Powered 6-pin FireWire port

[malG]

I using an external FireWire hard drive with my desktop. Are there any notebooks (besides Apple) that have a 6-pin (powered) FireWire port?

Thanks.

 

[bacillus]

afaik for a 6 pin firewire port on a laptop you will need a firewire pcmcia card.

 

[pkme2]

There are firewire/USB adapters available for your external harddrive.

PCMCIA

 

[malG]

FireWire PCMCIA cards are useless because they do NOT provide power to external hard drives. Only built-in ports provide power.

 

[halfadder]

I saw an older Sager with 6-pin firewire. But for the most part, 6-pin powered firewire is pretty much an Apple Mac/PowerBook thing.

 

[vegetation]

Originally posted by: malG
FireWire PCMCIA cards are useless because they do NOT provide power to external hard drives. Only built-in ports provide power.

Yep, the adapter may include a 6 pin cable but it wont be powered. Fireport port power specs exceed that of PCMCIA, which is why you wont ever see it offered on such.

 

[plewis00]

Even if you could find it I don't know of any external hard disks that can take power over the Firewire bus. It offers a lot of power (isn't it something like 12V 1A) but a hard disk needs usually 12V and 5V with up to 1A on each line and that doesn't consider the Firewire controller as well.

Can't you use a combo Firewire USB unit and tap off the power from the USB (assuming you are using a 2.5" drive)?

 

[corkyg]

The simple answer to your question is "no." However, the Adaptec Duo-Connect PCMCIA adapter does have a 6-pin port and a 4 pin port, but to get full power from it, you must connect the external power module that comes with it. It connects on the side right next to the firewire ports.

 

[bearxor]

Don't Powerbooks/Macbooks have 6-pin powered firewire ports?

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: bearxor
Don't Powerbooks/Macbooks have 6-pin powered firewire ports?

Sure - that was stated in the initial question.

 

[malG]

The bottom line: No notebook (besides Apple) has a 6-pin (powered) FireWire port and FireWire PC cards are pointless.

Hence, how about the newer notebooks with ExpressCard slots? Would a FireWire ExpressCard be capable of bus powering an external 2.5" hard disk?

 

[malG]

I just receive a reply email from SIIG Support (makers of FireWire ExpressCard) and they confirmed that the FireWire ExpressCard does not provide power either. This sucks, FireWire is superior to USB 2.0 when it comes to external hard disks. I think its time I had a look at the new MacBook...