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    Firewire

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by meyers, Mar 28, 2006.

  1. meyers

    meyers Notebook Guru

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    Okay my new external hard drive has firewire and tried to plug it into the side port on my Inspiron 9300. BUT it doesnt recognize it or even attempt to recognize it. Any Ideas?
     
    meyers, Mar 28, 2006
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  2. Arla

    Arla Notebook Deity

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    Firewire can be tricky

    Few basic questions.

    1. Does the drive have USB too? Have you tried that (did it work?)
    2. Are you sure the drive has power (have you checked that the drive spins up).
    3. What kind of cord are you using? I originally had a 4pin to 6pin cord that worked fine, then I started using a 6pin-6pin cord with a 6-4pin converter and discovered that the converter was broken (I got a new converter and it worked fine).

    Edit: Corrected spelling of drive
     
    Arla, Mar 28, 2006
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  3. Ice-Tea

    Ice-Tea MXM Guru NBR Reviewer

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    Hi there,

    FW comes in power classes. The highest delivers 12W, but as you can imagine very few lappies provide this as that is about the consumption of the entire laptop ;)

    So, as Arla suggested, check if the device is powered. If there's an option to provide external power, do so.

    Ice-Tea
     
    Ice-Tea, Mar 28, 2006
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  4. tullnd

    tullnd Notebook Evangelist

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    Also...as noted about the 4pin connector...most drives come with a 6pin-6pin cable...so either an adapter or replacement cable is required. The cheapest of 6pin-4pin cables I found on sites like Newegg and such had a lot of problems. I went for middle of the road(about $12) and was finally successful.
     
    tullnd, Mar 28, 2006
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  5. olyteddy

    olyteddy Notebook Deity

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    4 pin provides no power. FW can actually be used for up to 48 watts or so. At least according to WikiPedia.
     
    olyteddy, Mar 30, 2006
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  6. Shampoo

    Shampoo Notebook Deity

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    Ooooo, good info, I don't know much about firewire and this has been helpful.

    Thanks guys~!
     
    Shampoo, Mar 31, 2006
    #6