Problem: mounting multiple Firewire devices

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Problem: mounting multiple Firewire devices

I'm using a Mac Pro (early 2009) which has 4 Firewire ports.

Today I connected two Firewire Compact Flash readers (I want to be able to export files from two cards at the same time). The first CF card mounted properly. When I put the second CF card in the second Firewire CF reader it caused both readers to crash. The error message reads that I didn't disconnect the card reader properly (which doesn't make any sense).

Does anyone know what the problem is?

Posted on Feb 5, 2013 4:17 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 5, 2013 8:26 AM in response to amoergosum

There is a limited amount of Power to run external devices. Bus-powered devices may be quite limited in their ability to be chained together. You could try them on separate cables, one in front and the other in the back, but the real solution is to get external power supplies for them.

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Answer 2

amoergosum Author

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Feb 5, 2013 8:40 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

That's what I was referring to...I've tried to connect each FW reader with separate cables to two FW ports.

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Answer 3

Feb 5, 2013 9:29 AM in response to amoergosum

There is a separate power "budget" for the front ports as a group and for the back ports as a group. Try one drive in front and one drive on the back.

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Answer 4

amoergosum Author

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Feb 5, 2013 11:19 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I've just tried that...same issue.

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Answer 5

amoergosum Author

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Feb 12, 2013 2:34 AM in response to amoergosum

Ok, I just found out what the problem is.

The Firewire readers which I use (Hama Traveldrive) have the same ID.

That's why the Firewire bus crashes once I insert the second CF card in the second reader. I just sent the support an email and asked if it's possible to manually change the device ID.

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