Overview of cables

Current and old cable connectors at a glance.

Type Designation Area of use
D-SUB Connecting plugs
RS232 Sub-D 9 pole plug Has been almost completely displaced by the USB interface. Today, the RS232 connection is still used for programming various routers, modems, SAT receivers or PLC units.
D-15M Sub-D 15 pole plug Is used for example: in older joysticks also known as MIDI plugs.
HD15M High Density Sub-D 15 pin plug Better known as VGA connection. It is still used today alongside the newer DVI and HDMI port.
D25M Sub-D 25 pole plug Primary earlier use in bidirectional printers and SCSI devices.
D50M Sub-D 50 pole plug
HPD50M Half PitchMini Sub-D 50 pole plug (SCSI) Used for connecting SCSI hard drives.
HPD68M Half Pitch/Mini Sub-D 68 Pole plug Also used for connecting SCSI hard drives.
Centronics connectors
CN36M Centronics 36 pole plug Also known as parallel port for printers.
CN50M Centronics 50 pole plug Used on SCSI devices
HPCN36M Half Pitch/Mini Centronics 36 pole plug Main area of use for printers, plotters or needle printers.
HPCN50M Half Pitch/Mini Centronics 50 pole plug Used on SCSI devices.
VHDCI68M Very HIgh Density Interconect 68 pin plug Standard V used in SCSI.
SCSI connector plug
D25M Sub-D 25 pole plug Used in SCSI Standard 1 and 2.
CN50M Centronics 50 pole plug Used in SCSI Standard 1 and 2.
D50M Sub-D 50 pole plug Used in SCSI Standard 1 and 2.
HPD50M Mini/Half Pitch Sub-D 50 Pole plug Used in SCSI Standard 2.
HPCN50M Mini/Half Pitch Sub-D 50 Pole plug Used in SCSI Standard 2.
HPD68M Mini/Half Pitch Sub-D 68 Pole plug Used in SCSI Standard 3 and 5
VHDCI68M Very high density interconnect 68 pin plug Used in SCSI Standard 5
Mini DIN / DIN connectors
MD4 M Mini DIN 4 pin plug Is used or rather was used in SVHS devices.
MD6 M Mini DIN 6 Pole plug (PS/2) Used in older mice and keyboards.
MD8 M Mini DIN 8 pin plug (Mac, SUN, AV) Used on Mac and Sun and on audio and video devices.
DIN 5 M DIN 5 Pole plug (AT format) Is no longer used today was used earlier on keyboards. It was a long time ago.
Network connector
RJ45 8/8 pin plug Used for Ethernet or ISDN lines.
BNC Plug connection Previously used for ring networks with a speed of up to 10Mbit.
RP-SMA WLAN antenna plug Used for W-LAN access points and W-LAN routers.
MT-RJ Fibre optic plug For the connection of fiberglass lines.
ST Fibre optic/LWL plug For the transmission of light wave signals.
SC Fibre optic/LWL plug Light waves duplex plug.
LC Fibre optic/LWL plug Light wave conductor plugs for the transmission of optical waveguide signals.
SATE / eSATA connectors
SFF-8482 SATA 22 pole plug SATA hard drives combined plug for the power and data line of a hard drive.
SFF-8484 SATA 29 Pole Combi Plug 2 channel SATA hard drives combined connector
7 pin SATA plug Used for the power supply of a hard drive.
15 pin SATA plug Used for the data line of a hard drive.
16 Pole micro SATA connection Used for connecting Micro SATA hard drives.
13 Poliger micro SATA combined connectors Used for connecting 13 pin SATA hard drives.
Power connectors
IEC C14 3 poles Cold unit plug to supply PC, screen, printer and so on with power.
IEC C5 3 poles Cold unit coupling is sometimes used on notebook power supplies.
IEC C 2 poles Figure 8 coupling was used e.g. on Old Radios.
IEC C19 3 poles Is a cold equipment coupling for a current load of up to 16A.
SATA II/1.0a 15 Poles SATA hard drives or CD/DVD/Blue Ray Rome drives.
Molex 4 poles 5,25 Used on older IDE devices.
IDC connections (PC internal)
IDC 34 34 Pole clutch Used on floppy or also known as floppy drive.
IDC 40 40 pole clutch Used for IDE hard drives or CD/DVD drives
IDC 44 44 Pole clutch 1mm pitch spacing is used at 2.5′′ hard drives in notebooks.
IDC 50 50 pole clutch Used in SCSI 1/2 devices.
USB connectors
Type A Can be found on the side of a mainboard. For example: a mouse is connected with type A.
Type B For example: a printer or scanner is usually connected on the back.
Type Mini B Used for connection between a mobile phone and a computer.
Type Micro B Used on newer mobile phones as a connector between the computer.
USB 3.0 Type A The successor to USB 2.0. high-speed connection if a computer supports this standard.
USB 3.0 Type B Connection for USB 3.0 Suitable devices such as hard drives, printers, etc.
USB 3.0 Mini B I did not find any application for this. If someone knows one or knows the plug please comment. Thank you
FireWire connectors
FW400 4 pole plug Small FireWire connection is used e.g. for digital video cameras.
FW400 6 pole plug If e.g. For external hard drives mainly used in the Mac system.
FW800/400 9 pole plug There is also no field of application.