Firewire 800 Cables

I have just changed from Mac Pro with SATA to an iMac i5 so am now trying to get the best from Firewire 800 with RAID0 and 5 drives I was using with SATA. What I noticed was that using a Lacie Flat Firewire 800 cable I was getting just 26Mb/s Read times using Quickbench yet change the cable to the thicker cable that came with the drive I got 85Mb/s from the same drive, some difference.
My question is this, does anyone else have recommendations for good quality Firewire 800 cables because it clearly makes a difference?

Are you sure those cables are 9-pin (fw800) to 6-pin (fw400) cables? I bought a couple of 9pin/6pin cables from monoprice to hook up a couple of external fw400 drives and the cables worked fine.
Here's the link to the cable I am using:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?cid=103&cp_id=10301&cs_id=1030105&pid=3542&seq=1&format=2
Message was edited by: X423424X

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The Thunderbolt to Firewire 800 cable?

I have a JVC digital video camera, and have lost some of the cables. Will a Thunderbolt to Firewire 800 cable connected with a Firewire 800 - Firewire 400 cable (same as ieee1394?) transfer the videos to my MacBook Air?

The Thunderbolt to FW 800 cable provides a FW800 port that you can plug into. You can see what it looks like here. If you have a FW cable that will connect to your camera and terminates in a FW800 plug, that should work.

Firewire 800 cable stopped working

I've had two different Firewire 800 cables burn out on me this week. Both times, I accidently unplugged the cable from a WD drive. When I try to use the cable again (with any device), it doesn't work. I can swap the cable out and everything seems to work fine. Do firewire 800 cables really break this easily?

Thanks Nick. The Iomega is the only external drive with which I have experienced any problems so I guess I wasted my money and will need to try another brand.

Mini Firewire 800 Cables???

I have been searching around the net in hopes of finding a really really small firewire 800 cable which I could use to connect two mobile hard drives together...I have the two drives stuck together with industrial strength velcro, and the ports of the two drives are about an inch apart from each other...I am in need of a Firewire 800 cable that is about 3" inches in length...
I actually have one of these that came with some accessory device I bought a while back (can't recall which accessory exactly)...but I have had no luck finding such a cable for sale individually...I've searched most major computer cable stores online and have had not luck whatsoever...
I was hoping someone might be able to provide me with a link to some site out there that sells cables this short???
Any suggestions? Thanks!

This white Belkin FireWire 800 cable has 18" (45cm). I find this a convenient length (not your desired 3", though
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?MerchantId=&Section_Id=21&pcount=&ProductId=164527
PowerBook G4 15", 1.67GHz (machine model: PowerBook5,6) Mac OS X (10.4.6)

HT1338 What firewire 800 cable do I use?

What firewire 800 cable do I use to connect my mac mini (late 2009) to my Panasonic HDD camcorder?

If a standard FW800 cable is recomended for your camera, use that, if the camera needs a mini connector use that.
Only you know what is on your camera

Firewire 800 cable connection on 2011 MacBookPro

Hello, I'm really having a hard time finding others online with this problem but we do photo/video and use a Firewire GRAID mini for transferring footage on location, it uses the Firewire 800 cable, the one that came with it as well as third party cables you can buy at radio shack (plastic ends), do not stay plugged in very well and it's really nerve racking when these things come unplugged while Final Cut is doing I/O, and this is not just the drive , they don't firmly sit inside the socket on the Macbook Pro, so our problem is doubled.
Has anyone a good recommendation on a FW800 cable that will solve our problems? I know I've seen some before on other drives that were metal ends and slightly oversized that would stay seated quite well in the Mac, wish I knew where to find those...
(* I know Thunderbolt is the future, we are using Thunderbolt for our studio drives, but want to keep using our phantom powered Firewire GRAID minis for portable work for another year if possible)

Applefutbol,
I'm not sure of the technical details, but I have certainly found that since starting to use FW800 instead of (and sometimes alongside) FW400, my hard drives seem to be a lot more responsive. One of my portable drives, for instance, has both 400 and 800 connectivity. On my desktop I have it connected via FW800 and it is lightning fast when transferring files, but it is distinctly slower when connected via FW400 to the same computer and others.
I'd borrow a cable from someone and test it first, but I do think you'll find it faster in general.
However, if the HV20 is only using FW400, then you will not get any speed increase, as FW works at the speed of the slowest connection.
Message was edited by: Dominic Witherow

FireWire 800 Cable

Hello,
I just went to capture some dv tape from my camera to FCE using my Firewire 400 cable that I used with my core duo, but it looks like I need a special FireWire800 cable to work with my newer 27 inch Core i7. Is that the case?
If so, would any of the following cables work, or does anyone suggest something else?
Thanks.
-- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812270193
-- http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-F019-006-Firewire-Hi-speed/dp/B000AAZQM2
-- http://www.amazon.com/RiteAV-Firewire-4-pin-9-pin-Cable/dp/B000VJJ1EQ
-- http://www.amazon.com/Hosa-Firewire-800-Computer-Cable/dp/B000VB9BVW

I have been using 9->4 pin firewire cables from monoprice.com with my FW800 iMac. Works perfectly.

