laptop 4 pin firewire to Ipod 6 pin

[spiff]

Hi, I have a Toshiba laptop with the IEEE 4 pin firewire connector and USB 1.1 plug in. Is there a way via an adapter to connect a the 4 pin firewire connector to the apple 6 pin connector? Any soulutions will be greatly appreciated.

Spiff

[ashawley]

Your iPod should have come with a 4pin to 6pin converter. It's a tiny little plug.

Adam

[spiff]

Thanks for the reply.

I haven't purchased the iPod yet. I will be doing that, this weekend. I am glad you have told me that the adapter/converter (4 to 6 pin) comes with it. None of the sales people have been able to tell me and they do not want to open up the box. Does the adapter come with either the 10g or 20g? I am still debating which one to get. Is there any real advantage with the 20g over the 10g other than the extra storage space? Is the docking port a must have?


Thanks
Spiff

[ashawley]

I personally recommend getting the largest you can afford. You will end up using that extra space.

I like the dock--the line out feature is nice.

They all come w/the converter. You may find though that you'll want to get a card that can supply power to your iPod. As they run out of juice quickly when uploading tunes.

You have two options w/a laptop:

1. Get a PCMCIA firewire that has an external power supply
2. Get a PCMCIA firewire w/2 6 pin ports. One port connects to the iPod, the other port you connect to the iPod's AC adaptor (you'll need a second cable).

Adam

[spiff]

Thanks once again for your reply.

Am I able to download to the Ipod using the 4 to 6 pin adapter and using the power adapter to power up the Ipod so I don't drain the batttery?

[cartmansipod]

http://www.sik.com/firejuice.php

[spiff]

Thanks for the link. It looks like at the moment they dont have a cable for the new Ipods but will be coming out with one soon. I am assuming this cord with take the 4 pin firewire from my note book plus a USB connection from my laptop to provide power and then this all connects to the 6 pin connector for the Ipod. Is this correct?

Thanks
Spiff

[teardrop]

I don't think so. the firejuice and most of the options don't use the usb at all.. I believe, in your case, you will need to purchase the cable with one 4-pin and one 6-pin. plug the 4-pin to laptop and 6-pin to a dock convertor (I think it's called pocket dock). Then connect the apple power supply to the firejuice (using another 6-6pin f/w cable.Phew. You basically have a 3-way connection (laptop, ipod, power supply coming together in the white box thing)

HOWEVER, I also have a toshiba laptop and you will have ABSOLUTELY NO problem with iPOD straight out of the box. Just plug the cable straight to your the 4pin convertor and connect to laptop. Saying that it is a hassle unplugging from laptop and replugging in to power subbply for charging. Also the battery runs down QUICKLY when doing major updates. (you can't power the ipod while downloading this way)

Best thing to do is get the stuff Adam mentioned above. or also get a powered Firewire Hub (my config). I think you can also get the USB2.0 cable from apple. Plug usb into laptop and power supply into f/w. But this will mean SSSLLLOWW transfer rate.

My recommendation is to by the thing first (bigger hdd the better). After playing around with it you'll figure whether you want to trying some of the alternative powering methods. (you'll find it better but beware cables galore ;)

[spiff]

Thanks for the reply. I have a 20 gig Ipod on hold and will pick it up tomorrow. Hopefully it will be an enjoyable day tomorrow ;)


Cheers

Jon

[Jrbmoran]

on a semi-related issue: I have a Dell Latitude (C600 i believe) PC which doesn't have a FireWire port. How do I connect my 3g 10gb iPod? I know I need a USB adaptor, 2.0 preferably- but do I have to buy a dock? The Apple site is a little unclear on this.

Adam, I'm looking at you here :-)

[Shadow]

No dock needed. You'll just need the USB cord from Apple. It has both a firewire and a USB plug on it. The cord will plug into your iPod and the firewire plug will go to your AC adapter (comes with iPod) to give it power and the USB plug will go to your computer for file transfer/sync.

The dock just allows your iPod to stand up instead of just laying on your desk. And it provides a line out port so you can easily connect it to an external stereo/speakers if you want.

[Jrbmoran]

Thanks a lot, Shadow. Guess I just got confused when they were calling it a "dock connector."

[kiwi]

Originally posted by ashawley
2. Get a PCMCIA firewire w/2 6 pin ports. One port connects to the iPod, the other port you connect to the iPod's AC adaptor (you'll need a second cable).

Is this OK to do? No power problems on the firewire bus?

kiwi