Thunderbolt to Firewire Slow

I have a new MacBook pro with Retina display and I want to use the migration utility to tranfer my files from my late 2011 MacBook Pro.
I bought the Thunderbolt to firewire adapter and connected it all up, but it's going very slow. There is about 100GB to move and it keep going from 11 hourd to 10 hours then back to 11 or 13 hours. The progress bar has hardly moved. Is this normal.
When I back up my hard drive, for the first time, using Time Machine it only took less then 2 hourd.... Seems to me that Firewire 800 would be much faster.
Ant help would be appreciated.
Thanks

I figured it out. All is working now

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Apple no longer making thunderbolt to firewire adapter!

I just visited an apple store today to be told that Apple are no longer making the thunderbolt to firewire adapter which was meant to be released this month (July). Calling Apple customer support also confirmed this. It is also no longer mentioned as a option, when ordering a new MBP retina on the Apple online store.
As I've just purchased a new MBP retina for portable video editing, the prospect of not being able to plug in all my legacy firewire drives to the MBP is very frustrating, and I'm sure many people are in the same situation. Trying to daisy chain via a USB 3 LaCie drive to firewire did not work when tested and it's likely that any other solutions via hubs etc, will probably require mains power. For ediitng on the road via bus powered drives, firewire is suddenly not an option at present.
Many of us have gone through these transitions before as Apple pushes new and better technology forward at the expence of backwards compatibility. Thunderbolt will be great, but curently it is expensive and not widely adopted, where as firewire drives are considerbaly cheaper than thunderbolt drives and many of us have a large number of these drives being used on a daily basis.
I'm sure other manufactures will be scrabling to bring a thunderbolt to firewire adapter to the market, however the fact that Apple has stopped making it before it was even released is alarming.

Styphin wrote:
And yet, FireWire became an industry standard. Your argument is invalid.
Key word highlighted (in comparison to "has become"). As Shootist points out, it is harder and harder to find any kind of FW device out there. Hence my soon to be orphaned 11 external HDDs, 2 of which only have FW and probably be unusable when I have to replace my current Mac. The rest fortunately have USB2 too and will have to function in a slow speed crippled mode when the time comes.
Even Apple is hedging its bets, else why add two USB3 ports and the HDMI in addition to the purportedly wonderful TB?

Is there a thunderbolt to firewire adapter?

Hi,
First of all, I know there is an apple-thunderbolt-to-firewire-adapter but i'm looking for the opposite adapter.
I have a 2010 imac and I'm about to buy a MBP but the problem I see is that my imac has firewire 800 and usb 2.0 ports, whereas the new MBP have thunderbolt and usb 3.0 ports. I need a new external hard drive to work with for editing with Final Cut, but most of them have thunderbolt or usb 3.0.
- If I buy a hard drive with hunderbolt or usb 3.0 I can use it with the new MBP but not with my iMac, well yes but with usb 2.0 that is horrible to work with.
- If I buy a hard drive with firewire, which are being excluded of the market (I've made a research and for example at Western Digital website they don't offer any HD with firewire at all) I should buy the new adapter firewire to thunderbolt from apple to use it with a MBP.
The question is simple, as I see external hard drives with FireWire are being removed, and my 2010 iMac still works perfectly... do you know if there's going to be an adapter thunderbolt to FireWire that could connect a thunderbolt-external hard drive to my iMac's FireWire port??
Thanks!!

Have a look at theses drives, I understand you buy the drive with USB 3 and can then purchase a Thunderbolt adapter and a FireWire adapter. I think the drive plugs into the base unit in the photo which is the adapter. You could have the Firewire plugged into the old Mac and the Thunderbolt in the new one. Just swop the drive between computers.
I don't know what speeds the drive spins at, if it is 5400 it may be too slow for you, but that is something you can decide.
http://www.seagate.com/gb/en/external-hard-drives/desktop-hard-drives/backup-plu s-desk/#specs

HT5299 Can 2 daisy-chained firewire-800 drives be connected to 1 Thunderbolt-to-Firewire adapter?

Can 2 daisy-chained firewire-800 drives be connected to 1 Thunderbolt-to-Firewire adapter?

