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Firewire Devices

Are there adaptors for Firewire devices to plug into Thunderbolt or USB ports

iMac, OS X 10.11

Posted on Mar 10, 2022 2:34 AM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Mar 10, 2022 3:06 AM

There is the earlier FW400 (IEEE1394a) and later FW800 (IEEE1394B) specification. Incompatible plug architecture. The only FW800 adapter sold by Apple is for Macs equipped with a TB1 or TB2 port. It is supported on these Macs:


Apple also sells a USB-C Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter that does not transmit power over the cable, so would not be appropriate for those FW800 devices that expect power from a cable connection when connecting these two cables. If your iMac has no TB3 port, then this is irrelevant.


There are FW400<->FW800 and FW800<->USB-A 2.0 dongles on Amazon, as well as FW400<->FW800 cables.


Stating the year of your iMac from Apple () menu > About This Mac would have been more helpful.



2 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Mar 10, 2022 3:06 AM in response to richardfrompacifica

There is the earlier FW400 (IEEE1394a) and later FW800 (IEEE1394B) specification. Incompatible plug architecture. The only FW800 adapter sold by Apple is for Macs equipped with a TB1 or TB2 port. It is supported on these Macs:


Apple also sells a USB-C Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter that does not transmit power over the cable, so would not be appropriate for those FW800 devices that expect power from a cable connection when connecting these two cables. If your iMac has no TB3 port, then this is irrelevant.


There are FW400<->FW800 and FW800<->USB-A 2.0 dongles on Amazon, as well as FW400<->FW800 cables.


Stating the year of your iMac from Apple () menu > About This Mac would have been more helpful.



Firewire Devices

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