Greetings.
I have a bunch of old FW 400 drives and like to connect these to a thunderbolt port. anybody know of an adaptor or way of doing this? and if so would the drive need a power supply or would the FW cable still provide the power?
Would I still be able to start the MBP from a FW 800 disk using the FW to TB adaptor? or a FW 400 disk for that matter.
MBP, MM, MBP - 10.6 + Windooz XP on a hard partition
There isn't a Thunderbolt to FireWire 400. Instead, you have to get a Thunderbolt to FireWire 800 adapter, and a FireWire 800 to 400 cable, and it's not sure that it will work correctly. Respecting to the power, the external drive should come with a power adapter: if it comes with the power adapter, it needs a power supply, and if it doesn't come with a pwoer adapter, the FireWire cable provides power.
Apart from that, you can start your MacBook from a FireWire 800 drive using the Thunderbolt to FireWire adapter. Also, you shouldn't have any problem doing this with a FireWire 400 drive
An Apple Thunderbolt-Firewire (800) adaptor and a 9-pin to 6-pin (800-400) Firewire cable are all you need. Bus power should be enough for 2.5" drives, 3.5" drives usually require additional power.
Yes, the FW drives should be bootable using the adaptor provided that your machine can boot from their version of the OS.
Matt
Great thanks Matt
yes I have 2.5" drives. and the 800-400 adaptor.
thanks for the info!
You are welcome
thunderbolt to firewire 400, H2?
