Firewire question

Do you think it would work OK to connect a FW tape backup drive through a FW hub? Thanks.

 

Don't why not. All a hub is, is a splitter for your firewire port on computer, as you can daisy chain several firewire peripherals to one port.

Roger

 

You should probably make sure its a 'powered' hub if your going to plug lots of things into it. (Well I know it helps with USB, probably the same principal with firewire)

 

This here should be adequate...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=990788&CatId=51

Granted it is a USB and a Firewire hub, and if you read all the specs you will see the it supports self-power mode (should have a power chord for plugging the hub into it's own wall outlet on your power strip/surge protector) and it also supports bus-power mode (which pulls the power through the upstream USB/FW chord coming directly from your PC to the hub). Personally, I recommend you use the self-powered option (which is what Matt was referiing to) so you don't have to worry about the peripherals connected to the hub getting the adequate power!! You will also notice in the specs that you can link up to 63 FW devices by daisy-chaining hubs!!

I know this particular product might not be exactly what you want/have, but I figured I would show you an example to better explain!!

Roger

 

So with a powered FW hub, any FW device should work?

 

Correct...but keep in mind that there are different connectors under the firewire standard...so make sure you have the proper connectors for your devices and hub!!

Here is a nice little 4 page FAQ (in PDF format) that will better help you understand all the important concerns with Firewire.

http://www.1394ta.org/Technology/About/Firewire_FAQ_PC.pdf

Roger