I am moving from a 2010 Mac Mini to a new M1 Mac Mini. The old Mini has three USB, two Firewire and one Thunderbolt 1-2 inputs, but the new Mac Mini only has two Thunderbolt 3 and two USB ports. How can I best attach the Firewire drives to the new Mac Mini?
My Thunderbolt 1 drive easily attached via the Apple Thunderbolt to USB-C input, but I see no equivalent adapter for a Firewire drive.
Mac mini, macOS 10.13
What FireWire drives? If they also have a USB ports, then using their USB connection would be better than using a chain of adapters.
To go from USB-C to FireWire 800 you will need two Apple adapters.
What FireWire drives? If they also have a USB ports, then using their USB connection would be better than using a chain of adapters.
To go from USB-C to FireWire 800 you will need two Apple adapters.
I had many old Firewire docks and drives as well as an old DV camcorder when I got macMini 2018. With those two daisy chained clumsy FW-Thunderbolt adapters the FW connected HDDs worked OK. Also the now retired DV camcorder mainly worked with iMovie HD 6 via FW.
But there were intermittent few second random blackouts in the Thunderbolt LG Ultrafine 4K monitor. I suspected that the FW drives provoked that so in the end I bought a Dual Dock OWC USB-C drive dock for those old SATA HDDs and it works great with greatly reduced cable clutter.
Firewire was great but at some point it is time to move on.
Thanks everyone for responding. In the end I realized I did not have to completely retire my old Mac Mini so it is functioning as a server to the new Mac Mini and has all its old Firewire drives fully functional. It is just hard to retire what seems to be a good piece of equipment, there's enough waste in the world as it is. The newer drives are certainly with far more storage capacity so I will just migrate at my leisure. I did order the new mini with enough flash storage to eliminate a couple drives. The other missing input on the new mini is an analog line in, it seems to have just a headphones out. Enjoy the growing optimism in our new year !
Thanks for the TRRS reference. The old mini's stereo analog line input is another reason why I decided to keep it around, at least until I get through the rest of my priority vinyls and a few treasured family history cassettes. FYI I use Sound Studio and Click Repair in tandem on the vinyls.
Cheers all.
I totally agree and use a 2011 Mac Mini as a file and media server.
Yea' all new Mac's have only one audio port that supports both output and input using a single TRRS jack.
see > https://www.cablechick.com.au/blog/understanding-trrs-and-audio-jacks/
It basically only works with Headsets/Mic combos that support TRRS jack ports.
You're best bet for audio input, is to just get and use a USB Audio adapter or compatible DAC.
Yup' I retired a few FireWire drives some years ago. I did luck out on an OWC MiniStack, that also has USB 3.0.
You're welcome.
Firewire to thunderbolt 3
