# 1394 Firewire to...what? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 11, 2014, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1394-firewire-to-what/698150 "2014-09-11T07:22:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![whc.03grady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@whc.03grady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whc.03grady)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1394-firewire-to-what/698150/1 "2014-09-11T07:22:51Z")
I have an older external hard drive with a bunch of family pictures on it. It has two 1394 Firewire ports and that’s it. My MacBook isn’t new, but it’s new enough not to have a Firewire port: it’s got two USBs and a “Mini DVI” port. [The only thing](http://www.amazon.com/IEEE-1394-FireWire-Female-Adapter/dp/B007DNHQPE/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1410418112&sr=1-1&keywords=1394+to+usb+adapter) I can find that looks to have the right connections is on Amazon and has terrible reviews. What to do? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1394-firewire-to-what/698150/2 "2014-09-11T07:39:58Z")
I’m thinking there might be some kind of USB docking station that has a firewire port on it, but that could be expensive. I’d look for assistance from someone who has a computer with a firewire port - transfer the files once, then sell or ditch the firewire drive. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1394-firewire-to-what/698150/3 "2014-09-11T07:43:22Z")
Does your Macbook have an ExpressCard slot? If so, you can get a Firewire thing for that. Or else unscrew the firewire case and use something like this to connect the drive inside to USB: > **[Amazon.com: Vantec CB-ISATAU2 SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter Supports 2.5-Inch,...](https://www.amazon.com/Vantec-CB-ISATAU2-Supports-2-5-Inch-5-25-Inch/dp/B000J01I1G)** > > The SATA/IDE-USB Adapter gives you the flexibility of connecting almost any type of drive to your computer via USB.  SATA, 3.5-inch IDE, 5.25-inch IDE, and 2.5-inch IDE drives are all supported and can be easily hot-swapped to your system.  The... Ugly but very functional. ---
**Author:** ![Mikahw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Mikahw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikahw)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1394-firewire-to-what/698150/4 "2014-09-11T07:43:49Z")
One way would be to open it. External hard drives are just internal hard drives with an enclosure around them. Once you’ve removed the drive from the enclosure, you can get an adapter to convert whatever interface the actual drive uses (either Serial ATA or IDE) to USB. Alternately, you might try calling up computer stores and seeing if they have a computer with Firewire available to transfer the files. I’m not sure what you’d transfer them to, though. If you have a big enough USB stick that would work. If it’s only a few pictures, you could always email them. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1394-firewire-to-what/698150/5 "2014-09-11T07:46:46Z")
Does your machine appear on the compatibility list for this device? [http://www.belkin.com/uk/p/P-F4U055/](http://www.belkin.com/uk/p/P-F4U055/) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1394-firewire-to-what/698150/6 "2014-09-11T07:50:20Z")
> [@Mikahw](#): > > One way would be to open it. External hard drives are just internal hard drives with an enclosure around them. There are exceptions to that rule - in particular, there are some where you would have to solder on the IDE or SATA connector yourself. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1394-firewire-to-what/698150/7 "2014-09-11T09:03:35Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I’m thinking there might be some kind of USB docking station that has a firewire port on it, but that could be expensive. I’d look for assistance from someone who has a computer with a firewire port - transfer the files once, then sell or ditch the firewire drive. Nothing that works ☹ I tried finding one as I have 2 great Firewire multichannel audio interfaces, but no longer have a laptop with Firewire - just USB. I even purchased a couple of Firewire/USB adapters, and returned them as they didn’t solve my problem. ---
**Author:** ![iljitsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/77aa72/32.png) [@iljitsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iljitsch)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1394-firewire-to-what/698150/8 "2014-09-11T09:13:40Z")
If you have a Thunderbolt port on your Mac you can get a Thunderbolt-to-Firewire adapter from Apple for $30. Edit: I think that one is FW800, so you’ll also need a Firewire 800 to Firewire 400 cable.