Can I daisy chain FireWire drives?

imickimick
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I have a new 20" 2.4GHz iMac. I used to use both firewire ports, but with the new iMac, I have an FW400 and an FW800 port. Currently, all of my devices are FW400. I have three drives that I'd like to use.

The external drives are:
  1. Adaptec external hd enclosure

  2. Mad Dog cd burner (w/LightScribe)

  3. Mad Dog external hd enclosure

No matter what I've tried, including re-positioning them, different cables, etc, I can only see the first device downstream from the iMac.



I'd like to get this up and running, even yet today, so that I can upgrade, finally, to Leopard. One disk will be my backup using SuperDuper. The other one will be for Time Machine.



So, my question is, FW can be daisy chained, right? If so, what could I be missing?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 2
    kingofsomewherehotkingofsomewherehot Posts: 4,180member
    I don't know why yours isn't working, but yes, FW can be chained. In fact, that's why most FW devices have two ports on them.



    I have a HD plugged into my mac, another HD plugged into the first, and an old iPod (FW interface) plugged into THAT HD... so a 3-item chain will certainly work.



    ooo... here's a thought...

    Are your drives powered by their own brick, or are they bus-powered?? The bus may not provide enough power for more than one drive. (Mine are all "bricked", except for the iPod.)
  • Reply 2 of 2
    imickimick Posts: 351member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by KingOfSomewhereHot View Post


    I don't know why yours isn't working, but yes, FW can be chained. In fact, that's why most FW devices have two ports on them.



    I have a HD plugged into my mac, another HD plugged into the first, and an old iPod (FW interface) plugged into THAT HD... so a 3-item chain will certainly work.



    ooo... here's a thought...

    Are your drives powered by their own brick, or are they bus-powered?? The bus may not provide enough power for more than one drive. (Mine are all "bricked", except for the iPod.)



    Each drive has it's own power supply.

    I wonder if the Mad Dog and Adaptec enclosures just aren't good quality.

    They work fine when plugged in individually though.
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