FireWire 400 to USB.

I have an old external hard drive with only FireWire 400 plugs. Are there functional adaptors to connect a FireWire 400 to USB? I bought one on Amazon, but it didn't work.

Posted on Mar 14, 2023 10:32 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 14, 2023 12:05 PM

Hi,


The only direct adapter from Apple was a Thunderbolt-to-FireWire 800 adapter.

Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter - Apple

In order to connect a FireWire 400 device, a simple FireWire 800 to FireWire 400 cable would be needed.

However, a computer using something like Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C would require a combination of adapters, and that would be entirely experimental. It may or may not work. A better way could be to buy an old Mac computer with FireWire 800 or 400 ports, and then transfer the FireWire hard disk drive contents via a network, a USB flash drive, or a CompactFlash memory card (via a PC Card adapter for CF and/or other appropriate card readers).

2 replies
Sort By: 
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 14, 2023 12:05 PM in response to dnellis68

Hi,


The only direct adapter from Apple was a Thunderbolt-to-FireWire 800 adapter.

Apple Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter - Apple

In order to connect a FireWire 400 device, a simple FireWire 800 to FireWire 400 cable would be needed.

However, a computer using something like Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C would require a combination of adapters, and that would be entirely experimental. It may or may not work. A better way could be to buy an old Mac computer with FireWire 800 or 400 ports, and then transfer the FireWire hard disk drive contents via a network, a USB flash drive, or a CompactFlash memory card (via a PC Card adapter for CF and/or other appropriate card readers).

Reply

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

FireWire 400 to USB.

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.