Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adaptor

Reviews for Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adaptor

Customer Reviews and Ratings

3.0 out of 5 stars

Based on 58 reviews

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Very disappointed

    • Written by from Los Angeles

    Bus power is too low. I'm a photographer and need to daisy chain 2 drives on set, without AC power like I did when running firewire in the past. Very poor design that doesn't consider professionals.

    21 of 22 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Worked at first... Now, not so much

    • Written by from Baton Rouge

    Disappointed. If you are going to take it off of the computer, make an adapter that works. Apple was famous for FW800! Now clearly they could care less. Supppperrrr spotty using G-Drives. Killin me here.

    Sincerely,

    A professional user. (not a soccer mom)

    15 of 16 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Drives 'drop' while connected

    • Written by from San Francisco

    Drives mount when connected, then drop after 5 or 10 minutes. This has been tested on two different drives (one bus powered and one powered). Total frustration with this product.

    16 of 16 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Does not work with MiniDV camera

    • Written by from Calgary

    I bought this cable hoping I could get old video off my MiniDV camera tapes so I could edit it in FCPX and then get rid of the tapes. I have the camera turned on and FCPX does not recognize it. The camera does not appear under "Cameras" in the media import. I'll be returning the cable. Guess I'll have to capture using my ancient laptop that has a firewire port.

    27 of 29 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Simply does not work at all!

    • Written by from Henrico

    I'm on my second TB/FW adapter. With the first, my G-Drives would randomly unmount themselves constantly, sometimes while I was actively using them. After exchanging the adapter, neither of my external drives will mount at all!

    Both G-Drives worked flawlessly through a FW800/FW400 cable on my late-2006 iMac for years, and continue to work flawlessly through USB on my new 2012 iMac, but they're a couple of unresponsive bricks when connected through this useless adapter.

    I've been working with an Apple Senior Advisor for several days trying to resolve this problem, but I honestly believe Apple just has a junk technology they haven't worked the bugs out of yet. Either it's firmware, something in ML, or the hardware in the adapter itself is faulty, but a lot of people are having the exact same problem.

    Very disappointing!

    28 of 29 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Will not power external HD

    • Written by from CLARKSVILLE

    Forget trying to use this on a portable HD that doesn't have it's own power supply. It will not work. Does not provide enough power.

    15 of 18 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    underpowered

    • Written by from Portland

    This can provide only 7W to firewire devices. There are many, many devices that need more than this. You should absolutely check before buying to find out what your devices need in terms of power. Otherwise this is useless, as it is for me more than half the time.

    15 of 16 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Apple's losing their touch

    • Written by from North Canton

    I needed the FW 400 connector, didn't verify this one would work before ordering since there was only one option, and the adapter in the mail is only compatible with the FW 800 devices. I'm afraid that getting an adapter from 400 to 800 may cause compatibility/performance/driver issues which is the last thing I want to have to consider after a costly upgrade to thunderbolt. Working with Apple is feeling more like the PC world all the time. Good thing I have nothing else to do since I'm now on the hunt for a FW to FW adapter to go into Apple's Thunderbolt to FW adapter and hope that it works. Very disappointed.

    21 of 54 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Only one FW capability but there's two FW options?

    • Written by from Powder Springs

    I can't help but feel cheated and robbed by Apple..... they had no problems over the years selling me FW 400 and FW 800 devices yet this adapter only works with one of them. I can't even connect my older Apple iSight without now going out to find someone who sells a FW to FW adapter to go into Apple's Thunderbolt to FW adapter. pretty stupid if you ask me. Why didn't you include an adapter within the adapter if you're going to require it anyways?

    27 of 48 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Extremely disappointed

    • Written by from Houston

    This is for Firewire 800, the older G5 Firewire are not compatible and now I need another converter just to sync information and files from another mac. I have spent way too much money converting everything to Thunderbolt already and now I need a converter for the Firewire 400. I am disappointed in Apple Inc. and their Thunderbolt.

    21 of 38 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Thunderbolt to firewire adapter for older camcorder Mini DV (Panasonic)

    • Written by from Norwalk

    Previously used firewire 400 on old mac. Bought a firewire 800 cable 9-4 pin and adapter.
    New firewire cable worked in my daughters Mac Book Pro 2011. Imported video---so I know that part works.
    I added the adapter for my retina Mac Book Pro 2012.. I does not recognize camcorder.
    Either its the adapter or the imovie 11. Next I will try a different import program and see if it recognizes camcorder. I have so many old tapes to transfer!

    7 of 15 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Not working with (at least) RAID 0 FW800 drives

    • Written by from Washington

    I'm very disappointed with this cable. For whatever reason, my Late 2012 27" iMac will not recognize the self-powered FW800 externals that I have been working with for years. I'd love to know why.

    30 of 31 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Thunderbolt to FW 800 to FW 400 adapter does not support Hasselblad cameras

    • Written by from San Lorenzo

    Well dang... A brand new Macbook Pro Retina, new Photoshop, new Lightroom and I bought the 2 adapters recommended by Apple- Thunderbolt to Firewire 800, Firewire 800 to Firewire 400- to dump my 132 meg photographs onto my shiny new 16 GB Ram machine... Say What??
    NO GO!!! Oweeee. I called apple tech support, the guy runs a few PRAM reset programs and then proceeds to tell me to bring my new computer into an Apple store, the nearest one being about 7 hours round trip.
    Let me explain- the Thunderbolt to Firewire 800 adapter works great on my Lacie hard drives. The Firewire 800 to Firewire 400 works great on my older MacBook Pro Firewire 800 port to run the same hard drives. So I guess the adapters are fine.
    So WHY Can't the combination work together to run a powered Firewire 400 drive???
    I am irked as the Apple tech/sales guy who helped me put this computer together told me Apple had the solution when clearly it hasn't been sorted out yet.
    As I said back up there- DANG!!

    50 of 51 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Slower than USB 2.0

    • Written by from Baltimore

    Data transfer speeds were significantly slower using this adaptor compared to USB 2.0 to interface with an external HDD.

    35 of 38 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    No Firewire 400 if bus power is needed.

    • Written by from Madison

    I have an external FireWire 400 drive that does not require a power supply when connected to either a FireWire 400 or 800 port (with 400 to 800 cable). When I try this Thunderbolt to FireWire adapter with a FireWire 800 to 400 cable, it does not work. Apple should either put this in the description, fix the issue or sell a Thunderbolt to FireWire 400 adapter.

    33 of 33 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Having problems with bus powered drives

    • Written by from Lyndhurst

    I am a video editor. I own many FW800 drives. None of my drives that I use in the field work unless I'm connected to power. This is a major problem for me. When I'm in the field capturing footage and need to offload data to a drive, I have to use my old laptop.

    275 of 305 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    DOES NOT WORK WITH iOmega eGO

    • Written by from EL MONTE

    Well basically... It doesn't work with iOmega eGO. Lights comes on but no connection. This is probably my 5th review ever in my life so this shows how frustrated I am. I want people to avoid buying a hd in hopes of having this $30+ disappointment free up a usb slot... I opt out from getting a USB 3.0 drive to save up on the limited USB but that plan failed...

    Other people are having the same experience with HD that doesnt have a dedicated power supply.

    23 of 24 people found this useful

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