How many firewire external hard drives can I daisy-chain?

[dllavaneras]

After a fiasco with two firewire hard disks (the courier company lost them), I have to purchase an external firewire HD. Once the insurance company refunds my money (which can take up to 90 days), I still want to get the other 2 disks I ordered.

Is there a limit on how many firewire drives I can daisy chain? I was thinking on having all 3 hard drives daisy-chained to my iMac.

 

[Tallest Skil]

63 is the limit of daisy-chained FireWire devices.

 

[dllavaneras]

So there should be no problem with having three drives (A, B and C), and having A connected to B, which is connected to C, which in turn is connected to my mac? All three drives would be properly ventilated.

 

[Tallest Skil]

I don't believe there would be, though I have never done it. You won't blow anything up by trying.

 

[kastenbrust]

There wont be any problem, and firewire is actually a good way to do it.

 

[hughvane]

So there should be no problem with having three drives (A, B and C), and having A connected to B, which is connected to C, which in turn is connected to my mac?

I have four firewire units daisy-chained, the first three being optical drives, the last a hard drive. The only hassle is that if you're using the first unit in the chain, Nos 2, 3, and 4 must be switched on, or No 2, in which case 3 & 4 must be switched on ... and so on, even though they may not be in use. In that case I pull the f/w plug from the chain and put it directly into the Mac. Have your most-used unit last in the chain.

For the reason outlined above, some people prefer a f/w hub.

 

[dllavaneras]

Have your most-used unit last in the chain.

For the reason outlined above, some people prefer a f/w hub.

By last in the chain you mean connected directly to the mac, right? I don't think I'll have much problem, since I plan on having all three drives on at the same time.

I've thought about buying a Firewire 800 hub, are there any you recommend?

 

[hughvane]

By last in the chain you mean connected directly to the mac, right?

Yes, that's right.

I've thought about buying a Firewire 800 hub, are there any you recommend?

I can't honestly recommend because I've not used one, but see here http://search1.superwarehouse.com/search?w=Firewire Hub for numerous options. Recognised brand names are Belkin, LaCie; Cables To Go has had good feedback. Be aware that, whilst still available, some models are discontinued.

 

[Kebabselector]

Bit of bump to an old thread, but I was wondering if people have had problems chaining fw800 devices on Early 2009 Mac Mini.

For a while i've had 2 firewire (Freecom Datatank) devices working fine, added a 3rd device (Freecom Quattro) and the Mini keeps crashing (BSOD telling me to restart) when transfering large amount of data (using rsync). Could I be overloading the fw800 port?

I've also tried the 2 Datatanks on FW800 and the Quattro on USB and it dies as well. It's looking as if I might be sending the Quattro back, but I like to check first to see if it's not just me.

I successfully transferred 400gb earlier and it was fine, getting annoying at the moment!


(just a thought, I renamed my old drive Storage_old (from Storage) and named the new volume Storage - wondering if that's the issue? As the earlier backup was from the volume called Raid - Renamed the new volume to Store - will wait and see what happens)

 

[joecool99]

MBP 15" unibody FW 800 daisy chain

will latest MBP handle 3 FW 800 drive in daisy chain ? i want 2 Lacie little big disk (raid 0) and a single FW 640GB drive.

will the power handle it ?