Q: How do I know which cable I need?
A: There are several types of cables available from Firewire Depot.

6-pin to 6-pin cable. This cable draws power from the FireWire bus and is most commonly used for connecting to devices such as FireWire Hard Drives, FireWire CD-RWs and other 1394 computer peripherals.

6-pin to 4-pin cable. This cable does NOT draw power from the FireWire bus it is connected to and is usually used to connect to DV Cameras or other self powered devices.

15-pin to 6-pin adapter. Used to connect to a PCMCIA Cardbus card. The other end of the cable is a standard 6-pin (male) connector for connecting to typical FireWire devices including hard drives and other storage peripherals. Cardbus cards DO NOT provide power to FireWire devices.

15-pin to 4-pin adapter. Used to connect to a PCMCIA Cardbus card. The other end of the cable is a standard 4-pin (male) connector, most often used to connect to a video camera. Cardbus cards DO NOT provide power to FireWire devices.

 

Q: What is the maximum length a FireWire cable can be?
A: The maximum cable length for connecting device to device is 4.5-meters (14.85ft). A 10 meter (32ft) cable may be used in conjunction with a hub/repeater when it is necessary to extend FireWire cables over long distances. You must however have a hub/repeater for every 10 meters (32ft) of FireWire cable.