Firewires don't work together? HELP

[m3gau]

I just bought an External HD which i plugged into my firewire 800 port. I want to use it for video stuff and formatted it etc all good. When i tried to capture stuff off my Video camera Via firewire 400 it kept telling me camera not avaliable as if it wasn't plugged in. Even though final cut pro established it was there because you can move the tape forward and backward from it.

I then tried firewire 400 with my HD to see if it made any difference but it didn't. When i unplugged the HD completely eveything worked fine.
Can someone tell me whats going on and how i can fix it.

Thanks

 

[TheAnswer]

A couple of questions...what kind of Mac are you on? Also, is the external drive independently powered or does it draw it's power from the Mac through the firewire port?

 

[m3gau]

Answers

Mac Pro and it has an independant power supply

 

[TheAnswer]

Well...there goes my theory put the window.

Have a look at these comments on macintouch. None of the comments seem 100% conclusive, but there are a couple of suggested workarounds. Give those a try and see if any of them work for you.

Check back here, as others with the same problem might have additional workarounds or a solution. If you find a good workaround, post it back here so it will help others.

Good Luck!