Firewire 800 general problem?

Hello, I have a BIG problem in my hands and I'm wondering if there's anyone out there to help me.
I have 3 LaCie d2 Quadra Hard Drive eSATA 1.5Gbits, FireWire 800, FireWire 400, Hi-Speed USB 2.0 that I use to backup my music. I copy my music in the first one and use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the information when I turn on the second and third disks. I only turn on the disks when I'm using them, the rest of the time they're all off.
Today I came into the office to backup a new CD but got an error message when I turned on the first HD: "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" and 3 options: Initialize (which takes me to Disk Utility to see the brand of my disk listed but no details about it), Ignore and Eject.
This happens with all 3 disks whether they're chained or not. Sometimes I get this error message, other times I get no message at all and just can't see the disks. I tried to plug them into 2 different twin 27" iMacs and 1 MBP 13" with different cables and power supplies. These are their characteristics:
For both iMacs:
Mac OS X 10.6.8
3.2 GHz Intel Core i3
8GB 1333 MHz DDR3
For the MBP:
Mac OS X 10.7.3
2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB 1067 MHz DDR3
But the same problem occurs: I either get the error message or just don't see the disks at all.
Then I moved the disks to another iMac with the following characteristics:
Mac OS X 10.7.3
3.1GHz Intel Core i5
4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
And they worked. All 3 disks with the same cables and power supplies I'd been using. So I thought "Maybe it's a Snow Leopard thing" and tried to make the disks work with the MBP (which has Lion) and they worked again! I moved the disks to their original location and once again plugged them to the MBP to finally work with them and the problem showed up again. Same error message for one of the disks, the other 2 simply don't show up.
I also tried making them work in the following Mac Pro:
Mac OS X 10.5.8
Dual 2.7 GHz PowerPC G5
4 GB DDR SDRAM
And I still couldn't.
This is all through FW800 which only worked that time I tried it with the third iMac. The only other time I got the HDs to work was plugging them to the Mac Pro but through FW400. I also tried plugging a Little Big Disk through FW800 and USB to the MBP and it didn't work. Then I plugged it into the Mac Pro using USB and there it is, with CCC slowly making the backup.
My workmate is telling me now that last week she plugged in a different pair of LaCie d2 Quadra to the MacPro and she couldn't make them work through FW800 and had to settle for FW400.
So my question is: Is there some kind of general problem with FW800 that I don't know about? Or is it a thing with LaCie? Like you see, my problem is not definite, I can't say "It works under these circumstances and it doesn't work under these" because it's a bit intermitent and annoying enough to not let me use the HDs at all. I sadly don't have another brand of HD to see if this occurs. I've run tests all morning in all the computers and I can't figure out the source of the problem. There are no software updates available for any of the computers.
Is there anyone out there with the same problem? If it's a general problem, are there any posts about it? I can't find one.
Sorry for the long read! I'm going to take a look at the LaCie support page to see if there's anything there.
Thanks to anyone who read all this

Well, external WD drives (or rather the cheap enclosures they use) aren't necessarily or generally a good way to rule out problems, but may be in this case.
In any case, have you tried two things: a) a different (brand new) FW cable and b) an SMC or PRAM reset:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
Either/both sometimes help with FW or USB ports problems.

Similar Messages

Apple we have a Firewire 800 migration problem!

Apple might employ the dumbest smart people I know.
I just bought a brand new MacBook Pro. It looks awesome. And that's about all I can do with the laptop because the only way to do a migration is with firewire 800. Migrating via wireless or either net is worthless. Even though the getting started manual says it will work fine. I had to call Apple support and the person on tech support even said the migration software was horrible. It would have been an awesome idea to think about why someone might want to migrate form an older laptop. Older being 3 years old. The older MacBook Pro only has firewire 400. So now I have to go out and find a 800 to 400 firewire hub. Just brilliant.

A cable with an 800 connector on one end and 400 on the other is available...no need for a hub. The migration software can be tricky, yes Have a backup!
As well, your nearest Apple Store provides migration services with purchase I believe..give them a call.

