janisneu
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: firewire adapter to USB, correct one

I'm still working on the old G4.  We do have in our parts bin a dvd/cdr writer player but it is USB.  What specs do I need to look for to use an adapter between the firewire and USB of the drive.   Walmart has several on their site but the specs are lost on me.

PowerBook, Other OS, identified as OS X10.5.8

Posted on Aug 2, 2014 10:05 AM

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janisneu

Q: firewire adapter to USB, correct one

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  • by KiltedTim,

    KiltedTim KiltedTim Aug 2, 2014 10:10 AM in response to janisneu
    Level 9 (56,622 points)
    iPhone
    Aug 2, 2014 10:10 AM in response to janisneu

    Why don't you just plug it into a USB port? Seems like the obvious solution.

  • by Allan Jones,

    Allan Jones Allan Jones Aug 2, 2014 10:21 AM in response to janisneu
    Level 8 (35,321 points)
    iPad
    Aug 2, 2014 10:21 AM in response to janisneu

    Be aware that you will not be able to boot the PowerBook from a USB drive if you need to reinstall the OS or do maintenace that requires booting from a CD or DVD.

  • by janisneu,

    janisneu janisneu Aug 2, 2014 12:01 PM in response to KiltedTim
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 2, 2014 12:01 PM in response to KiltedTim

    The USB external optical is not available on the laptop  not recognized or usable.  From what I have read an optical drive for the Powerbook will not work unless it is on the firewire ports.  There are two so I should ask adapter specs should I look for and which port should I use?

  • by Allan Eckert,

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Aug 2, 2014 12:06 PM in response to janisneu
    Level 9 (54,112 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 2, 2014 12:06 PM in response to janisneu

    The Mac will see the USB on the other side of the adapter and fail to install.

     

    To boot that PowerBook, it requires an optical drive connect via FireWire without any USB in between.

  • by janisneu,

    janisneu janisneu Aug 2, 2014 2:15 PM in response to Allan Eckert
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 2, 2014 2:15 PM in response to Allan Eckert

    I'm not looking to "boot" the laptop but students will need to read dvd's for classwork.   Will any firewire to USB work for that?

  • by a brody,

    a brody a brody Aug 12, 2014 4:30 AM in response to janisneu
    Level 9 (66,899 points)
    Classic Mac OS
    Aug 12, 2014 4:30 AM in response to janisneu

    Most should work if they are USB 2.  Note, the pre-September 2003 Powerbooks only support USB 1.1, which is really slow at only about 15 Mbps.  Use

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6413 to determine your Mac's age.

     

    For all 15" and 17" Powerbooks there are USB 2 PCMCIA cards if they are older, though they likely won't give enough power for computer powered optical drives.

     

    Not all DVDs are readable.  Some formatted Joliet or UDF may only work with other software:

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3003

     

    Some optical drives will require a special firmware to work with iDVD, or other Apple DVD based applications.

     

    Some DVD interactive content is only available to Interactual's DVD player for the Mac.   VLC Client offers some DVD compatibility that Apple's own does not.

     

    http://www.macsales.com/ sells external dvd drives that work with all Macs and all Apple software.


    As others indicated Mac OS X won't boot from USB DVD drives.