No Firewire 800 Cable

I just received my Mac Pro and my 30 inch Cinema Display.
The main power cable that is attached to the back of the Display splits, and also contains a second power cable, a USB cable and a FireWire 400 cable.
The problem is that new Mac Pros have only Firewire 800 inputs. Apple says they do not make a matching cable. That's ridiculous. I connected the cables. If I keep everything as is without an attached FireWire cable, what impact will this have on viewing my video editing?

Apple says they do not make a matching cable.
If needed, purchase a FireWire 400 to 800 cable or adapter, which are also known as 6 pin to 9 pin.
If I keep everything as is without an attached FireWire cable, what impact will this have on viewing my video editing?
The only function of the FireWire ports on the display is so the display can act as a FireWire hub. If you're not connecting any other FireWire devices to the display, you don't need to hook them up. The same is true for the USB ports.
(47504)

Firewire 800 cables aren't working...

Hi,
I just bought a couple of Firewire (1394B) cables for my external hard drives. I've been using Firewire 400 to 800 cables without any problems, but when I connect the 800 cable, my drives will not mount on my desktop.
Any suggestions?
I've looked on line but can't seem to find any info.
Thanks!

Are you sure those cables are 9-pin (fw800) to 6-pin (fw400) cables? I bought a couple of 9pin/6pin cables from monoprice to hook up a couple of external fw400 drives and the cables worked fine.
Here's the link to the cable I am using:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?cid=103&cp_id=10301&cs_id=1030105&pid=3542&seq=1&format=2
Message was edited by: X423424X

Plugging in the firewire 800 cable shuts down the computer

This is strange and frustrating. I upgraded the memory and when i inserted the FW 800 cable back in, the computer simply shut off. I reset Pram & Logic board to no avail. Any idea what's happening? All the other ports work fine... Thanks

If you take out the RAM you recently added, does it make the FireWire port work again?

Time Machine fails to backup HD and stalls computer when backing up to external HD (Western Digital WD5000MT) when using Firewire 800 but works fine using USB

I have a mid 2012 MBP (MacbookPro9,1) running Mountain Lion 10.8.2. When I start a Time Machine backup to an external Western Digital HD (WD5000MT) connected using a Firewire 800 cable, my open programs stop responding and in general my computer freezes up not allowing me to open activity monitor or the console utility. I can't even shut down or restart my computer and must hard boot to reset. Though removing the firewire cable that goes to the external HD can sometimes get my system working again. However, the WD external HD also has a usb port and when I connect it to my computer via a USB cable, Time Machine seems to backup my system fine without stalling my computer. This same external HD worked fine with Firewire 800 using my old late 2007 MBP running snow leopard. I should note that my brother has the exact same model WD external HD and he also had issues with the firewire port on his MBP running mountain lion. I have run the disk utility checking for disk/file permission errors and the drive itself seems fine. I initially formatted that drive as ExFAT but while troubleshooting reformatted to HFS+ and still had the same issue. I tested using a different firewire 800 cable but still had the same issue. Can't think of anything else to do. I don't have another firewire-compatible device to test if it is the HD vs the firewire port. I would prefer to use the firewire port for quicker transfer speeds but I'm stuck with USB for now. Any suggestions?

Maybe these will help:
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11194
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3275 (note - older article)
Have you tried looking at the Western Digital web site to see if you can find anything?
http://support.wdc.com

What is FireWire and what FireWire adapter do I need to use FireWire 800 for my portable external hard drive ?

Hi guys, I'm new to Mac. I have a MacBook Pro 13" (late 2011) with Lion OS and Parallels 7 (Windows 7). My understanding is that there is FireWire connection / extension built in to the MacBook Pro already. I also have a Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex portable external hard drive 750GB USB2.0 and 3.0 (that can be used for PC and Mac). It states that the portable external harddrive is FireWire 800 compatible. The questions are (1) how does FireWire works ? (2) how do I use or activate FireWire 800 ? (3) is there any setup / setting changes I need to on my MacBook Pro ? (4) what FireWire adapter do I need to purchase to connect my portable external harddrive to my MacBook Pro ? Is it expensive ?
I read a few articles online but they are too technical for me. They mentioned something about FireWire adapter with 6 pins or 9 pins. Not sure what that means. I'm totally confused. So any help, advise or guidance will be much appreciated. In Layman's term would be better. Thanks.
How about Thunderbolt ? Is it compatible with the above external portable hard drive mentioned ? Do I need a Thunderbolt adapter for it ? How do I activate or use Thunderbolt ?