Firewire 800 connection problem

Hi!
So my warranty just expired a month ago. I went to get my mac fixed right before it and it came back with an issue with my firewire. No big deal really. I called back, they helped me fix it, but now it's doing it again.
The external hard drive I connected to the FW8 port works fine. I've tried it with other cables (FW4 and USB2) so I know it's not the hard drive. However, when I try using the FW8, it does not show up at all. I have 2 different external drives and I've tried both of them. Last time when we fixed this, it turns out my mac was trying to boot from the disk or something? I can't remember... nor do I have any idea where to start to mess with the configuration. Help please? the disk is lighting up, so it is powering on... it just isn't showing up!

I'm completely confused: you start by saying "The external hard drive I connected to the FW8 port works fine." Then in apparently complete contradiction you write:
However, when I try using the FW8, it does not show up at all.
What do you mean, "the disk is lighting up?"
And:
Last time when we fixed this, it turns out my mac was trying to boot from the disk or something?
The Mac should be trying to boot from some disk.
And then:
I've tried it with other cables (FW4 and USB2) so I know it's not the hard drive.
What does that mean? What is it in, "I've tried it....?" And, are you saying it works (which I suppose means the external does mount) using the FW4 and USB Ports?
I know you have a real problem but I really have no idea what you are asking
In case, as your topic suggests, you are simply asking about a problem with the Firewire Port, do what Roger suggested and have a look at this article.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1151?viewlocale=en_US
Message was edited by: WZZZ

Firewire 800 External Time Machine Backup Drive Disconnects

Hi. Is this the Time Machine Firewire 800 external problem or Mountain Lion or the iMac Late 2009 model (iMac 11, 1): it doesn't happen often but it disconnects then OS X (10.8.2) would prompt that it should be ejected properly. After awhile it;s mounted again. How can I repair this? Is there a way to check if a firewire external drive (1TB) is still ok or if the firewire port is not damaged (I don't remove it often, almost not at all).
Thank you in advance.
God bless.

I don't know except that this kind of problem always seems to be reported by WD owners. I think I read that this drive tries to spin down or sleep or something in a way that is not liked by the Mac OS. That could be wrong - it's just a vague recollection.
Anyway, what do you have in System Preferences, Energy Saver, under "Put Hard Disks to Sleep..." I would try not checking that one, if it is currently checked.
charlie

How imortant is a Firewire 800? (imac 24" versus imac 20")

Hi,
I've been using Logic on a 1 ghtz PowerBook G4. I am ready to upgrade.
After looking over everything, I really don't feel I need to spend the $$ on the ProMac - as I think it's too much power for me at this moment. I'd rather buy a new computer when I have the need for more power - and by that time - everything is twice as fast/more bells and whistles and cheaper.
So - I was seriously considering the 24" iMac - basically because of the firewire 800. Problem is - I don't know how important that is to me. I've been holding off buying a pro audio interface (like the Ensemble or RME 800)... I mainly do MIDI (I'm a pianist), but, want to be able to record live musicians in the future as I have a couple of nice mikes.
So tell me - should I go 24" iMac or 20" iMac? For the $600 I'd save buying a 20" iMac - I could buy another 20" screen. But - no Firewire 800 on the 20".
Again - how important is the Firewire 800 for me?
Thanks!

Two reasons:
1) If you use a FW800 device by itself, you get
800Mbps (100 MBps). If you combine FW400 and FW800
devices on the same bus, the FW800 device will
operate at 400Mbps (50MBps), giving you a total
maximum throughput of 100MBps, over the two devices.
ahm. i know that the two firewire busses share the same connection to the cpu. you can see this at
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/HardwareDrivers/Conceptual/iMac0609SuperDrive/index.html
actually i assumed that apple would be smart enough to build the computer in a way that it's not the same if you connect a fw800 device to the 800bus and a 400 device to the 400 bus than if you connect a 800 and a 400 device to the 800 bus (which obviously would clock the 800 bus at 400 speed.
so you are saying that as soon as i connect a 400 device to the computer ALL fw buses become 400, even the one that's labelled fw 800?? where did you get that information?
AND...
2) The PCI bus to which both FW ports are attached
has a maximum throughput of 133MBps. Even if the
FW800 and FW400 ports operated at full-speed when
devices are mixed (they don't...see point 1), you
wouldn't be able to get full bandwidth anyway, since
100MBps (FW800) + 50MBps (FW400) = 150MBps, which
exceeds the max bandwidth of the PCI bus.
how do you know that the pci bus has 133mbps throughput max? all the information that i found is that it's a 33mhz 32bit pci bus...does that automatically mean it has 133 mBps throughput or what...?
i just ordered a 24" imac mainly for the reason that i need one 800bus for audio interface and harddrives (many tracks) and one 400 bus for dv video at the same time. if both of your statements are correct i will cancel the order immediately since i could do the same things with a 20" imac an the screen would be sufficent for me. and should any problems arise i'll sue the **** out of apple for misleading information about their products. i mean you can't label a buss 800 if it is not if you max out the capacity of the computer. that seriously ****** me off...
if you have a link to an apple tech note that clarifies things...i'd really appreciate it...
all the best...

