Thunderbolt 3 to Firewire 800 Adapter

[haralds]

I occasionally need to hook up older Firewire 800 devices to my MBPro with Thunderbolt 3. All I found for an adapter solution would be to daisy chain Apple T3 to T2 with a T2 to FW 800.
Does this work?
Is there anything else?

 

[chrfr]

I occasionally need to hook up older Firewire 800 devices to my MBPro with Thunderbolt 3. All I found for an adapter solution would be to daisy chain Apple T3 to T2 with a T2 to FW 800.
Does this work?
Is there anything else?

You just need those two adapters.

 

[joevt]

I occasionally need to hook up older Firewire 800 devices to my MBPro with Thunderbolt 3. All I found for an adapter solution would be to daisy chain Apple T3 to T2 with a T2 to FW 800.
Does this work?

Yes it does.

Is there anything else?

Yes, but those options are more expensive:
- OWC used to make Thunderbolt docks that had a FireWire port.
- You can buy a FireWire PCIe card and place it in a Thunderbolt PCIe expansion chassis https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/HELIOS3S/ . This option can give you multiple FireWire ports (FireWire 400 and 800). The PCIe expansion chassis can have power delivery or not to charge your MacBook Pro. It could also have a DisplayPort output. It will have a second Thunderbolt 3 port for connecting additional Thunderbolt or USB or DisplayPort devices.

 

[Juicy Box]

Does this work?

Yes.

What is the FW device that you will be using? Does it have its own power or is it bus powered?

I am unsure, but one issue that might come up with that set up is if the FW device is bus powered.

I know that power over the bus does not work for using Apple's TB3-TB2 bidirectional adapter when using it on a TB3 device with a TB1 or TB2 computer. But, I have never used the TB3/TB2 adapter the other way around, so maybe someone can let us know.

If the FW device has its own power supply then this set up should work fine.

Is there anything else?

Yes, but that would be the cheapest option.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Take an inventory of your Firewire devices.
Are they all hard drives?
Or... is something else "in the mix" -- such as an audio interface?

If they're hard drives, you may find it easier to take the drives OUT OF the firewire enclosures, and access them with something like a USB3/SATA docking station.

 

[chrfr]

I am unsure, but one issue that might come up with that set up is if the FW device is bus powered.

Bus powered Firewire devices still work with these adapters.

 

[Juicy Box]

I am unsure, but one issue that might come up with that set up is if the FW device is bus powered.

I know that power over the bus does not work for using Apple's TB3-TB2 bidirectional adapter when using it on a TB3 device with a TB1 or TB2 computer. But, I have never used the TB3/TB2 adapter the other way around, so maybe someone can let us know.

Bus powered Firewire devices still work with these adapters.

Good to know, thanks!

 

[robvas]

You just need those two adapters.

Could you throw a FireWire to SCSI adapter after that