Legacy Firewire with new Thunderbolt Adapters?

Patriotic1776 said:

Is this convoluted daisy chain even possible:
Firewire 400 cable coming from my 2006 Mac Pro > into Firewire 400 to 800 adapter > into the new Firewire 800 to Thunderbolt adapter Apple announced this past WWDC.

To my knowledge, they are not supporting legacy Firewire 400 to Thunderbolt, only 800. But I still need a way to transfer videos from my miniDV to my old Mac Pro (we are are non-profit, so still working with yesteryear tech). Thanks!

Click to expand...

I think it should work since while only the Firewire 800 connection is supported, Firewire 800 is backwards compatible with Firewire 400.

Patriotic1776 said:

Is this convoluted daisy chain even possible:
Firewire 400 cable coming from my 2006 Mac Pro > into Firewire 400 to 800 adapter > into the new Firewire 800 to Thunderbolt adapter Apple announced this past WWDC.

Click to expand...

Just buy a FW400 to FW800 bilingual cable (no adapter necessary). Then use the FW800 to Thunderbolt adapter.

Patriotic1776 said:

I still need a way to transfer videos from my miniDV to my old Mac Pro

Click to expand...

And why do you need Thunderbolt in this equation?

Mr. Retrofires Wikipedia said:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_1394#FireWire_800_.28IEEE_1394b-2002.29

A bilingual cable allows the connection of older devices to the newer port.

Click to expand...

Here is an example (no recommendation, i do not know the seller):
http://www.amazon.com/PIN-6PIN-BILINGUAL-FireWire-800/dp/B003L1AINY

The shielding of the cable and the robustness of the connectors is important. Do not buy cheap looking cables!

Patriotic1776 said:

Is this convoluted daisy chain even possible:
Firewire 400 cable coming from my 2006 Mac Pro > into Firewire 400 to 800 adapter > into the new Firewire 800 to Thunderbolt adapter Apple announced this past WWDC.

To my knowledge, they are not supporting legacy Firewire 400 to Thunderbolt, only 800. But I still need a way to transfer videos from my miniDV to my old Mac Pro (we are are non-profit, so still working with yesteryear tech). Thanks!

Click to expand...

Nope, won't work.

The yet-to-ship adapter will convert the Thunderbolt port on a computer into a FireWire port.

It does not convert in the opposite direction. You cannot create a Thunderbolt port from the FireWire port on your older computer.

Same goes for the Ethernet adapter - cannot create a Thunderbolt port from Apple's Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter.

Same goes for an HDMI or DVI or VGA adapter which are intended to convert from mDP/Thunderbolt TO these display connector options. They don't work in the opposite direction, converting to a Thunderbolt port.

If they did, you would be hearing lots more on these forums, with people bragging about how their $10-30 adapter is creating Thunderbolt ports on all sorts of devices and computers.

will you still be able to daisy chain firewire devices from the single thunderbolt port on the new laptops?

TomiY1 said:

will you still be able to daisy chain firewire devices from the single thunderbolt port on the new laptops?

Click to expand...

Yes, if the FireWire device you connect has two ports for daisy-chaining. Many external FireWire drives have 2 ports for daisy chaining.

g4cube said:

Yes, if the FireWire device you connect has two ports for daisy-chaining. Many external FireWire drives have 2 ports for daisy chaining.

Click to expand...

Man I need this TB/FW converter soon, what's the hold up Apple?

seriously... when is this adapter coming out? = /

TomiY1 said:

seriously... when is this adapter coming out? = /

Click to expand...

Im treating this like the 2013 Mac Pro and Resolve 9
Damn it, I need it now!!

g4cube said:

Nope, won't work.

The yet-to-ship adapter will convert the Thunderbolt port on a computer into a FireWire port.

It does not convert in the opposite direction. You cannot create a Thunderbolt port from the FireWire port on your older computer.

Click to expand...

Why wouldn't the scenario the OP described work? If the new adapter turns the Thunderbolt port into a FireWire port, and then the OP plugs a FireWire cable into the adapter, isn't that exactly what the adapter is meant to do?

You cannot create a Thunderbolt port from a FireWire connection. That's not the way it works.

There are peripheral devices and there are computers with controllers.

Controllers are typically within a computer; for now, Macintosh laptops are shipping and a few Windows laptops and motherboards that have been announced. They can control Thunderbolt peripherals.

The way te FireWire adapter is supposed to work is that you can connect FireWire devices via that Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire adapter.

You'll just need to wait until this adapter is shipping for the typicl reviewers to confirm this for you.

g4cube said:

You cannot create a Thunderbolt port from a FireWire connection. That's not the way it works.

There are peripheral devices and there are computers with controllers.

Controllers are typically within a computer; for now, Macintosh laptops are shipping and a few Windows laptops and motherboards that have been announced. They can control Thunderbolt peripherals.

The way te FireWire adapter is supposed to work is that you can connect FireWire devices via that Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire adapter.

You'll just need to wait until this adapter is shipping for the typicl reviewers to confirm this for you.

Click to expand...

he's not asking if he could make a thunderbolt port from a firewire connection. He's just asking if a Mac w/ firewire 400 can communicate with another mac that has a thunderbolt adapter.

A good question for Apple - whether FireWire Target Disk mode will be supported. Perhaps. Perhaps not.

Target Disk Mode is not the fastest protocol.

g4cube said:

A good question for Apple - whether FireWire Target Disk mode will be supported. Perhaps. Perhaps not.

Target Disk Mode is not the fastest protocol.

Click to expand...

I don't know for sure, but Thunderbolt itself definitely supports Target Disk Mode. I used it to migrate from my 2011 to 2012 MacBook Air. Since the forthcoming adapter essentially turns the Thunderbolt port into a Firewire 800 port, I would guess that it would support Firewire Target Disk Mode if you plug a Firewire cable into it.

This worked for me...

I tried many cables and adapters with no success until I bought the "moshi" FireWire 800 to 400 adapter.
http://store.moshimonde.com/adapters-cables/firewire-800-to-400-adapter.html

It has worked perfectly when connecting to my older Sony MiniDV DCR-TRV25 Digital Handycam.

Cheers

did anyone try Apple's thunderbolt to FireWire adapter and bus powered the FireWire 400 device? I have seen some mixed results ....