snip>

Close call in performance, between Firewire and USB2. Firewire is from
the days of USB1.

Firewire was far better than USB1, but firewire didn't sell as well.

It's a rerun of the betamax problem.

But one difference is with comptuers, you can have firwire and usb. You
should have USB these days! (with betamax or vhs i guess you were stuck
with betamax or vhs)

So you're saved from that problem . But then you're only limited in
that your firewire device only goes into your comp with the firewire
port. To get aroudn that you'd have to add a port. There are PCI cards
with firwire ports.
 
<snip>

Close call in performance, between Firewire and USB2. Firewire is from
the days of USB1.

Firewire was far better than USB1, but firewire didn't sell as well.

It's a rerun of the betamax problem.
Click to expand...

Not really. There is one very distinct application difference. That is the
ability of FireWire to handle a number of devices in a chain. With
FireWire, one port is all you'll ever need.

While USB 2.0 has a max transfer rate of 480Mbps, you'll almost never
achieve that speed. The advertising of this mythical maximum helped push
USB 2.0 sales past FireWire sales. You'll usually get better speed from a
FireWire device.

~e.
 
visions said:
Not really. There is one very distinct application difference. That is the
ability of FireWire to handle a number of devices in a chain. With
FireWire, one port is all you'll ever need.
Click to expand...

You mean 127 USB vs 63 Firewire?
 
Firewire and USB are completely different; unrelated. They use different
connectors and different cables.
 
I have an external drive enclosure that came with a firewire which fits into
any USB opening. BUT it is not beeing detected there.
Click to expand...

Some external drive enclosures use a cable to the USB port
only to get power for the drive, in case the firewire port
isn't powered. Others have a USB port that is as expected,
to transfer data over USB. In this latter case, you might
even use two USB plugs on your computer if you plugged two
(or a combined purpose) cable in.

Look at the specs on your enclosure to confirm it claims a
USB interface instead of only a USB power source (when USB
power source, most commonly the cable terminates in a round,
"barrel" plug, instead of USB or firewire plug, but it's not
manditorily a round plug.
Is Firewire something special that needs something other than a "normal" 2.0
USB port?
Click to expand...

A USB plug will not fit in a firewire socket. The other
posters were kidding about a hammer or forcing it in, it is
different enough you wouldn't accidentally plug a USB plug
into a firewire socket.

Firewire is different than USB, less common on PCs (though
yours could have firewire, "less common" doesn't quite mean
it's rare either.

The majority of external enclosures do support USB data
transfers, it is more common to have a firewire data port in
addition to USB these days, than instead of USB. However,
it's not impossible and we can't see your enclosure or it's
spec sheet. You might link the product manual, spec sheet,
or a good picture of the back socket area if you can't
figure out what you have.

The external unit is on, I can feel the disk inside turning, but cannot
detect it anywhere on the computer. I tried dieerent USB ports and the
computer is new, running Windows XP, SP 2 and I see no exclamation marks
anywhere in the Device manager either.
Click to expand...

If the disk is not partitioned or formatted yet, you won't
see it in My Computer, but should in Disk Management.

It could be that it's in a category in Device Manager but
you'd have to expand that category to see it's listing?
Unless you've changed Windows' default settings, you should
also have a removable device icon in your system tray after
connecting it. If not connecting immediately, try
unplugging it for a dozen seconds or so then replugging- and
in a different USB port if there's any chance that port
might have a problem. Generally the rear motherboard ports
are the best to try first.

I assume you do have other USB peripherals that work from
the USB port you'll try.

If none of the above resolves your issue then we may need
more information to address what was posted above or
anything else that comes to mind.
 
Not really. There is one very distinct application difference. That is the ability of FireWire
to handle a number of devices in a chain. With FireWire, one port is all you'll ever need.
Click to expand...

You can also network with firewire and cant with basic USB2.
While USB 2.0 has a max transfer rate of 480Mbps, you'll almost never achieve that speed. The
advertising of this mythical maximum helped push USB 2.0 sales past FireWire sales.
Click to expand...

