Ableton Forum

Ordered a new 24" imac and was wondering if there is any huge need for a FW 800 ex HDD to host all my samples. Have a couple of 240gb's raided at the moment in FW 400 but am tempted by the 800 data transfer rate.
Is it really neccessay?
Thanks ladies/Gents

BUMP

Has no-one had experience with this?

necesary is the word causing hesitation.

in a word, no.

but that depends on so much that i would be glib in just saying that.

it depends. but 400 is fine unless you are actually experiencing hiccups.

OK - I'll be more specific.
This is a question about a potential purchase.
I am hosting Live 6 samples, Logic pro EXS samples and Reason samples.
My Comp has one fw 400 port and one fw 800 port.
The 400 port will have my firebox connected and I am going to connect either an ex 400 or 800 HDD on the 800 port. I assume the 800 port is backwards compatible. I am just about to recieve Live 6 and my Imac so I want to get the right drive straight up.
Now, any suggestions?

I have used fw400 on my powerbook for audio,
i use a 400-800 adapter so ican use a 400 drive on either port
and get the cheaper fw400/usb external boxes.
I have found 400 fast enough for audio.

when i get a MBP c2d and do video, then fw800 might be worth a try.

any one using fw800 and know about the difference?

dogma - wrote:OK - I'll be more specific.
This is a question about a potential purchase.
I am hosting Live 6 samples, Logic pro EXS samples and Reason samples.
My Comp has one fw 400 port and one fw 800 port.
The 400 port will have my firebox connected and I am going to connect either an ex 400 or 800 HDD on the 800 port. I assume the 800 port is backwards compatible. I am just about to recieve Live 6 and my Imac so I want to get the right drive straight up.
Now, any suggestions?

Yes, you might as well go for the 800, for the simple reason that audio hardware (at least in my experience) doesn't always play nicely with other devices in the same chain.

if i remember correctly, you can't run the firewire 800 port while something is plugged into the firewire 400 port...

at least you couldnt when i was trying to. (last year). i was trying to have my LaCie external 400/800 HD plugged into the 800 port while my MAudio Firewire 410 was in the 400 port.. NO GOOD.

what i ended up having to do was daisy chain: laptop-->firewire 410-->Lacie drive.

i dont think apple made it so both firewire (busses?) could run together.

i could be wrong, maybe there's been some firmware updates. but in either case, im runnin a macbook now which abandoned the 800 all together.

if you got an audio i/o that had firewire 800 capability, you could run an 800 daisychain , but i dont think you can do 400/800 together.

Really? That sounds odd. I'm going to have to get some info on this. I will share what I find. Why have two ports with different data rates and only be able to use one device at a time.

Just checked the apple website - the IMac has 15w shared for the firewire buses - so I Imagine the macbook pro's, being laptops dont have the same amount of bus power available to them for power conversation REASONS, ect.
Could be the reason