Nightwatch (NL) wrote:
Thanks Steve!
One more question: Stayed throughput speeds more or less the same as original Firewire (since all my movies are on external disks) or has it become significantly slower?
I haven't done a careful side by side quantitative comparison of what I had on the older Macbook Pro (which had three Firewire800 disks chained together via FW800) versus the new Macbook Pro (which has thunderbolt into which I have connected three FW800 drives daisy chained via the adaptor), mainly because my employer supplied me with these computers and required I turn in the old one when they replenished it with the new one. However, I can say this -- one of the FW800 externals is used for Time Machine, another for making entire disk clones, and the third is for misc storage. I have seen Time Machine start up during a disk clone (with SuperDuper) and there seems to be no impact. The disk cloning is generally pretty intensive on disk and cpu resources, but thunderbolt seems to have a much bigger capacity for throughput than firewire and hence can apparently accommodate multiple streams of FW800 data going back and forth with no apparent impact on each other. The main limit seems to be the FW800 speed itself, not thunderbolt. I see ~ 60 MB/s or more which is as much as I have ever seen on FW800. Ultimately, the ideal setup will be thunderbolt drives daisy chained together, I would expect hundreds of MB/s, but I don't see many of these thunderbolt drives on the market yet. Even better would be solid state drives ...

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.

Thunderbolt to Firewire to Thunderbolt

Am I right in the assumption that the only way for two new macs to transfer files between each other while they are 'awake' (not target disk mode) is over wifi? It's pretty slow, I have been used to using firewire for this - would thunderbolt to firewire back to thunderbolt be a firewire connection, or a thunderbolt connection at firewire speeds?

Yes, you can connect two Macs with an ethernet cable and use File Sharing between them. It's a degenerate case of an ethernet network. With modern ethernet hardware, you don't even need a crossover cable; the ports will adapt.

Thunderbolt is running slow

My thunderbolt is running slow on my macbook. The fastest I have tracked it has been no faster than 50MB/s. I initially thought it was the drive - my Lacie 2TB little big disc. So, I returned it and got the WD 4TB thunderbolt drive. Still having issues running slowly. It runs this speed with no other apps running. I can't even get it to run faster than this when in file transfer mode between two macbook pros. I've tested it between two different macbook pros - both 2GHz Intel Core i7. Same result on both. Is it the thunderbolt cable perhaps? I imagine though if it were the cable, it would just not work at all, instead of merely running slow.
At this point I find the whole promotion of thunderbolt to be 10Gb/s to be confusing at best, and downright misleading at worst. I get the same results from my firewire 800.
As a mac person for over 15 years now, someone please help me renew my faith in apple.

And yes, I know that it depends on the speed of the drives and not the size of the pipe, but shouldn't I at least be getting 75MB/s?

My thunderbolt to firewire adapter doesn't fit the firewire???

I bought the apple store "Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter" today. I'm trying to put my old iMac in Target Mode and move old files. The firewire cord doesn't fit into it??? I'm sitting here feeling pretty stupid and stumped?

Your firewire cord is the wrong size. Apple's cord is 800 port. What size is your cord?

Can I import video from a Firewire camcorder using the Thunderbolt to Firewire Adapter?

I have an older camcorder that has a firewire interface. My new iMac does not have any firewire ports. Can I import video from the camcorder using a Thunderbolt to Firewire Adapter or is the Thunderbold adapter only used for hard drives and displays?

Rather than an adapter, I would suggest you purchase a 4 pin to 9 pin Firewire 800 cable to run from the camera to the Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter. Those FW 400 to 800 adapters frequently do not work so well for importing video in my experience.
The Firewire cables are pretty inexpensive if you get them online. For example try Monoprice.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=103&cp_id=10301&cs_id=1030104 &p_id=3541&seq=1&format=2

Has anyone been able to use an Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire to daisy chain a dozen or more FireWire drives?

Ever since I realized that I was not able to connect my FireWire daisy chain to my brand new Retina MBP there has been problems. Four months down the road, I am still unable to use my FireWire drives and have experienced terrible problems whenever I connect my FireWire daisy chain to this new Mac.
I have bought two of these adaptors from Apple now and both do the same thing. The daisy chain has been working perfectly for years with my older MBP and still does! There are no problems until I connect to the new Mac.
I have 15 various hard drives in NewerTech and DatOptics enclosures for over 22 TB. When connected to the new Mac, I would have multiple apps just hang, sometimes just Apple apps, sometimes 3rd party. I will not be able to force quit them and they will keep relauching as you can watch them in the Force Quit window. The Finder will hang and there is no relaunching it. I am having to do a force shutdown twice an hour which leaves no time for work!
After four months of this, now I am being told that Apple will buy back my Mac at full price. But I have basically lost the good part of four month’s worth of work because of constantly fighting the new Mac. This is cost me all my savings and I am about to lose a client. It certainly seems that releasing Thunderbolt1 was a huge, huge mistake.
Does anyone know of any large Fire Wire daisy chain working with Thunderbolt?
TIA,
R

Yes, my first post is all about how darn iffy the adaptors are and I have two of them to return now.
I question your answer because I am betting that four drives that are in one enclosure NOT all RAIDed together as one drive, but as four separate drives that those four drive will count as four devices. The daisy chain that I had going had eight drives in TWO quad boxes, four drives in TWO dual drives and another drive in a single enclosure. A total of five “devices” if you will, but also a total of 13 drives that were usually in this daisy chain.
Both of the Apple branded Thunderbolt to FireWire adaptors chocked BIG TIME on this and it works no problem on my older MBP. You basically can not use a new Mac when you are connected to a daisy chain like this!
Just checked the Apple website and indeed, I can get a new MBP with FireWire 800, just not with the Retina display! I wish that I would have known this five months ago before this all started!

