FireWire 800 extension cables.

[MamaMoose]

I spent the last hour searching the Internet for a Firewire 800 9 pin  female to 9 pin female adapter. I have several FW 800 male=male cables but none of them are long enough for my need. I need to go from a female port on a FW 800 hard drive to a female FW 800 port on my Mac which will be about 6 feet away,

So, I got the bright idea to find the above named adapter. No luck. There are FW 8900 male to male but they are about $35 for a 2 meter cable. I don't want to spend that kind of money when a could connect two cables together with a $3 to 4$ adapter. There are only  9 pin to 4 pin and 9 pin to six pin adapters.

Then I thought I could use a 9 pin to 6 pin adapter since the Hard drive is powered. Therefore, I would not need any power from the Mac itself.

If you are not exhausted by this long discourse, my question is:

Can I connect a powered FireWire 800 drive to a FireWire 800 port on a Mac Pro without having any problems. Will the 6 pin plug avoid connect to the power pins on the Mac Pro FW 800 socket?

Thanks for bearing with me,

MamaMoose

[sandbox]

I found a cable that would serve you purpose.
http://www.usbfirewire.com/Parts/rr-cfbextr-9902.html

This one is 72" but shorter ones are about the same price.

key words FireWire 800 Extension Cable, 9pin Male to 9pin Female
http://www.usbfirewire.com/firewire8001394b.html

$25 bucks though, but it will make use of your other cables and give you a lot more reach.

the hub http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_...=firewire%20hub

On the question of connection??? not sure, but if you can't ......this might be an option?

[MamaMoose]

sandbox,

Super thanks. 6' is about right as I have a setup where the Mac Pro sits in a homemade drawer and is underneath my computer desk. I ordered it and should get it next week.

What surprises me is that no one makes a powered FW 800 hub (there are FW 400 hubs). Maybe FireWire is coming to the end of its life with USB 3.0 supposedly "around the corner"!

MamaMoose

[krissel]

Tom, there are several FW800 hubs. Most have AC adapters included, some are optional.

This is the least expensive I could find. It is discontinued apparently but still available from two suppliers:

QUOTE

Addlogix FireXpress 800 Firewire Hub

Information:    Product details
Manufacturer:    Addlogix - See Site
Leading the latest DV and storage technology is the FireXpress800 3-Port Hub/Repeater for FireWire800/1394B devices. The FireXpress800 Hub/Repeater is an active device, designed to extend and expand the FireWire800 interface with additional ports and with longer cable distance. Backward compatible with FireWire400 (1394A) devices, the FireXpress800 Repeater is the best investment for DV and storage connectivity for today and the future. It's bus-powered, but also comes with an external power adapter, as well as five color faceplates to match other desktop equipment.

http://shop.tomatochip.com/product.sc?cate...p;productId=105

http://shop.internetvue.com/product.sc?cat...mp;productId=32

http://shop.internetvue.com/category.sc?categoryId=5  (other FW stuff that may interest you)

http://www.pccables.com/70928.htm

http://www.synchrotech.com/product-1394/fi...er-800-pro.html (listed on Apple product guide)

http://www.nitroav.com/product/113/ (mouse over photo gallery to see whole item)

http://www.networktechinc.com/hub-1394.html  (scroll down to find 800)

http://drbott.com/prod/db.lasso?code=2527-FWEH  (not sure about AC on this one)

[sandbox]

QUOTE(MamaMoose @ Sep 1 2008, 05:22 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

sandbox,

Super thanks. 6' is about right as I have a setup where the Mac Pro sits in a homemade drawer and is underneath my computer desk. I ordered it and should get it next week.

What surprises me is that no one makes a powered FW 800 hub (there are FW 400 hubs). Maybe FireWire is coming to the end of its life with USB 3.0 supposedly "around the corner"!

MamaMoose

As Chris has pointed out there are B (800)Hubs available but personally I think they're way overpriced.
Given that you didn't want to spend mucho $$$ I linked you to a less expensive option.
For me, iLike the cable extension.

[MamaMoose]

Kris and SB,

Thanks for the info. Wow! That's a lot of $ for the hub. I chose the less expensive extention cable as most FW drives have two ports so they can be vhained. One of the vendors showed the internal circuity of the hubs. It seems to me to go from 400 to 800 shouldn't require that much circuitry. It seemed more eleaborate than it should but I do know the IEEE standards so that may be the pronblem the designer faves.

Again thanks for the hrlp,

Tom

[Paddy]

As for hubs, unless you have a LOT of FW devices, why not simply add a FW card to your Mac Pro? Not as cheap as a hub, but a whole heck of a lot neater, with no additional power brick to worry about. I'm about to add an IOGear 4 port USB 2.0 card to my G5 because I'm tired of having the hub fall off the top of the computer (plus it's also my card reader, which I don't need for the G5 now since my Dell monitor has card slots, but I DO need for my MBP). I realize that the FW800 PCIe cards aren't quite as cheap as a hub and don't give you as many ports, but it's something to consider depending on your needs.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Apiotek/IE1007/

Or if you're looking for more FW 400 and USB 2.0 ports (I think Apple has always provided too few USB ports!) - this might be an attractive option:

http://www.provantage.com/sonnet-fwusb2-e~7SONT05J.htm