Need more firewire ports.... is there a firewire hub?

[Joeytpg]

i need more firewire ports for my macbook, do they sell firewire hubs?

where can i find them?

i googled for it, but it was very confusing, found a lot of USB hubs and some other stuff, but not a FIREWIRE HUB perse.

 

[skunk]

Isn't it preferable to daisy-chain FW devices where possible? I thought that was one of the main benefits.

 

[QuantumLo0p]

There are FW hubs available as well as FW cards available. I think most cards have 2 ports.

You can daisy chain devices that have two FW ports.

Big consumer chain stores may be lacking some FW hardware but check them out anyway.

You could always order online from sites such as Newegg and Tiger Direct. There are many more online retailers out there but that's all I can offer at the moment.

 

[Miner Willy]

6 port Firewire hub

Nuff said

 

[cube]

There are also FW800 hubs.

 

[big.cleo]

choosing between daisy chaining and a hub

I have a dedicated Powerbook Pro with a SSD, and Western Digital 2 TB harddrive, and a Weiss Minerva. My Powerbook has one Firewire 800 port. My Western Digital has two Firewire ports, one 400 and one 800. The Minerva has only one Firewire 400 port and this supposedly does not matter for audio. I would like to play only from the SSD drive in the Mac, but will need to store on the WD harddrive. I would hope to load the SSD nightly from the harddrive and play for the SSD. I suspect that it would be better to connect the harddrive to the Mac using Firewire 800. My WD harddrive comes with an ac connection.

I really don't understand Firewire capabilities other than it being the best sounding cabling for audio. Can and should I drive the harddrive with the Firewire connection to the Mac? Can I use the WD as a hub with the 400 port leading to the Minerva? Will doing so, diminish the benefits of using the SSD for playing the music? Would a powered hub 800 with both the Minerva and the WD harddrive both connected to it be a better solution?