2010 iMac and Drobo

Question

2010 iMac and Drobo

I have a 2010 27" iMac which means USB2 and Firewire 800 port. I just bought a Drobo 5D which supports USB3 or Thunderbolt. I bought the Apple Firewire to Thunderbolt adapter cable but my iMac, running OS X Yosemite, doesn't see the Drobo when connected through the adapter cable. If I plug it into a USB2 port, the iMac and Drobo Dashboard see the device right away. The Firewire port works because I can reconnect one of my old LaCie external HDs and it connects right away. I suspect this is a problem with the adapter cable itself. Anyone else seen this issue? Any resolutions? I really I am not in the market for a new iMac right now as much as I'd like one.

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Mar 31, 2015 1:31 PM

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Answer 1

mende1

Level 10

93,538 points

Mar 31, 2015 1:36 PM in response to kentmcpherson

Your Mid 2010 iMac does not have any Thunderbolt port. Instead, it has got Mini DisplayPort, which uses the same port as Thunderbolt but it is only valid for audio and video transfer, not data. This is the reason why you cannot connect your external drive through that port.

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Answer 2

Mar 31, 2015 1:38 PM in response to mende1

No, you missed how I'm connecting it. I am using the Firewire port from the iMac via Firewire cable to the Firewire to Thunderbolt converter cable to the Drobo Thunderbolt port. It should work but of course, it's not as yet.

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Answer 3

mende1

Level 10

93,538 points

Mar 31, 2015 1:42 PM in response to kentmcpherson

Oops, sorry. Anyway, looking at the information provided by Apple, the Thunderbolt to FireWire adapter is designed to be used with Thunderbolt Macs (in other words, connect the Thunderbolt connector to the Mac, and the FireWire connector to the external drive through a cable).

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Answer 4

Mar 31, 2015 1:43 PM in response to mende1

And the reverse direction does not work??? Where is that published?

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Answer 5

mende1

Level 10

93,538 points

Mar 31, 2015 1:45 PM in response to kentmcpherson

You can check it in the description at the Apple Online Store -> http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD464ZM/A/apple-thunderbolt-to-firewire-adapte r

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Answer 6

Mar 31, 2015 1:49 PM in response to mende1

Well it sure would be nice if Apple CLEARLY spelled out that going in the other direction DOES NOT WORK. I now have an $900 investment in a Drobo 5D that I'm stuck using USB2. Ugh.

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Answer 7

Mar 31, 2015 1:49 PM in response to kentmcpherson

Simple rule with ThunderBolt adapter: attach ThunderBolt connector to ThunderBolt port on computer then the other end of adapter can be connected to whatever bus structure it supports.

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Answer 8

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,376 points

Mar 31, 2015 1:51 PM in response to kentmcpherson

Kent,

You really should be talking to Drobo's tech support, it's their product and they would know which connections work best. Tell them the outputs your iMac has then they can match up the best solution for you.

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Answer 9

Mar 31, 2015 1:51 PM in response to kentmcpherson

We are always here to answer your questions before you spend any money at all.

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