Nope, the real reason is that most PCs come with USB and dont with firewire.
You'll usually get better speed from a FireWire device.
Click to expand...

Yes, but the difference isnt huge.
 
Bob I said:
You mean 127 USB vs 63 Firewire?
Click to expand...

You're missing the point. The intention of the FireWire design was to have
all your devices in one chain going to one port. That was the original
concept. The idea being less plugs on the computer end.

How many USB devices do you have that also have a USB port on them? Nearly
all FireWire devices are manufactured that way, while nearly no USB devices
are manufactured that way. The "many devices on one port" idea was never a
big part of the USB concept.

127 devices is another one of those *mythical specs* along with max USB
transfer speed. If you had 127 devices, and were able to get them all to
work (especially on a windows machine) without your machine puking and
everything slowing to a crawl I would be very, very impressed. Putting 127
devices on one host controller would be a disaster. It's a truly
meaningless mythical spec.

So yeah 127 > 63. Thank you Dr.Obvious.

~e.
 
Rod said:
You can also network with firewire and cant with basic USB2.
Click to expand...

not sure what you mean by basic. Are there advanced ones with ethernet?

regarding LAN networking 'or' connecting to the internet with a router,
the workaround for USB2 , is a USB-Ethernet Adaptor.

For just 2 computers you can use a special usb cable. prob called a USB
[file/data] transfer cable.

<snip>
 
visions said:
You're missing the point. The intention of the FireWire design was to have
all your devices in one chain going to one port. That was the original
concept. The idea being less plugs on the computer end.

How many USB devices do you have that also have a USB port on them? Nearly
all FireWire devices are manufactured that way, while nearly no USB devices
are manufactured that way. The "many devices on one port" idea was never a
big part of the USB concept.
Click to expand...

Actually That WAS part of the original IDEA, and so early PC's only had
1 or 2 ports as the IDEA was the devices would be chained. BUT left to
the device manufacturers, not putting a port in their device makes it
cheaper to produce. So before you dismiss something out of hand, well I
think you get the idea. Suffice it to say, one method is quite popular
and the other isn't.
 
One other reason why Firewire did not sell well is the fact that it was
largely developed by Apple. Apple was promoting it mainly for their Macs and
charged a "royalty" fee for PC makers.
 
Bob I said:
Actually That WAS part of the original IDEA, and so early PC's only had 1
or 2 ports as the IDEA was the devices would be chained. BUT left to the
device manufacturers, not putting a port in their device makes it cheaper
to produce. So before you dismiss something out of hand, well I think you
get the idea. Suffice it to say, one method is quite popular and the other
isn't.
Click to expand...


I'd still like to see 127 devices on one host controller. I think that'd
make a great youtube video. Everyone brings all their devices and hubs.
Plug them in, fire it up, and watch what happens!

~e.
 
visions said:
I'd still like to see 127 devices on one host controller. I think that'd
make a great youtube video. Everyone brings all their devices and hubs.
Plug them in, fire it up, and watch what happens!

~e.
Click to expand...

Yes, 127 devices in a heap all blinking and flashing would certainly
make for an interesting video.
 
(e-mail address removed) wrote
Rod Speed wrote
Click to expand...
not sure what you mean by basic.
Click to expand...

You can get a device with USB2 on each end which can be
used to network two PCs. Thats nothing like basic USB tho.
Are there advanced ones with ethernet?
Click to expand...

You can certainly get USB/ethernet converters and those
are pretty common with cable and adsl modems etc.
regarding LAN networking 'or' connecting to the internet with a
router, the workaround for USB2 , is a USB-Ethernet Adaptor.
Click to expand...

Yes, but you dont need anything with firewire, just
connect them together with a normal firewire cable.
For just 2 computers you can use a special usb
cable. prob called a USB [file/data] transfer cable.
Click to expand...

Yes, that is what I meant with the cryptic comment about basic USB.
 
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