Mini USB to MBP Firewire 800 cable

Which of these is it?
http://www.lacie.com/products/range.htm?id=10036

USB to Firewire cable don't work, as there are two different buses.

Maybe your drive has a 4-port FW port, which you used with a 4-6 port FW 400 cable.

The new MBPs have FW 800, which uses a 9-port plug.

So you need a 4-9-pin FW cable. They cost around 5€.




USB ports

yuanmoons said:

Thanks for quick and comprehensive reply!

I googled and this is it

its a LaCie Mobile Drive 160Gb USB & Firewire. So it has a small connector on the drive and two wires - one for usb and the other for firewire.

http://www.mac-pro.com/LaCie-Mobile-Hard-Drive-Porsche-120GB-5400RPM_2

Mini B to Firewire 800 9 Pin.....

Click to expand...

If you mean USB by Mini B, then use either a USB cable or a 6- to 9-pin Firewire cable. USB and FW don't work via one cable.
FW has its own chipset on the logic board, USB goes right through the CPU.

Either use USB cable like this:


or a FW 6- to 9-pin cable like this:



Deduced via the Manual of your drive: http://www.lacie.com/download/manual/p2_fw_hd_en.pdf

You have a MBP with a camera, you can always take a picture of the ports on the drive and post those.

Ooops, no need, mini B USB and 6-pin FW ports.

---

Just a note the FW-to-USB cables you see are generally only using the power pins to power/charge a device. They don't carry data.

yuanmoons said:

good suggestion... although i think its all sorted.

i need this to connect to a jul 09 macbook pro - firewire 800 9-pin it seems.

Click to expand...

You can also use a USB cable if you have one handy, the speed difference is marginal at best, especially since FW400 will get you similar speeds - I get 30-35MB/s via USB with an 2.5" 5400rpm drive.


All Intel Macs are able to boot via USB connected external drives, so FW is no need for this.

Conserve USBs? Firewire 800 for Passport

I have a new MBP(newer than what I had) it is the solid block style, I had the old (2007 model)
Anyway all the usbs are on the same side and there are two of them. I like to keep iphone plugged in and my laptop try/fan also. heat killed my old battery)
PROBLEM
My Passport..uses the traditional mini usb-b to USB connector. I am looking at that firewire 800 socket and thinking can I purchase a mini b-----Firewire 800 and use it sucessfully?
Is such athing possible?

123walter said:

I have a new MBP(newer than what I had) it is the solid block style, I had the old (2007 model)
Anyway all the usbs are on the same side and there are two of them. I like to keep iphone plugged in and my laptop try/fan also. heat killed my old battery)
PROBLEM
My Passport..uses the traditional mini usb-b to USB connector. I am looking at that firewire 800 socket and thinking can I purchase a mini b-----Firewire 800 and use it sucessfully?
Is such athing possible?

Click to expand...

If you want a mini-USB to Firewire cable, then no. They are two different protocols and are not compatible.

You could get a passive (without AC) USB hub, I use one and my 2.5" HDD is even powered via that hub.

Hub-BUB

Regarding the hub suggestion...I have tried three different hubs. A GE, A Belkin and a ChinaHOCKEY...model. All of them drop signals. ie you start with say yer iphone and your just maybe your fan hooked up and then your external hard drive(passport) drops off..You get that nasty message abput properly exiting drives etc. I have tried all dif combos. I have never even used more than 2 ona 4X hub, and I still lose something. Sometimes ALL. Like I say I have tried three dif manufacturers, if you know of a better one, let me know.