Which firewire cable to buy?

[c0bracommander]

Hi all,

I have a 1.8 ghz iMac G5 with a Firewire 400 port and a new unibody Macbook pro with a Firewire 800 port.

I'm intending to buy a Firewire cable to xfer some files from my G5 to the macbook and was wondering what type of cable I need.

http://firefold.com/Search.aspx?k=firewire presents me with a list of options talking about "pins". 4 pin, 6 pin, 8 pin, etc... What "pin" should I be looking at for my intended use given the specs of both computers.

Also, is there an option that will be able to xfer everything from the G5 -> macbook pro AND work with Sony's i.Link? Or would I need a totally different cable for that?

 

[spinnerlys]

FW400 is 4- and 6-pin, FW800 is 9-pin.

You need a cable like the following to transfer data from your iMac to your MBP.
6- to 9-pin

You can copy your data via Target Disk Mode (TDM):

To use FireWire target disk mode
Make sure that the target computer is turned off.
If you are using an Apple portable computer such as a PowerBook or MacBook as the target computer, plug in its AC power adapter.
Use a FireWire cable to connect the target computer to a host computer. The host computer can be powered on.
Start up the target computer and immediately press and hold down the T key until the FireWire icon appears.

The hard disk of the target computer should become available to the host computer and will likely appear on desktop. (If the target computer is running Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger, you can also open System Preferences, choose Startup Disk, and click Target Disk Mode. Restart the computer and it will start up in Target Disk Mode.)
When you are finished copying files, locate the target computer's hard disk icon on the desktop of the host computer and drag it to the Trash or choose Eject (or Put Away) from the File menu.
Press the target computer's power button to turn it off.
Unplug the FireWire cable.
from http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661


Sony's i.Link is Sony's name for Firewire, so what do you mean by your last sentence?

 

[c0bracommander]

Thanks for the great info, spinnerlys.

To expand upon the last sentence of my original post: I also have a Sony Vaio desktop PC which has some old content that I'd like to be able to port over to the macbook pro, but I just realized now that I'd need a totally different cable (4pin - 9pin) to be compatible with the i.Link (Firewire) port of the Sony's.

Thanks for clarifying what the "pins" mean!

 

[mscriv]

You can pick up the exact cable at monoprice for less than $5.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=103&cp_id=10301&cs_id=1030105&p_id=3542&seq=1&format=2

Or, you can buy a regular firewire cable and an adapter.

Firewire Cables
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10301

Firewire Adapters
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=firewire+800+adapter&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=18288841628132364960&ei=mSnzSqGIKsSvlAf8x4inAw&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBwQ8wIwAw#ps-sellers

Edit: Just saw your second post. Monoprice has 4 pin adapters and cables as well.

 

[cube]

To expand upon the last sentence of my original post: I also have a Sony Vaio desktop PC which has some old content that I'd like to be able to port over to the macbook pro, but I just realized now that I'd need a totally different cable (4pin - 9pin) to be compatible with the i.Link (Firewire) port of the Sony's.

Since when PCs also have TDM?

 

[spinnerlys]

Since when PCs also have TDM?

I don't know if they have, but one can network two computers via Firewire.