Problems with File Transfers Over Firewire 800

Problems with File Transfers Over Firewire 800.
Over the past month, I have had problems when transfering files from my harddrive, over Firewire 800 to a portable drive. I usually transfer very large files (20gb or more) to the portable drives for moving files around. When I drag a file over to copy onto a drive, the transfer starts normally. If I drag more files to copy over, the computer screen goes darker and a large icon comes up that looks like a power button icon. It tells me to restart, so I have to do a hard shut down on my G5. Weird. I also get the dark screen of death sometimes when I am transfering those large files and open another application to do some work while it's copying. It's killing me. I am having to sit here and wait for the transfer to finish before I can do anything.
Any thoughts...
Dual 2.7 GHz PowerPC G5
Mac OSX 10.4.3
Dual 2.7 GHz PowerPC G5 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Have you run the Apple Hardware Test? Sounds like it could be a RAM problem.

Time Machine backup problems with firewire 800 since Mavericks

Since I installed Mavericks about a week ago, I have had problems with TM not working with my LaCie external drive. At best, it would not back up when the mac was awakened from sleep mode and in use. When I would open time machine preferences, I would see the "preparing for back up" prompt that would last forever. Not only was it doing that, I have found that it would freeze my mac. I figured this out when I was not able to get my mac to respond from the login screen. It was basically frozen and couldn't log on. I noticed the back up drive light flickering but nothing would happen even with waiting a long time. I finally figured out that shutting off the TM EHD would unfreeze the mac and it would start functioning normal again. This was happening with my external HD daisy chained to another external drive that contains my iPhoto, iMovie and Itunes files. That drive was also connected to the mac using firewire 800. I tried many different configurations, switched the order the drives were daisy chained, tried different cables and even directly connected the TM drive with firewire 800 to the mac, but the problems still persisted. The strange thing is that when I connect the TM drive through USB, it works flawlesly and no hanging up of the computer. Thats what Ive been forced to do. I have my other EHD connected directly through firewire 800 and it works fine. I only have one firewire 800 port, and since it works fine with my other LaCie drive, it makes me think its not the port or macs hardware? I can only guess this is a Time Machine issue or something wrong with my TM drive? I have been in contact with LaCie and given them all these details but I have not heard back yet on what they feel the problem is. I thought I would post this to see if anyone else had some experience with this problem.

Forgot to mention I did that. Completely erased and reformatted HD and then reconnected to TM. Didn't help. I did have the mac hang up while installing Mavericks and had to eventually shut off the external drive. It did that to me the firs time I tried to install Mavericks and I lost all my data because it did a clean install after that. I had another back up on CCC so I just restored from there. This time the update to Mavericks transferred my data. I have had TM hang up my mac in the past on occasion, but I was always able to shut down the drive and then the mac would return to normal. Perhaps I should try to erase and reformat again?

