Firewire 800 to USB 3.0 adapter in 2018

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fiedelfatz Author

Level 1

5 points

Firewire 800 to USB 3.0 adapter in 2018

I know there was a long threat about this topic a while back.

The quick answer was there is no such a thing:

Once again, there are NO, NONE FireWire to USB adapters.

Such adapters ADAPT the connection ends NOT the actual data transfer protocol!

However we know FW800 is faster than USB2.

So if I use an adapter from FW800 to USB3 the bottleneck is the FW800 port, correct?! So I should at least get the FW800 speed.

I'm on a mid 2010 MacBook Pro, which has USB2 and FW800 ports. My new portable drives are USB3.

USB3 to USB2 makes no sense, I get the slow USB2 speed. But with adapter like mentioned above I should at least get the FW800 speed, correct?!

Am I missing something here?

Thanks guys!

Posted on Sep 2, 2018 12:33 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

woodmeister50

Level 6

19,597 points

Sep 3, 2018 3:59 AM in response to fiedelfatz

Firewire and USB are simply not compatible in any way, shape, or form.

Also, since Firewire is pretty much a dead end technology, don't expect any

miracles.

Bottom line, a 2010 iMac simply has no way to take any advantage of USB3

speeds.

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Answer 2

fiedelfatz Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 3, 2018 3:10 PM in response to fiedelfatz

I get everything you guys are saying.

But I just wanted to know what speed I’m getting when I hook up a USB3 drive via adapter to the FW800?

Are u saying that the drive will not be recognized at all? Meaning the existing adapters (like on amazon) are completely worthless, even to just hook a USB3 drive up to the FW800 port?

So

1) will MBPro see the drive at all?

2) what speed will it be?

Thanks a bunch!!

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Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

207,166 points

Sep 2, 2018 2:29 PM in response to fiedelfatz

Take the drives back and get one with FW 800 ports like these from MacSales.com. Or......, get a new iMac that has USB 3 ports.

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Answer 4

dialabrain

Level 10

122,396 points

Sep 2, 2018 1:37 PM in response to fiedelfatz

Firewire and USB are different protocols. That's why there aren't adapters.

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Answer 5

dialabrain

Level 10

122,396 points

Sep 3, 2018 3:15 PM in response to fiedelfatz

fiedelfatz wrote:

I get everything you guys are saying.

Apparently not. You cannot hook up a USB 3.0 or USB 2.0 or USB 1.1 etc. to a FW800 port and have it work. You will get zero speed.

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Firewire 800 to USB 3.0 adapter in 2018

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