Is S400 same as firewire?

I have the TZ series laptop. It has a S400 port. I also have a Sony external DVD/RW optical drive that only has an S400 port (the optical drive was meant for the UX series per the Sony website). I understand that it's almost the same as firewire1394, but you need to hook up devices that are powered (which is fine since my external optical drive has it's own AC plug).

Can I just buy a regular firewire 1394 cable or do I need a special S400 cable from Sony to hook up the DVD to my TZ?

 

You'd just need a Firewire cable that matches both ends-your computer and your optical drive. i.e. a Firewire cable with 4-pin and 4-pin, or 4-pin and 6-pin, or whatever the case may be.

 

iLink S400 ports in VAIO Laptops are Firewire 400 without +5v power.

 

Sony almost always call their 1394/Firewire "i.LINK". It's the same thing -- Sony just likes to confuse people.

S400 denotes the max speed.
1394a usually supports S400, and 1394b usually supports S800.

 

do you know if the Z has a S400 or S800 port? The sonystyle page just says 1394, not 'a' or 'b'.

 

The port is a small 4-circuit one, which is compatible with the bigger 6-circuit one except for not delivering power.

The speed is S400 (with fallback to S200 and S100).

You'll be able to use pretty much any Firewire S400 capable device on it, as long as it's self-powered.

What will not work are S800-only 9-pin "beta plug" devices. Those are few and far between. Apple shot themselves in the foot by creating an incompatible connector -- it was not embraced by the industry. So pretty much anything you'd be likely to encounter will be S400 compatible -- if it comes with a 6-pin "big" plug, just switch out the cable or use a converter plug.