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Is there a FW800 to Thunderbolt adapter?

3K views 21 replies 12 participants last post by  hexdiy 
#1 ·
Hi

I know there are Thunderbolt to FW800 adapters. What I would like to do is get a few new external drives that are future proof. So ideally they would connect via Thunderbolt. My current MacPro doesn't have Thunderbolt, so I was hoping to run the new Thunderbolt drives via the FW800 ports, but can't find an adapter.

A drive with Thunderbolt and FW800 ports would also be nice, but I can only find Thunderbolt and USB 3.0.

Ideas welcome!
 
#3 ·
OK, I'm not a technical genius, so I'm wondering, Is the thunderbolt to firewire cable - one way?

I assume the connectors for each type of cable are identical fits for each end of their type.
ie: both ends of firewire are the same - both ends of thunderbolt are the same.

Therefore would a thunderbolt to firewire not also be a firewire to thunderbolt adaptor? It probably would run at firewire speeds but it might still communicate properly.

Maybe just wishful thinking on my part.

I think this would allow you to connect your firewire Mac to an even more expensive (than normal) external thunderbolt hard drive.
 
#6 ·
OK, I'm not a technical genius, so I'm wondering, Is the thunderbolt to firewire cable - one way?
I assume the connectors for each type of cable are identical fits for each end of their type.
ie: both ends of firewire are the same - both ends of thunderbolt are the same.
Therefore would a thunderbolt to firewire not also be a firewire to thunderbolt adaptor? It probably would run at firewire speeds but it might still communicate properly.
When you have a drive cable, there is a Host and a Device, so the cables can certainly be one way only. In the case of Firewire, there is a bridge board necessary to convert the Firewire signal to the SATA drive protocol. (You may have heard of 'Oxford' chipsets, that's the hard and firm ware that run the FW-SATA bridge)

The TB to FW adapter that Apple sells is NOT two way
"I purchased this cable to plug my 1TB Buffalo MiniStation Thunderbolt portable drive, into the Firewire 800 port on my older 17" MacBook Pro (which has no Thunderbolt ports). It didn't work. I called Buffalo tech support, who told me the drive will not work this way. It has to be plugged directly into a Thunderbolt Port. "

There is no way to generate the Thunderbolt data from the FW800 Host port, without a custom bridge board to do the translation.

A similar type of custom bridge is the Firmtek Spyder FirmTek SeriTek/SpyderHUB which will go from FW800 or USB to eSATA (admittedly, easier than Thunderbolt) which allows you to use an inexpensive eSATA enclosure rather than a Thunderbolt enclosure and get the same speeds (a single bay enclosure is limited to the maximum speed of the SATA drive.)
 
#15 ·
OP wants the opposite. To connect a Thunderbolt external drive to an old computer that has FW connections...
 
#5 ·
Here's an even better suggestion from:

Mac Pro & alternatives to Thunderbolt | Paul Joy – Freelance Filmmaker

"So what are the other options for the Mac Pro? I could go the eSata route but I’ve tried a Sonnet eSata card with my Drobo S and found it to be unreliable, the connectors for eSata are horrible as they pull out really easily with the slightest knock. USB 3 is another option, adding a USB PCIe card would provide a faster throughput than Firewire and there are USB 3 drive arrays but it’s still going to be very slow compared to Thunderbolt.

A much better solution for the Mac Pro is to install an SAS Raid controller card along with an external drive array. This approach will yield speeds that exceed Thunderbolt with access speeds of 700 – 900 MB’s a second. ..."
 
#7 ·
Maybe a bold suggestion for a workaround: buy a bunch of cheap external USB hard drives or some naked sata disks and a FW 800 Sharkoon dock for now (thus getting you the desired FW 800 functionality).
In the future, when time comes to change to Thunderbolt, just buy an empty external Tunderbolt enclosure, like this one (Just as an example, I know it is only meant for 2.5" drives): Thunderbolt Storage With Any 2.5" Hard Drive or SSD | StorageReview.com - Storage Reviews
Or maybe by that time they will have a Sharkoon Thunderbolt dock available...
And if you want to diy:
One side note for those interested in buying the Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt adapter for other uses, it is compatible with any standard 2.5-inch hard drive and SSD. The mounting is a bit crude since it has nothing to connect to besides the SATA power and data port, but it does work, and appears to the the cheapest, if not only DIY Thunderbolt solution on the market.
 
#9 ·
Maybe a bold suggestion for a workaround: buy a bunch of cheap external USB hard drives or some naked sata disks and a FW 800 Sharkoon dock for now (thus getting you the desired FW 800 functionality).
If you can tell me where I can buy this drive dock (or ANY FW800 drive dock for that matter) anywhere in north america, I'd be eternally grateful. Haven't been able to find anything so far.

A7
 
#8 · (Edited)
@ CanadaRam
Thanks for the explanation, makes sense, even to me
I appreciate your help.

@ psychodad
Thinking about your desire for "future proofing", I wonder if it's really possible. - In two or three years Apple could change the connectors (again) or all thunderbolt could be fibre optic or ....

I suggest going with firewire if that's what works with your machine now, and in the future pick up whatever adaptor is required. Chances are, your external drives will be redundant as all new Macs will come with a 10 petabyte Super solid state drive and no wired ports. :eek:

_______________________
Why worry, 500 years from now, who will know the difference?

Edit to correct spelling
 
#19 ·
Nothing wrong with the ' toaster style' is there? As long as it gets the job done...
Sorry, I'm from Belgium, we've never really had to worry where to source stuff. 40 Kms is in fact around the corner. Hadn't realised until about now...
 
#22 ·
Thanks, Chas, but I'm pretty convinced it was the former: adapting Thunderbolt external drives to FW 800 ports on an older Mac seems to be impossible. IllusionX indeed explained this very convincingly.
Oops, sorry! As often happens I did not read far enough!
 
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