USB to Firewire?

jwnulife · 12-08-2007, 07:20 AM

I have a 2006 Lacie external hard drive with a USB cable. Does anyone know if it is possible to adapt the USB cable to a Firewire Cable and get firewre capabilities? Or does firewire have to be integral to the hard drive itself in order to function properly?

cwtnospam · 12-08-2007, 08:28 AM

Not possible. Even if you convert to Firewire, the USB will still be the limiting factor. Data can only travel as fast as the slowest link in the chain.

jwnulife · 12-08-2007, 08:49 AM

Thanks. It was suggested to me by one person to simply by a firewire enclosure case and swap out the hard drive. Any ideas on this?

cwtnospam · 12-08-2007, 08:55 AM

That's a possibility. I don't know about current drives, but I know that on older drives the chipset could be a limiting factor too. You'd get Firewire, but the throughput would still be limited.

jwnulife · 12-08-2007, 09:07 AM

Its probably a little over my head anyways. I'm not very mechanically inclined. So now the question is whether I should buy a new external hard drive with firewire (which I think would be cheaper) or an external dual dvd writer (my iMac can not read/write dual layer).

cwtnospam · 12-08-2007, 09:39 AM

That's up to you! They serve two different purposes. Any specific reason you can't use the USB drive?

12-08-2007, 07:20 AM	#1
jwnulife Prospect Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 28	USB to Firewire? I have a 2006 Lacie external hard drive with a USB cable. Does anyone know if it is possible to adapt the USB cable to a Firewire Cable and get firewre capabilities? Or does firewire have to be integral to the hard drive itself in order to function properly?

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12-08-2007, 08:28 AM	#2
cwtnospam League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 8,475	Not possible. Even if you convert to Firewire, the USB will still be the limiting factor. Data can only travel as fast as the slowest link in the chain.

12-08-2007, 08:49 AM	#3
jwnulife Prospect Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 28	Thanks. It was suggested to me by one person to simply by a firewire enclosure case and swap out the hard drive. Any ideas on this?

12-08-2007, 08:55 AM	#4
cwtnospam League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 8,475	That's a possibility. I don't know about current drives, but I know that on older drives the chipset could be a limiting factor too. You'd get Firewire, but the throughput would still be limited.

12-08-2007, 09:07 AM	#5
jwnulife Prospect Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 28	Its probably a little over my head anyways. I'm not very mechanically inclined. So now the question is whether I should buy a new external hard drive with firewire (which I think would be cheaper) or an external dual dvd writer (my iMac can not read/write dual layer).

12-08-2007, 09:39 AM	#6
cwtnospam League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 8,475	That's up to you! They serve two different purposes. Any specific reason you can't use the USB drive?