Can someone please enlighten me as to what the difference is between USB1, USB2 & Firewire systems/connections?
Are they interchangeable, physically or operating system wise?

 

USB 1 or 1.1 is a 12mb a second (really more like 4.6 in use).

USB 2 has max transfer rate of 480mb a sec and can use both usb1 and 2 devices.

Firewire is similar to usb2 with 480mb a sec transfer but has stutter free bandwidth for digital video etc and is incompatible with both of the above.


Some usb2 devices can work on usb 1 ports - just at a much lower speed.

 

Thanks for the helpful explanation.
Cheers

 

AFAIK you cannot connect a USB1.0 device to a USB2.0 port. Well not on my pc anyway. The USB1 devices are not detected.

Darren

 

Well i've got my PDA, a diskgo pen, and printer all usb1 devices and my computer is only usb2

 

connecting a usb 1 device to a usb2 hub/port might cause problems coz the usb1 device might not have implemented the specs correctly (timings).

i had this with a generic card reader.