[HOWTO] - Use Firewire "target" mode

Originally posted by simX

Maybe someone could clarify this -- are there different kinds of 6-pin to 6-pin FW cords, some that carry power and some that don't? Also, is there a 4-pin to 6-pin FW cable adapter?
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Here's the logic for the 6-pin to 6-pin cable:
The port on every Mac is a 6-pin port. in order to plug each end into separate Macs, you need a plug that actually fits; 4-pin ends won't fit properly in a 6-pin port on your machine. The wire that carry power are probably just not used, or are somehow used for data, enabling fater data transfer. This also makes sense: even self-powered external drives use 6-pin, probably so there are more wires to communicate BOTH ways fast, while on a digital video camera only one way needs to be fast (camera->computer).
Just my 2©
 
Qoute:

"This also makes sense: even self-powered external drives use 6-pin, probably so there are more wires to communicate BOTH ways fast, while on a digital video camera only one way needs to be fast (camera->computer)."

On my camera i can import DV-video AND extract back to the camera using the 6 pin 4 pin cable..
 
Originally posted by MacWiz

On my camera i can import DV-video AND extract back to the camera using the 6 pin 4 pin cable..
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Ok, so that part of my post was wrong. It was just hapless guessing as to the reason Self-Powered HDs use 6-pin and DV Cameras use 4-pin. Here's some more: maybe the HDs are done that way for consistency, as the bus-powered HDs need 6-pin. DV cameras have their own power, and it is more space/volume efficient to use 4-pin on something that is held (perhaps it is also cheaper). thank you for responding with this detail, I actually had heard of this before, but not havng a DV camera myself I did not know whether or not some cameras use 6-pin to have this feature. That's good to know; I hope to get a DV camera in the next year:D .
Also:
Macintosh: How to Use FireWire Target Disk Mode

Important: Unplug all other FireWire devices from both computers prior to using FireWire target disk mode. Do not plug in any FireWire devices until after you have disconnected the two computers from each other, or have stopped using target disk mode.
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1. Make sure that the target computer is turned off. If you are using a PowerBook computer or iBook computer as the target computer, you should also plug in its AC power adapter.

2. Use a FireWire cable (6-pin to 6-pin) to connect the target computer to a host computer. The host computer does not need to be turned off.
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I have a beige G3 with a combo USB/Firewire card. I don't suppose I can use firewire target mode to transfer data from the G3 to a new G4?
John
 
theoretically you should be able to bootup from a CD, then connect your two macs w FW, and simply copy the entire content from one disc to the other (the bootup CD is to liberate the system files and make it possible for them to be copied). however, i suspect that you would need identical machines in order for this to work correctly - AND - i've never tried it out (but i will).

hope this is inspirational :)

zeppo
 
On a related note, why would you use Firewire transfer mode instead of Gbit ethernet? Firewire is theoretically 400Mbps (50MB/sec), while Gbit ethernet is 1000Mbps. All you need is a cheap crossover ethernet cable (Category 5 with RJ-45 plugs) and use Filesharing or Appletalk.

Note that real-world speeds will be a small fraction of these theoretical maximums, as most hard drives are much slower.

Using the Gbit method, I got around 12MB/sec using Mac OS X 10.1.3 (transfered 60GB in about 1.5 hours.) Does anyone have any benchmarks for these two methods of transfering files?
 
Firewire target disk mode has zero setup - just plug it in and turn it on. Also, what if your system won't start up? then network setup is inaccessible.
 
well, it's not all machines that have Gb ethernet...ex G3's. thats one thing. another point is that it is possible to clone wout erasing your image. there's a brilliant donateware program out called carbon copy cloner (www.bombich.com), where it is optional if you want to erase your disk before cloning over material/entire systems.

i set up a FW HD with different systems on different partitions, and then i just boot up from whichever image it is that i want to clone from, and clone the image to the appropriate drive.

hope this helps
 
Question: when I do FW "target" mode, the target disk doesn't always show up in my host finder.

Sometimes I log out and in and it shows up, but sometimes I have to reboot.

Anyone know what's going on? The Apple FAQ just says,
If the target computer's hard disk does not become available to the host computer, check the cable connections and restart the host computer.
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You can also access your optical drive as well as Hdd I target FW mode.
I have a G4 powerbook with superdrive if in Target FW mode I can access the optical drive on my G3 700 and use it as a DVD writer!!!
 
Yup. Also to boot from an installation DVD if a computer only can read CDs, not DVDs. Very useful for Tiger and newer, coz that doesn't come in CDs originally (have to send the DVD to Apple and order CDs instead, which takes too long...).
 
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