Thanks, Clinton and Alberto.
The below link is the Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex portable external hard drive (product code STAA750302) that I have. It states that it features USB 2.0 or 3.0 plug–and–play connectivity and easily upgradeable to USB 3.0, FireWire 800 or eSATA. It only comes with a 18-inch USB 3.0 / 2.0 backward compatible cable.
http://www.seagate.com/au/en/external-hard-drives/portable-hard-drives/standard/ goflex/
Based on the above, my understanding is that I need to buy a FireWire 800 adapter to connect to the portable external hard drive so that I can use FireWire 800 with my MacBook Pro. Is this correct ? Do I need to get a separate cable as well or can I just use the 18-inch USB 3.0 / 2.0 backward compatible cable that was provided in the box ? If so, what sort of FireWire 800 cable do I need to get ? 9 pin to 9 pin ? 6 pin to 9 pin ? Or 4 pin to 9 pin ?
https://www.lindy.com.au/online/arrshop.exe?anonymous=true&cat=b1

Daisy-chain Firewire 800 versus USB

Hi. I have an external drive (drive A) connected to my MPB via Firewire 800. I have my iTunes media library on this drive (movies, TV shows, music etc). When I watch a movie on my Apple TV, the content is being streamed from this drive via my MBP to the Apple TV. This works fine.
I also have a second external drive (drive B) that I use only as a back-up for drive A. I use Carbon Copy Cloner to back up drive A onto drive B. I can connect drive B in one of two ways: Option #1 is to connect drive B directly to my MBP via USB (USD 2.0). This is how I currently have it connected. Option #2 is to connect drive B to drive A via a Firewire 800 cable, daisy-chaining the two drives.
Two questions:
1. Which option will give me better performance when backing up drive A to drive B?
2. If I am watching a movie on Apple TV (streaming from drive A) at the same time that I am backing up drive A to drive B, will option #2 affect streaming of the movie?
Thank you

Have you Shut down your Mac and disconnected your firewire cable from both ends and let it sit about ten minutes then reconnect and try. Also, it is important to disconnect the AC power to your Mac, this helps to reset the FireWire port(s).
Have you checked to see if Disk Utility sees it/ can mount it?
Do you have TechTool Pro or DiskWarrior, both of which you could use to try to mount it.
It is also possible that you have a bad cable or a bad port, do other FW devices work?
-mj

HT201338 Can I connect a firewire 400 to firewire 800 adapter and then a firewire 800 to Thunderbolt adapter(standard Thunderbolt to firewire adapter) together to digitize video from a miniDV video camcorder?

I have a 10 year Canon MiniDV camcorder that I used to connect via firewire to digitize the data. Now my IMac only has a Thunderbolt connector and my camcorder uses the older firewire 400 standard. I would like to digitize the video into my IMac. How can I do this?

I did a little looking around and found a Thunderbolt to Firewire 800 adapter, and then a Firewire 400 to 800 adapter, but no Thunderbolt to Firewire 400. Amazon and Apple stores had the Thunderbolt to Firewire 800 cable and Amazon had the Firewire 400 to 800 adapater.
Wherever you get the cables, ask them if it will work OK with what you want to try and do - if they don't know make sure you can return if there is a problem. I think it will because the Thunderbolt side is so much faster than what the camera can pump out to it. If it were the other way (Thunderbolt device to a Firewire computer I would expect that to fail since the Firewire could never keep up with the data rate of the incoming Thunderbolt device).
Maybe if you have a local Mac user group or a friend with an older mac with a firewire 400 port you could do it this way too?
Good luck

Thunderbolt and FireWire 800 / 400

Hey gang!
I have a 2011 MacMini and a theoretical question. I have a FW800 external drive connected to it for my TimeMachine backup. I also have a FW400 audio capture box I use from time to time.
I used to chain the drive and audio device, but that slows the FW chain to 400 speeds instead of 800. If I connect the FW800 drive directly to the Mac mini, and the FW400 audio capture box to the Mac min via the Thunderbolt-to-FW800 adaptor(via a small 800-to-400 converter plug), will that slow the whole bus down to 400, or will they work at independent speeds?
I assume the Thunderbolt and FW chips are indepent and that the would NOT slow down speeds, but I would like to hear a more technical answer to my question.
Thank you in advance.

Apple sells a Thunderbolt to Firewire 800 cable here. Connect directly to your external drive with this cable, and the FW400 audio capture box (with adapter) to the Mini's FW800 port.

Firewire 800 Cables

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