What is the difference between "Firewire" and "USB"?

What is the difference between "Firewire" and "USB"?

Ian Urquhart (Lead Developer, E-Haus, LLC.) gives expert video advice on: What is the difference between "Firewire" and "USB"?; What is a "Personal Computer Memory Card Interface Association" (PCMCIA) slot?; What is an "ethernet" cable? and more...

If you take a look at the back of your computer, you'll see that there are a lot of holes there to connect different kinds of components. These holes are called ports, and one of them is called a USB. USB is used to connect the most common peripherals to your computer, such as keyboards, mice, printers and scanners - all the most common things that you can think of to plug into your computer. The other type of port is called a Firewire port. You would use this when transferring large amounts of data to your computer, such as video from your video camera. You also use a firewire port if you're transferring large amounts of data to a backup hard drive that you want to attach.