Can iMac Retina mount external HD in Target Disk Mode?

I'm trying to mount an ailing HD in a 24" iMac to my iMac Retina in Target Disk Mode. It will not mount. I'm using a Firewire 800 to Thunderbolt adapter. When I plug the Thunderbolt adapter into a MacBook Air, the Target Disk HD mounts....
Is this the way it is with iMac Retina?

I'm not sure what you are trying to confirm here. If I boot from the install disk, why would I get a different driver than what I would get by installing the OS (from that same disk)? Or if it is a firmware problem then the disk doesn't matter at all.
If I boot from the install disk the sytem still doesn't recognize the G4 iBook in TDM. I don't know if this is relavent, but I have to boot the G4 iBook, connect the firewire cable, then boot the Intel iMac in TDM mode for it to mount on the iBook. Booting the iMac first, or connecting the firewire cable after the iMac has booted does not work. If I hold down the option key while booting the Intel iMac it will let me select the startup disk. If I insert the install disk it will add the install disk to the menu. If I connect a firewire cable and boot the G4 iBook in TDM it does not add the firewire disk. If I boot the iBook in TDM mode then boot the iMac from the install disk it does not see the iBook either. In all cases the Intel machine ignores the PowerPC machine.
The system profiler does not say who made the FW chip. I too am suspicious that it some kind of driver/firmware problem. I have an old firewire iPod , and I have an old firewire iSight camera, and they both work fine with the Intel iMac. There is another discusion were someone was having trouble with a firewire drive on an Intel iMac. Firewire is pretty symmetric (unlike USB which is master/slave). It is odd that one direction should work and not the other. It seem like some obscure bug that only effects block devices on the Intel side.

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