FireWire to USB-2 Adapter

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TaliesinSoft - 28 Oct 2005 20:01 GMT

A friend of mine has a USB-2 hard drive connected to her TiBook's USB port
which unfortunately is only USB-1. The problem is that the performance of
that USB-2 hard drive is miserable, running at about 1/30th the speed of a
comparably sized drive connected via FireWire. Is there such a thing as a
FireWire to USB-2 adapter, and if so, will it work to speed up the drive?

Thanks in advance for responses and/or suggestions.

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James L. Ryan -- TaliesinSoft

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Mark Haase - 28 Oct 2005 21:17 GMT

> Is there such a thing as a
> FireWire to USB-2 adapter, and if so, will it work to speed up the drive?
>
> Thanks in advance for responses and/or suggestions.

Never heard of one. My suggestion: take the HD back and get Firewire.

Otherwise, I'm sure there are USB2 upgrades for TiBook. It has a PCMCIA
slot, right?

|\/| /| |2 |<

mehaase(at)gmail(dot)com

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Odie Ferrous - 28 Oct 2005 21:45 GMT

> A friend of mine has a USB-2 hard drive connected to her TiBook's USB port
> which unfortunately is only USB-1. The problem is that the performance of
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> --
> James L. Ryan -- TaliesinSoft

Get a firewire enclosure, remove the hard drive from the old USB
enclosure and place it in the new Firewire enclosure.

It should all work 100% - I do it on a regular basis.

Odie

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Retrodata
www.retrodata.co.uk
Globally Local Data Recovery Experts

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Richard Kaszeta - 28 Oct 2005 21:54 GMT

> A friend of mine has a USB-2 hard drive connected to her TiBook's USB port
> which unfortunately is only USB-1. The problem is that the performance of
> that USB-2 hard drive is miserable, running at about 1/30th the speed of a
> comparably sized drive connected via FireWire. Is there such a thing as a
> FireWire to USB-2 adapter, and if so, will it work to speed up the drive?

Never seen one.

However, are they using the TiBook's PCMCIA slot? There are some
decent USB 2.0 PCMCIA cards that work under OS X.

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Richard W Kaszeta
rich@kaszeta.org
http://www.kaszeta.org/rich

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Thor Lancelot Simon - 29 Oct 2005 17:00 GMT

>> A friend of mine has a USB-2 hard drive connected to her TiBook's USB port
>> which unfortunately is only USB-1. The problem is that the performance of
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>However, are they using the TiBook's PCMCIA slot? There are some
>decent USB 2.0 PCMCIA cards that work under OS X.

No, there aren't; PCMCIA doesn't provide enough bandwidth for USB 2.

However, there are some Cardbus USB 2.0 cards that should work fine
under OS X.

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Thor Lancelot Simon tls@rek.tjls.com

"The inconsistency is startling, though admittedly, if consistency is to be
abandoned or transcended, there is no problem." - Noam Chomsky

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George Kerby - 29 Oct 2005 18:46 GMT

On 10/29/05 11:00 AM, in article dk06bq$a9d$1@reader2.panix.com, "Thor
Lancelot Simon" <tls@panix.com> wrote:

>>> A friend of mine has a USB-2 hard drive connected to her TiBook's USB port
>>> which unfortunately is only USB-1. The problem is that the performance of
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
> No, there aren't; PCMCIA doesn't provide enough bandwidth for USB 2.

Oh really?!? Well I guess what I have in my hand is an illusion.
http://www.iogear.com/main.php?loc=search
Model GPU202

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David Magda - 29 Oct 2005 20:13 GMT

> On 10/29/05 11:00 AM, in article dk06bq$a9d$1@reader2.panix.com, "Thor
> Lancelot Simon" <tls@panix.com> wrote:

[...]

>> No, there aren't; PCMCIA doesn't provide enough bandwidth for USB 2.
>
> Oh really?!? Well I guess what I have in my hand is an illusion.
> http://www.iogear.com/main.php?loc=search
> Model GPU202

The "CPU202" is a CardBus interface, not PCMCIA. While the pin outs
may be the same (or very close to each other), the underlying bus is
different.

To quote from the product description:

IOGEAR introduces the first Dual Port Hi-Speed USB 2.0 PCMCIA
CardBus card for Macintosh and PC notebook computers. IOGEARﾕs USB
2.0 PCMCIA CardBus card auto configures and requires no additional
drivers.

IOGEAR brings the cutting edge technology of USB 2.0 to your
Macintosh PowerBookor PC Laptop. You will enjoy the convenience
and newfound speed that has made USB an industry standard. IOGEARﾕ
s USB 2.0 PCMCIA CardBus card will allow you to easily add up to
127 simultaneous USB 2.0 and 1.1 devices. This device will fit
into any PCMCIA CardBus slot.

IOGEARﾕs USB 2.0 PCMCIA Cardbus card will fit the need of any
mobile professional who needs the speed and convenience of USB
2.0.

http://www.iogear.com/main.php?loc=product&Item=GPU202

Signature

David Magda <dmagda at ee.ryerson.ca>
Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under
the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well
under the new. -- Niccolo Machiavelli, _The Prince_, Chapter VI

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George Kerby - 29 Oct 2005 23:23 GMT

That's "G" NOT "C"
Specifically:
http://www.iogear.com/main.php?loc=product&Item=GPU202

IOGEAR introduces the first Dual Port Hi-Speed USB 2.0 PCMCIA CardBus card
for Macintosh and PC notebook computers. IOGEAR’s USB 2.0 PCMCIA CardBus
card auto configures and requires no additional drivers.

IOGEAR brings the cutting edge technology of USB 2.0 to your Macintosh
PowerBookor PC Laptop. You will enjoy the convenience and newfound speed
that has made USB an industry standard. IOGEAR’s USB 2.0 PCMCIA CardBus card
will allow you to easily add up to 127 simultaneous USB 2.0 and 1.1 devices.
This device will fit into any PCMCIA CardBus slot.

IOGEAR’s USB 2.0 PCMCIA Cardbus card will fit the need of any mobile
professional who needs the speed and convenience of USB 2.0.

Features

Fully backwards compatible to USB 1.1
Supports 32-bit CardBus PC Card Type II slot
Up to 480Mbps data transfer rate
Hot Swappable - Plug-n-Play
USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 compliant
2 built-in type A USB connections
No software needed
3 Year Limited Warranty

On 10/29/05 2:13 PM, in article m27jbw87cl.fsf@gandalf.magda.ca, "David
Magda" <dmagda+trace050401@ee.ryerson.ca> wrote:

>> On 10/29/05 11:00 AM, in article dk06bq$a9d$1@reader2.panix.com, "Thor
>> Lancelot Simon" <tls@panix.com> wrote:
[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]
>
> http://www.iogear.com/main.php?loc=product&Item=GPU202

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Mr. Uh Clem - 29 Oct 2005 18:09 GMT

> A friend of mine has a USB-2 hard drive connected to her TiBook's USB port
> which unfortunately is only USB-1. The problem is that the performance of
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> Thanks in advance for responses and/or suggestions.

Never heard of one, but would like one for my G3 iBook.
Now that Apple has abandoned firewire in iPods, maybe someone
will make one. A FireWire>FireWire/USB-2 hub would be nice,
but I'm not holding my breath.

Signature

Clem
"If you push something hard enough, it will fall over."
- Fudd's first law of opposition

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Mac Forum / General / Hardware / October 2005

FireWire to USB-2 Adapter