Recording to external hard drives - Firewire 800 problems

Ok so i did post a similar thread on this in the "mac mini" part of the website so im very sorry for double posting but I thought since this problems pertains mostly to recording and specifically recording on garageband, that I would try posting here as well. Heres my deal:
I am a musician working with garageband and I have always been recording to my internal drive until recently. I was unaware until I read some posts here from the good people like you guys, that that is not a good idea to record to your internal drive. So, I got an external firewire 800 drive (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DGZ05A) and this cable (http://www.amazon.com/2M-Firewire-800-9PIN-Cable/dp/B000XQILWK/ref=pdbxgy_e_imgb). When I received it, I first used disk utility and reformatted it for Mac OS Extended Journaled. Then I proceeded to move a couple sample libraries and my entire "Garageband" folder (with my saved songs in it) to the external. I instantly knew something was wrong. The files were taking forever to get written over. It took about 15 mins for a 5GB folder to be moved over. I was already discouraged. Anyway, I plugged in the USB cable that came with the external (the drive has hook ups for both USB 2 and firewire 400/800) and tried moving the same files and it was MUCH faster. The same 5GB file was moved over in a matter of minutes.
I then tried recording to the drive (using firewire again) and it would hardly even PLAY the song without stopping every couple seconds (too many effects error, and yes ALL the tracks were locked). Tried to record as well and i'd get even less time before garageband would stop the song with the same error. So I disconnected firewire and went USB. Thru USB the song didnt stop once, not on playback OR recording. Then I moved the songs back to my internal and played them (and recorded) with no problem either.
I ran a couple tests on the drive using AJA system test and came back with these results:
Basic test of read/write speed using firewire 800:
write - 14/mb sec
read - 21/mb sec
then, using usb 2.0
write - 18/mb sec
read - 37/mb sec
both these connections seemed to be running slower then they should ..but at least the USB connection would actually let me play a song and record to it without stopping
I manually copied over a 2.04GB file and via firewire 800 connection it took 2 mins and 20 secs. Via the USB 2 connection it was 55 seconds! ..also, while i transfered the files i noticed that the USB transfer was nice and steady with tiny increments of the file being transferred. Firewire, however, was speedy then slow, speedy then slow. Very inconsistant transfer speed throughout the process. kind of choppy
So what gives? I cant figure out if I'm doing something wrong, or if my external HD is bad? Or the cable is bad? Or maybe the firewire port on my mac mini is bad (i've never used it before for anything other than this external drive). Or i'm thinking maybe my processor isnt strong/fast enough to record to the external firewire drive? Im working with a mac mini 120GB internal HD and the 2ghz intel core 2 duo with only 2GB ram (i know thats not ideal for recording and im planning to upgrade at some point, but i have been recording to the internal just fine with the RAM i have now and never had a problem until trying to record to the firewire drive). I was going to go out today and get a new cable and see if that was the cause of it. Anyway sorry for the book-length post! But PLEASE SOMEBODY help me here! ..as i said, im not very computer literate and only just started producing music using computers so please use dummy terms lol ..thanks in advance

Strictly my opinion, and more than happy to be educated with facts and convinced otherwise... but, there are no dangers.
Bottom line is this... does your specific computer setup encounter ANY problems during recording or editing with your chosen software and current workflow? If not, then there is nothing wrong. Simple as that. Further, if you are having problems, then its more than likely dealt with by upgrading RAM amount and internal HDD speed and size. If you have a slightly older machine that is pre FW800, you will find by bench marking your HDD's that an upgraded internal system HDD will significantly outperform any external HDD read/write spec's. Even with FW800, comparing apples with apples, your system HDD will more than likely have better spec's. Please however, do not take my word for this, but try it out for yourself. Make sure you have facts about your own system rather than believing my claims or anyone else's claims. I used Intech's Quickbench http://www.speedtools.com/QuickBench.html to get some facts about my machine.
There will be an argument made that you will be putting strain on your hard drive by recording to the system drive because it not only has to deal with this function but also with other functions related to your audio programs and OS. Apparently you may be working it on the 'hard' side and shorten its life span. Probably technically correct but practically speaking you will more than likely never even notice any such strain. If you are worried about a system HDD crash or death because you are working it too hard then the answer to this is a well planned back up regime. You should have one anyway, regardless of setup.

Thunderbolt to Firewire 800 external drive problems

I recently upgraded from a MacBook Pro 17" early 2011 to a MacBook Pro Retina 15" (early 2013). I have a Drobo and two Seagate 4TB external drives, all connected via Firewire 800. So, I added a Thunderbolt to Firewire 800 adapter and, it seemed, life was good.
I keep my large iTunes Movie and TV show collection on the Drobo. Since transitioning to the new MacBook, I have had a number of issue with watching movies on my Apple TV 3. Randomly, and periodically, the movie appears to be corrupted - the audio track skips/loops and the image is horrible macroblocked, as if the file is damaged. When I check the movies on the Drobo, opening it with Quicktime on the MBP, it plays just fine at the same spot it appeared damaged on the Apple TV 3.
A second symptom is this: I can no longer re-encode video with Handbrake with the source and target files on the Drobo - it gets some portion of the way through and it just stops, leaving the video partially encoded; again, at random locations/offsets into the video and not the same spot twice.
My initial thought is that connection to the Drobo is dropping out and coming back, on its own, but long enough to cause the above problems.
Is anyone else seeing this issue or something related when using the Thunderbolt to Firewire 800 adapter with large drives?
Thanks, in advance.

