iMac Firewire 800 port - just ONE?!

Hi guys, i'm going to upgrade my old G5 iMac soon to a new model, but looking at the specs, I see:

* One FireWire 800 port; 7 watts
* Four USB 2.0 ports
* SDXC card slot

Is there a way of expanding this to two Firewire ports? Is there a kind of hub you can get?

Any suggestions welcome.

The iMac only has one FW800 port. You may be able to use a FW800 hub to provide the extra ports. Be warned - they're not inexpensive. See the following LINK.

Firewire can also be daisy chained - so any ancillary items you purchase - may have 2 (for instance an external HDD) and you can keep daisy chaining FW devices that way.

Daisy chaining is the way to go. The only problem is finding a device that has two ports. I searched high and low here in DFW area for a large FW800 hard drive that could be daisy chained but couldn't find one. I finally had to settle for a triple interface drive instead.

I bought a Firewire 400 Hub some time back. When I got my iMac I simply purchased a FW 800 to FW 400 cable and plugged it into the iMac and the hub (you can buy adaptors that will plug into the iMacs 800 port and use a 400 cable as well). I've daisy chained 4 DVD/CDRW FW 400 drives off one port and 5 FW 400 Hard Drives in another port. Seems to work pretty well. I could have daisy chained them all together but this was easier for my current setup.

For me it was easier to stick with FW 400 since all of my peripheral devices are FW 400 anyhow. Upgrading to FW 800 would be more money than I am willing to spend at this point.

chscag said:

Daisy chaining is the way to go. The only problem is finding a device that has two ports. I searched high and low here in DFW area for a large FW800 hard drive that could be daisy chained but couldn't find one. I finally had to settle for a triple interface drive instead.

Click to expand...

Really? What brands were you looking at? My WestDig has 2, G-Tech drives have 2 and I think I have seen some Seagate drives with 2 ports.

It probably has to do more with where I looked: Best Buy, Fry's, Office Depot, Staples. There are drives available on line but none that were stocked locally.

I have an older Western Digital RAID drive that has dual FW800 ports, one of the original MyBook series. I can easily believe that local stores don't carry many FW drives, since most PC users aren't away that they are so much better than USB drives.

Stretch said:

I have an older Western Digital RAID drive that has dual FW800 ports, one of the original MyBook series. I can easily believe that local stores don't carry many FW drives, since most PC users aren't away that they are so much better than USB drives.

Click to expand...

You're better off buying a case and slapping a drive in it if you want FW capability. FW drive cases are available at places like Fry's.

My new WD Studio Lx has twin 800 ports.