Migration Assistant with Thunderbolt to Firewire Adapter?

Hey gang-
Finally retiring my mid-2007 iMac with a new Late-2013 iMac. Yayyyy!
I've always been happy with Migration Assistant, but wanted to ask the experts if Migration Assistant will work with the Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire Adapter. I'm planning on connecting the old iMac Firewire 800 port to the new iMac Thunderbolt port via the adapter. On a related note, I assume that same as always, I will need to boot the old iMac into Target Disk mode, right?
Thanks!
Dave

Of course. You can connect both iMacs with a FireWire 800 cable and a Thunderbolt to FireWire adapter without any problem. The problem would come if the old iMac has not got FireWire 800 ports, but the Mid 2007 iMac comes with one.
In order to use Migration Assistant and transfer files from another iMac through FireWire, you need to put your old iMac in Target Disk mode as you said. To do this, simply hold the T key while your old iMac is starting up until you see the FireWire icon in the display. Then you can set up your new iMac, and you will be asked to transfer your data.
If you have already set up your new iMac, use Migration Assistant (in /Applications/Utilities) > http://pondini.org/OSX/MigrateLion.html

No internet with Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter

I bought a Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter, and i used it to connect a Iomega drive I previously used as USB.
When running OSX, no problem.
But when i boot the computer under Windows 7 (not SP1), if the adapter is connected, then the computer says that there aren't connections avalaible. If i boot without the adapter, everything worls fine and i can connect to my WiFi connection. (I don't have an Ethernet cable plugged, so i can't says if the Ethernet connection doesn't work too)
Any suggestion? Has someone experienced this?
Many thanks in advance!

Of course. You can connect both iMacs with a FireWire 800 cable and a Thunderbolt to FireWire adapter without any problem. The problem would come if the old iMac has not got FireWire 800 ports, but the Mid 2007 iMac comes with one.
In order to use Migration Assistant and transfer files from another iMac through FireWire, you need to put your old iMac in Target Disk mode as you said. To do this, simply hold the T key while your old iMac is starting up until you see the FireWire icon in the display. Then you can set up your new iMac, and you will be asked to transfer your data.
If you have already set up your new iMac, use Migration Assistant (in /Applications/Utilities) > http://pondini.org/OSX/MigrateLion.html

Using thunderbolt to firewire adapter for target disc mode

I need to transfer several GB of data from a 2011 iMac running OS 10.6 to a new Mac Mini running OS 10.9. Can I connect the older iMac to the newer Mini with a Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter and boot the iMac into Target Disc Mode and transfer the data to the new Mac Mini? I've used TDM with two Firewire machines, but not with a newer Thunderbolt to Firewire Machine using an adapter.
Thanks for any input.
--SL

Hi Salnews,
I've done quite a bit of research on this, as this is what I plan to do (only from a MBP on 10.9, but I don't think your situation would be any different) and everything I've read says the answer is yes.
EDIT: I see you're on 10.6.7. You should update to 10.6.8 first.

Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter Compatibility

Will the Apple external isight firewire web cam work on the macbook air through the Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter.

If you are certain that your old iSight still works, yes ... if ...
More info, see http://discussions.apple.com/thread/6520683.
Message was edited by: EZ Jim
Mac OSX 10.9.5

Connect problem with DV video-camera through the new thunderbolt to firewire adapter?

Hi
I got a JVC DV camcorder with firewire 400 output and I've got a Macbook Air 2012 with 8gb 1600 MHz DDR3, intel i7 2GHz, 256 ssd harddisk and intel HD graphics 4000 512 mb. It has thundebolt but no firewire port.
I wanted to connect these two item and then bought the new "thunderbolt to firewire 800" and the "800 to 400 firewire adapter cable".
I then connect both cables to each other and pluged it in to the JVC DV. I started up iMovie and pressed play on the camcorder, but the signal can't get through and the Macbook Air does not find the camcorder at all? What have I done wrong? Please help..
Best regards,
Jonowitz

Hi,
have you managed to solve your problem? I deal with the same issue using Panasonic MX500 DV camera. Any help would be appriciated.
Martin

Thunderbolt to Firewire Slow

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