Update: I exchanged the Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter and the issue persists. I have a Drobo that I used with my previous system, a PowerMac G5, and never had any issues like this.
It does not matter what software I use. But at some point video playback will suddenly become garbled. If I start the video from the beginning, sometimes the garbled video will start sooner but never later. A restart temporarily resolves the issue. If I copy the file to the local hard drive the video will play back garbled. This is indeed a very strange issue. The issue behaves like a bandwidth bottleneck.
I was having this issue prior to upgrading to Mavericks.
Fred K
iMac (Late 2012), 3.4 GHz i7, GTX 680MX, Fusion Drive, 24 GB RAM, Drobo (Firewire via Thunderbolt)

Macbook Pro 1st gen Unibody Firewire 800 problem

Recently I notice when I hook up a hard drive to my firewire 800 port and daisy chain another drive my mac pops up an error stating that the drives were ejected incorrectly. I wasn't trying to eject a drive just daisy chain an additional drive. Is there something wrong with my firewire port? I already tried using different cables. Anybody else experience this?

I've discovered what I think is the underlying reason for many of the folks reporting similar problems to this thread.
By the way, I bet that I can predict the GUIDs of the drives/docks/cases you're having trouble with!
I bet that if you look in System Profiler, you'll find the GUID 0x30E002E0454647 !
What are the odds? I shouldn't be able to predict them; theyr'e supposed to be unique, after all, but google that number and you'll see that a great many devices all use that GUID. Mac OS seems to rely on them to be unique, and has fits when they aren't.
I'm trying to figure out how to resolve the problem:
There are tricks to changing a Time Machine backup's record of the GUID of the drive it backed up, but that's not useful.
I think I may find myself booting into another OS in order to run a real partition editor and change the GUIDs to be truly Unique. Maybe I'll install rEFIt and gParted Live on a Hard Disk partition.
Maybe I'll run the Windows software from Other World Computing linked to from this thread: http://mjtsai.com/blog/2009/03/02/newertech-voyager-q/
This had been causing me no end of trouble with some Cavalry CACE3701TO external firewire hard disk drives I was trying to daisy-chain. Hoping for some relief from Cavalry...

Firewire 800 front port problem

I'm using an RME Fireface 800 audio interface, which is a Firewire 800 device. When I hook it up to the front FW800 port on my Mac Pro, it is periodically disconnecting while in use (using Logic, Final Cut Pro, etc.). To be clear, I don't mean that the cable is physically disconnecting, but rather that the interface disappears from the operating system while still attached and powered up.
When I use the rear FW800 port I'm not having this problem, at all.
Can anyone think of an explanation other than perhaps my front FW 800 port is screwed up? Has anyone else had this issue?
Thanks...

Hi John,
Yep, exactly the same problem I had with my Mac Pro's front FW800 connection and the FF800. The problem in the end turned out to be because I had my SSL Duende mini plugged into the rear FW400 port. Have you got any other firewire devices plugged in? The FF800 really dislikes sharing a bus with anything else, which is why I went out and bought a PCIe FW400 card and now all my devices have their own bus and all works just as you'd expect. Hope that helps, cheers.

Firewire 800 problem? cant see my Panasonic camcorder on Final Cut Express

Hi
I have a new IMAC 27 in, intel dual processor (which I love) and its running the lastest version of snow leopard. I got it for video editing (dec 09) and I'm fairly new to macs and the firewire 800.
I have a panasonic 3ccd camera nNV-GS500 and after finally figuring it out I got a new cable - a brand new firewire 800/400 cable. However nothing can be seen when I start up Final Cut pro express or imovie.
I have tried turning off mac, unplugging it, then turning on camera before turning on imac.
Looking at some of the threads it seems there are some issues for seeing camcorders with firewire 800 and that a firmware? (is this a download for hardware update) is an update is due - can anyone confirm what i should do.
thanks in advance

