How to daisy-chain an iPod to my ext. FireWire drive?

February 20, 2008 3:17 AM

Daisy-chaining my iPod to my ext. Firewire drive -- I can't seem to get this to work.

I've got an external Firewire drive hooked directly to the MacBook. When I connect (daisy-chain) my 3G iPod to the external drive, the iPod powers up for a second and then abruptly shuts down.

Is it a case of not enough power throughout the chain? If so, which one's to blame, the MacBook (for not giving enough power from the start) or the ext. drive (for consuming too much power)?

Is there something I can try to have the two working together simultaneously, or do I have to buy a Firewire hub?

(And a rhetoric question: if you can't daisy-chain two Firewire devices on a modern computer, how are you supposed to connect up to 63?)

Thanks in advance for your help!

posted by kchristidis to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

It does sound like a case of not enough power; can you plug the AC adaptor into the Firewire drive? Newegg lists that one was included (or at least available).
posted by Remy at 4:22 AM on February 20, 2008

External hard drives are notoriously power hungry. Most come with funny double connectors so that they can suck juice from two ports instead of just one. This sounds like the problem to me: the drive is sucking all the power out of the port and Mr iPod isn't happy about it.

As said above, I'd suggest finding an external power source for either the external drive (with an AC adapter) or for the iPod (you used to be able to get a combined firewire AND usb cable; one would do the data and the other would do the power).

Alternatively, just buy a USB cable for your iPod and connect it that way instead?
posted by jon4009 at 4:53 AM on February 20, 2008

It could also be a buggy controller chip in the enclosure.
posted by nathan_teske at 6:44 AM on February 20, 2008

Best answer: I do this all the time with my PowerBook, but my drive doesn't have the same port set as yours. Mine has two full size, 6 pin FireWire ports on the back.

Assuming you're connecting that drive to your computer via the 6-pin FireWire port, there isn't another powered firewire port for your iPod. There's just a Sony-iLink-IEEE-1394-works-like-FireWire-but-only-has-4-pins-so-it-doesn't-provide-power port. I think you may need to explain which ports you're using with which device to get a complete answer to your question.

(If you buy an enclosure with multiple, regular FireWire ports on the back, you can daisy-chain to your heart's content.)
posted by bcwinters at 6:55 AM on February 20, 2008

Best answer: yeah, the 4-pin ports don't provide power (at all, that's what the 2 missing pins do). if you have a dualie cable (with both FireWire and USB - they're quite handy, especially for the 3Gs) and a USB power brick for the iPod you can make that work. also beware of flaky FireWire controllers.. one of my cheap FW cases doesn't like being daisychained to anything (it sits at the end of the chain now - fwiw, I have 4 drives hooked like that).
posted by mrg at 7:01 AM on February 20, 2008

Response by poster: Apologies for the belated (and that's an understatement) reply everyone. To address some of the points raised here:

- Remy: yes, the AC adapter is plugged into the Firewire drive (it doesn't work otherwise).

- jon4009: I do have a USB cable for the iPod but when I connect it that way to the computer, it drains the iPod's battery. Remember that the iPods can charge only via Firewire, when connected to a computer.

- bcwinters: that's it! I didn't know about that -- I connect the iPod to the 4-pin port (the only one that's free) on the drive so, as you say, no power is provided to it.

- mrg: thank you for confirming that the 2 missing pins are responsible for providing power; as I said, I wasn't aware of that.

I finally got a new enclosure with two regular 6-pin Firewire ports on the back, and everything seems to run fine.

Thanks again everyone!
posted by kchristidis at 8:31 AM on March 23, 2008