6pin vs 4pin firewire

Foreverain4 wrote on 11/14/2002, 8:26 AM

what is the difference between these cables? i have a friend that has a 4 pin connection on his laptop. he wants to run a (6pin) harddrive and capture video off this same port. will the HD work correctly going from 6 to 4 pin?

lynn
www.therecordinghouse.com

Comments

Former user wrote on 11/14/2002, 8:44 AM

6 pin carries a power and ground line. this is for devices that need to draw power from the computer rather than an external power supply. The harddrive will need a power supply to run on a 4 pin connector.

Dave T2

wcoxe1 wrote on 11/14/2002, 9:40 AM

Some Firewire drives need BOTH the 6-pin powered cable AND an additional external power supply. Don't leave home without it. The 6-pin cable by itself can't carry enough power.

Former user wrote on 11/14/2002, 9:44 AM

That might depend on the drive I guess. I am using a VST smarddrive with only the 6 pin and it works great. Check the specs on the drive or the manufacturer's homepage to see if an external supply is needed.

Dave T2

John_Cline wrote on 11/14/2002, 10:04 AM

DaveT2 is correct. If the laptop only has a 4-pin connector, the external Firewire drive will have to have its own power supply. (Which they usually do.) You will also need a 4-pin to 6-pin cable.

John