Cathy, welcome to the Discussions group.
Here is the list of camcorders supported by iMovie and Final Cut Express. Your camera is not in the lists but may still work.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3290
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2948
When you are using the camera are you running it from its battery power or is it plugged into its own power source (same question would apply to your external drive which may have a problem if its not using its own power supply depending upon how much power it would draw from the computer and how much power it needs to be reliable). You should be running the camera from its own power supply.
When you are having a problem, isolate the sources of potential conflict. Make sure no other devices are plugged into the computer. That means you'll be transferring your video to your internal disk. You can always copy or move it later to an external disk if that's where you want to store it permanently.
Follow the instructions in your camera manual carefully and we hope that works. If it doesn't work, then be creative. If the manual says to start the camera first in PLAY mode, start it in RECORD mode but then switch to PLAY mode to jumpstart FCE or iMovie to recognize there's a camera installed. That hint was provided in another thread on this topic and worked for that person. You can vary starting the camera before FCE or iMovie and then try starting FCE or iMovie first followed by the camera. Just a few variations and hope again one works.
All variations fail, and the vendors web site indicates it should work, then maybe your Firewire port on the computer has a problem. Look in "About This Mac" to see the status of the Firewire service with different devices plugged in. It's not a common problem but can happen.

Extreme problems with Firewire 800 on my mini

Okay, so I am having a doozie of a problem. I have a Focusrite Saffire audio interface that hooks up to my PC via Firewire 400. I bought the adapter so I could use it on my brand new Mac Mini's Firewire 800 port. Now, just like others have said on this forum, the computer will simply not detect the device at all. I hooked it up to my friend's Macbook with the 400 port, and it detected it right away and made it available for use. It powers the device while it is plugged in, and yes, I have tried it with the power supply plugged in as well, but nothing I have tried works. I bought this machine to use in a home studio, and I have not been able to do a single thing with it since I received it. I searched this forum, and there are plenty of threads stating that these problems are happening, but not a single thread with any kind of solutions. Can anyone please help me out with this before I just return it?

Yo, I have the saffire and have been trying to get it to work with my macbook pro for the longest time. Originally I was going to send the saffire in for repair(that is what focusrite suggested)but recently I had wiped out my computer and started over. After I reinstalled and updated the OS to 10.4.11 I plugged in the saffire. After approx. 2 min the saffire leds where green and It worked. I have used it for output for my computer and in Traktor Pro(native instruments). It seemed to work fine for a day or two and sure enough I start up my computer and plug in the saffire and no response. I have tried every f===in thing that focusrite has suggested and anything I have seen on this and other forums. In apple developer site it explains that devices like the saffire with rom get a registry entry created to let the mac know where the device is. I believe this is where the problem occurs. I don't know the tech lingo or where these registries are stored on my mac or if this is related to the .kexts. the pack sdk 24 or whatever is on the developer site for the post earlier. Hopefully someone figures this problem out. Peace

FireWire 800 Daisy Chain Problem

Hello everyone, I have three firewire drives. Two 2TB 3.5" drives and one 2.5" 1TB drive. All three are connected to my MacBook Pro 13" via the one firewire port in a daisy chain. I usually always have the 3.5" disk connected. When I add the portable drive to the daisy chain, it crashes the desktop drive, and I get the "do not disconnect drives without ejecting" message. Is this normal? I am thinking of purchasing the Thunderbolt to Firewire 800 adapter, only to avoid the crashes of the other drives in the Daisy chain.
My Mac is an early 2011 13" MacBook Pro i5 2.3GHz with 16GB RAM.
Thank you for your help in advance

Sorry for my late answer.
The disc has 2 FW800 and 1 USB2.
If you buy a TB to FW800 you should give to the disc more power from the TB port.
If you connect the disc with USB you could use a special cable with 2 plugs on one side and one smal USB plug on the other. This cable is designed to give to one disc the pover grom 2 USB ports but one of the 2 can also be connected to an USB power supply, so ytou will give to the disc more power.... of copurse with USB you have a lower speed.
If you have Thunderbolt you should try to use TB discs. I know they are expensive but there is a trick which I like to use... have a look here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Aa3BXmQVpc

Are there any problems using the Thunderbolt to Firewire 800 adapter?

I found the only way to migrate my old mac to my new i
mac was to use a firewire 800 to thunderbolt adapter, or ethernet. Am I correct?

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
You can also migrate wirelessly > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4889
However, I recommend you to use FireWire to migrate from your old Mac because it will be much faster than Wi-Fi or Ethernet, so if your old Mac has got a FireWire port, buy the Thunderbolt to FireWire adapter for your Late 2012 iMac and migrate from your old computer

Firewire 800 general problem?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for