Customer Reviews and Ratings

2.5 out of 5 stars

Based on 10 reviews

  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Expensive

    • Written by from Ware

    Better to put the money towards a drive with FireWire 800 and Thunderbolt connectivity built in. That way all your old stuff will still work, plus you'll have a drive you can use when FireWire is no longer used.

    By the way Apple, as a pro user, FireWire is key to most workflows within the world of stills and video production, so not providing a FireWire connection on the new iMacs speaks volumes of how you now view users such as myself who have supported you through the years.

    14 of 14 people found this useful

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Very positive first impressions

    • Written by from WEST BYFLEET

    i was wary of buying this based on other reviews but glad I decided to give it a go.
    I am copying large amounts of data between drives and although my laptop has thunderbolt, nothing else I own does....!!
    I have managed to half my data transfer time by using this adapter with a Firewire 800 cable over the Usb 2 connection.
    I agree that the cable length is on the short side but i have not experienced any issues with the cable pulling out of the thunderbold connection.
    The price is high in my opinion but it functions well and does it's job (or at lease with the equipment i am using).
    Wish Apple would release a Usb 3 variant of this then I would have all my appliance covered for much better transfer speeds.
    In short; I would recommend this item.

    7 of 8 people found this useful

  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Pretty terrible

    • Written by from WINCHESTER

    I've been using this adapter for both my audio interface and external hard drive on a Retina MacBook Pro - It works, but it is REALLY sensitive to being moved. A tiny knock on the laptop and the connected device gets disconnected. Very frustrating on large import jobs into final cut pro x from a firewire external drive, it took about 5 attempts to move 90GB of data into FCPX. Using my laptop for performing live means that kit moves about a lot, and there is NO WAY i'd use this adapter in an important situation.

    A real shame, as everything else about the laptop and OS is off the hook awesome, but this really let it down from a professional standpoint.

    16 of 16 people found this useful

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Does what it needs to

    • Written by from Coulsdon

    I read a review which nearly put me off which said this cable fell out easily. That has not been my experience. I leave it plugged in with a firewire cable attached. If it was going to fall out, it would have done by now. I can see how repeated plugging in and out might do that, but not so far. It has done well.

    5 of 7 people found this useful

  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    This is the Alfa Romeo of adaptors

    • Written by from London

    By which I mean it's flashy, and when it works, it works great, but when it doesn't... you're left at the side of the road feeling sorry for yourself.

    I've been using this with a brand new iMac and I don't know how it's reached production with such a design flaw - the male thunderbolt connector is just far too short. It seems to fit in fine, although not particularly convincingly, to the back of my iMac, but as soon as it's got a Firewire lead on the end, the weight of the lead on the adaptor means that the adaptor slips out of the back of the imac just enough... and it disconnects in the middle of your transfer / install.

    No, I'm not touching it. Yes, it's firmly fitted to start with. It just falls out.
    Very frustrating. And not exactly ideal for either of your drives.

    Transfer speeds are good enough, and there's no problem with the FireWire end (well done Apple), for which I originally thought I'd award two stars.
    But then again, there's the fact that you HAVE to buy this thing because of the introduction of Apple Proprietary Data Transfer Protocol #345 (the artist formerly known as Thunderbolt). One star it is.

    10 of 12 people found this useful

  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    Seems to work well

    • Written by from Newcastle upon Tyne

    in response to the person saying it doesn't work with his motu 8pre..
    In case people are put off using this with audio interfaces, i have my retina MacBook Pro set up with this right now, using the adapter, with a firewire 800 to 400 cable going into the motu 8pre and it is all working perfectly using Logic Pro on Mountain Lion.

    22 of 22 people found this useful

  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    1 step forward, 2 steps back!!!!

    • Written by from LONDON

    WARNING! Does not produce enough power to run high capacity mobile drives i.e. the G-Tech G-RAID Mini...

    Luckily I tested it is advance of playing a gig at the weekend using Serato.

    Complete JOKE!

    I can't believe that Apple hasn't considered the fact that the majority of creative professionals need high capacity fast mobile storage.

    I suppose we now need to wait for 2Tb Thunderbolt enabled SSD drives which by my reckoning will cost more than the MacBook Pro!!!!

    75 of 91 people found this useful

  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Awful

    • Written by from Hornsey

    Doesn't work with my Motu 8pre the sole reason for purchase. Rubbish

    86 of 111 people found this useful

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great Product, Does no more or less than what you would expect!

    • Written by from London

    Bought this adapter to connect a WD My Pasport Studio external hard disk to a 2011 MacBook Air. Has no issues powering the drive and works just as if a firewire port was integrated into the MacBook.

    The only "issue" is that is takes a couple more seconds to recognise the Hard Disk using the adapter compared to connecting to my MacBook Pro with firewire.

    Does get a bit warm to the touch, but not at all hot.

    32 of 43 people found this useful

  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    not enough power

    • Written by from Kirkcaldy

    It does adapt the thunderbolt port to make it a firewire port, but it's not as good a Firewire port as you can find on any cheap old MBP from years ago. It lacks power, which means that some external drives and devices won't work and there is a limit to how many devices you can daisy chain.

    So we need an adaptor and this is the only one, but it's not Apple's finest hour..

    99 of 109 people found this useful