#FW8USB2-E (now obsolete) had two external FireWire 800 ports and two USB 2.0 ports. #FW8USB2A-E (current version) has three external FireWire800 ports and two USB 2.0 ports. #FW8USB2A-E also uses a higher-performance Texas Instruments FireWire 800 controller, which translates into up to 42% higher bandwidth to fast hard drives and other FireWire devices.