Firewire 400 Devices on new MacPro

[Rerun77]

I finally ordered a new MacPro Octo 2.66 to replace my aging PowerMac G5.

I currently have a firewire 400 audio interface and a few firewire 800 and 400 external drives.

Would it be smarter to get a firewire 400 pci card to run the firewire devices? Do all devices run at the 400 speed when there is 1 device in the chain at that speed? Are the different firewire ports on the MacPro independent?

Thanks for your help

 

[Cliff3]

Do all devices run at the 400 speed when there is 1 device in the chain at that speed? Are the different firewire ports on the MacPro independent?

Yes to your first question. The answer to the second appears to be yes as well. I have the FW400 hub in my ACD23 connected to a FW800 port via an adapter. Separately, I have 2 FW800 drives chained on a second FW800 port. I have connected a small bus-powered FW400 drive simultaneously with the FW800 drives and the performance of the latter seemed unaffected.

 

[Lucibelle]

I finally ordered a new MacPro Octo 2.66 to replace my aging PowerMac G5.

I currently have a firewire 400 audio interface and a few firewire 800 and 400 external drives.

Would it be smarter to get a firewire 400 pci card to run the firewire devices? Do all devices run at the 400 speed when there is 1 device in the chain at that speed? Are the different firewire ports on the MacPro independent?

Thanks for your help

I also have a firewire 400 audio device, by MOTU. While I have yet to actually test it, I have run two firewire 400 hard drives through a Sonnet adapter, and it's been smooth as silk. Still, even if my audio device worked flawlessly, I don't know which device you have and the results may not be the same.

If budget is an issue, and you have the time to experiment, try the adapter first. If immediate reliability is the main factor, spend the extra on the PCIe card. Does your device use optical I/O? If so, Google your device and Mac Pro to see what comes up. Also, check the audio forums here, as well as Google for forums about your particular brand.

Here's a link for both firewire options. http://eshop.macsales.com/search/firewire+adapter

 

[Frozengeek]

I finally ordered a new MacPro Octo 2.66 to replace my aging PowerMac G5.

I currently have a firewire 400 audio interface and a few firewire 800 and 400 external drives.

Would it be smarter to get a firewire 400 pci card to run the firewire devices? Do all devices run at the 400 speed when there is 1 device in the chain at that speed? Are the different firewire ports on the MacPro independent?

Thanks for your help

Um, save yourself some money and just get a 400 to 800 cable. I did, and everything works beautifully on my Quad 2.66 2009.

 

[stevemishket]

400 to 800

I had the same issue with a 400 firewire hard drive. For $19.95 I got an adapter cable and everything works just fine.

Steve

 

[Rerun77]

I have 2 adapters on the way. I know my 400 devices will work on the 800 ports, I was wondering if the 800 devices would operate at 400 speeds when the 400 devices are plugged in. Anyone know definitively?

Thanks

 

[Cliff3]

I have 2 adapters on the way. I know my 400 devices will work on the 800 ports, I was wondering if the 800 devices would operate at 400 speeds when the 400 devices are plugged in. Anyone know definitively?

Thanks

I do now, and I just disconnected the FW400 hub as a result. I copied a 1GB file from one FW800 drive to another FW800 drive in 3 scenarios - FW400 hub not connected, FW400 hub connected, and FW400 drive mounted via hub. Then I disconnected the hub one more time to make sure the time to copy the file was consistent with the first try. The times were 25 secs, 41 secs, 41 secs, and 25 secs, so the presence of a FW400 device connected to any FW800 port certainly appears to have an effect on the entire FW subsystem. Disconnecting it again makes the slowdown go away.

 

[TheNightPhoenix]

I used a Firewire 9 pin to 6 pin cable to sort my firewire 400 needs.

Only problem i had was with a WD hard drive, after a firmware upgrade I've not had any problems.

 

[Lucibelle]

I do now, and I just disconnected the FW400 hub as a result. I copied a 1GB file from one FW800 drive to another FW800 drive in 3 scenarios - FW400 hub not connected, FW400 hub connected, and FW400 drive mounted via hub. Then I disconnected the hub one more time to make sure the time to copy the file was consistent with the first try. The times were 25 secs, 41 secs, 41 secs, and 25 secs, so the presence of a FW400 device connected to any FW800 port certainly appears to have an effect on the entire FW subsystem. Disconnecting it again makes the slowdown go away.

Hold on, you're saying that a FW400 device will make the other FW800 ports on the MP run at FW400 speeds as well? So the front ports affect the back ports? That sucks!

 

[TheNightPhoenix]

Hold on, you're saying that a FW400 device will make the other FW800 ports on the MP run at FW400 speeds as well? So the front ports affect the back ports? That sucks!

I've heard of this before and tested, but got differnt results.

When I tested copying from 1 Drobo to another Drobo it took about 4 minutes to copy the files, I plugged in a DV deck and a hard drive and tested again. Still 4 minutes.

But this may be because the machine has two sperate firewire buses a 400 and an 800. I think if it's an all 800 machine it might only have one bus.

 

[Ploki]

I've heard of this before and tested, but got differnt results.

When I tested copying from 1 Drobo to another Drobo it took about 4 minutes to copy the files, I plugged in a DV deck and a hard drive and tested again. Still 4 minutes.

But this may be because the machine has two sperate firewire buses a 400 and an 800. I think if it's an all 800 machine it might only have one bus.

that would be a major screw up

 

[Lucibelle]

I've heard of this before and tested, but got differnt results.

When I tested copying from 1 Drobo to another Drobo it took about 4 minutes to copy the files, I plugged in a DV deck and a hard drive and tested again. Still 4 minutes.

But this may be because the machine has two sperate firewire buses a 400 and an 800. I think if it's an all 800 machine it might only have one bus.

Actually, after doing some research it seems that the FW800 ports are all on the same bus, as this is typical.

Well, guess I'll be looking for that PCIe card.

 

[gesundheit]

I do now, and I just disconnected the FW400 hub as a result. I copied a 1GB file from one FW800 drive to another FW800 drive in 3 scenarios - FW400 hub not connected, FW400 hub connected, and FW400 drive mounted via hub. Then I disconnected the hub one more time to make sure the time to copy the file was consistent with the first try. The times were 25 secs, 41 secs, 41 secs, and 25 secs, so the presence of a FW400 device connected to any FW800 port certainly appears to have an effect on the entire FW subsystem. Disconnecting it again makes the slowdown go away.

Wow, I wasn't expecting that. Yesterday I ordered a pile of FW800-to-400
cables. Looks like I should have spent the money on a PCIe card

 

[Cliff3]

Hold on, you're saying that a FW400 device will make the other FW800 ports on the MP run at FW400 speeds as well? So the front ports affect the back ports? That sucks!

I hadn't tried the front ports yesterday so I repeated the test today. The front and back ports behave the same way - 25 secs without a FW400 device connected, 41 secs with.