Firewire USB adapter

JayC

JayC

5 kids,3 dogs,only 1 wife
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I run a Minolta Dimage Scan Multi Pro with a firewire connection. I am looking at buying a MacBook Pro that does not have a Firewire port. Will this scanner function with an adapter or special cable that has firewire on the scanner side and USB on the computer side?
Thanks
 
Apple sells a reasonably affordable Thunderbolt to Firewire converter cable that is supposed to work with the Nikon scanners. I don't know about the Minolta.
 
JayC said:
I run a Minolta Dimage Scan Multi Pro with a firewire connection. I am looking at buying a MacBook Pro that does not have a Firewire port. Will this scanner function with an adapter or special cable that has firewire on the scanner side and USB on the computer side?
Thanks
Click to expand...

You want the Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter.

I don't know of any good FW to USB adapter solutions.

If you buy a Thunderbolt 27" Display to use with your MBP, it includes FW protocol adaption and FW800 port as well.

G
 
sevo said:
Apple sells a reasonably affordable Thunderbolt to Firewire converter cable that is supposed to work with the Nikon scanners. I don't know about the Minolta.
Click to expand...

It works fine with all self-powered FW devices. I use it with the Nikon Super Coolscan 9000 and several different disk drives. Some bus-powered devices are not compatible because they draw too much amperage (the Thunderbolt spec does not supply as much power as FW800).

G
 
Godfrey said:
I don't know of any good FW to USB adapter solutions.
Click to expand...

The two protocols aren't particularly suitable for conversion, and Firewire ports were still present on most new notebooks for years after the last Firewire devices were released - and Firewire PCI and PCI-E cards still can be bought for very modest prices. So there hasn't ever been enough market for a properly working device. The $10 so-called "USB to Firewire" cables all over Amazon are not active converters but merely plug adapters, and can only be used on devices that speak USB over Firewire (some older lower end camcorders and cameras that lacked a USB port piggybacked a USB capability into its mini Firewire socket).
 
I ended up using an old IBM thinkpad with my Artixscan. I don't have a Mac.
The thunderbolt to FireWire should be the solution for you.
 
Thanks for the Thunderbolt info. I am (soon to be) new to Mac and know very little.
 
Godfrey said:
It works fine with all self-powered FW devices. I use it with the Nikon Super Coolscan 9000 and several different disk drives. Some bus-powered devices are not compatible because they draw too much amperage (the Thunderbolt spec does not supply as much power as FW800).

G
Click to expand...

The Thunderbold adapter doesn't proved as much amperage and doesn't provide as much voltage. This limits its compatibility with some bus-powered devices but shouldn't hamper the use of self-powered devices (e.g. most scanners).

There is a second limitation with the adapter. It only supports a small number of chained devices (I think the limit is 7) whereas FW allows a much larger chain. A single scanner or chaining one scanner with 1-2 HDs shouldn't be an issue.
 
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