Adding firewire to a Lombard: Is a PC card 100% reliable?

Question

Level 1

0 points

Adding firewire to a Lombard: Is a PC card 100% reliable?

I have a Belkin firewire PC card for my G3 Lombard powerbook (there is no built-in firewire on the Lombard), and I was thinking about connecting a Lacie Porsche hard drive using the firewire card.

But does anyone know if a connection like this is completely reliable? I'm going to use it for backing up data, and it would be terrible to discover at a later stage i.e. that some of the files have been corrupted.

Basically the Belkin card was made especially for Apple G3 powerbooks, for video importing and connection of firewire devices, so it should be ok. But on the other hand, Lacie suggest using native FireWire ports when possible...hmm...(??)

Thanks in advance for any advice on this.

Powerbook G3 Lombard, Mac OS 9.2.x, Also have a G3 Pismo running Tiger 10.4.11

Posted on Feb 7, 2008 3:31 AM

Reply

Answer 1

jpl

Level 7

28,285 points

Feb 7, 2008 9:46 AM in response to apple.pie

apple.pie,

Although not the last word on the subject, I have never read anything negative on the integrity of data passing through FireWire PC cards. Since I am not familiar with the Porsche HD, I will add this comment: Both FireWire and USB PC cards supply limited bus power; if the LaCie HD does not have its own power supply, the FW PC card will not run the HD. Portable FW and USB (2.5") HDs usually run just fine from built-in ports but not PC cards.

You will also have to install the FireWire drivers for 9.x while they are built-in with OSX:

FireWire Support
FireWire Enabler
FireWire CardBus Enabler

Reply

Answer 2

Feb 8, 2008 5:00 PM in response to apple.pie

It is no more reliable or unreliable than any other port as long as all devices connected have sufficient power to operate correctly. Of course limiting the amount of adapters also cuts down potential problems but here you don't really have a choice if you want to connect a Firewire drive to a Lombard. I have transferred files on countless occasions between my Lombard and my G4 through a Macally Firewire adapter and had no problems with data integrity.
Of course as always, if you are worried about your data , you should back up to other media as well.

Stewie

Reply

Answer 3

apple.pie Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 14, 2008 5:40 AM in response to apple.pie

Thanks for the comments JPL and Stewie, good good. - I marked this as unanswered, just in case anyone might want to add something later, hope that is ok. Thanks again.

Message was edited by: apple.pie

Reply