Do four or five (external) port pci firewire cards exist? at DVinfo.net

Jim Gunn · February 11th, 2004, 09:44 PM

Do four or five (external) port pci firewire cards exist and does anyone know where to order one? I currently have a two port firewire card that came with my new desktop connecting to a video tape deck and also a three port firewire card in another slot connecting to three external hard drives. But I need to consolidate these to one pci firewire card with either four or five ports so I can free up a pci slot for a Linksys wirelesss card adapter. Anyone have a url or other suggestion?

Jeff Donald · February 11th, 2004, 09:55 PM

Can't you daisy chain some of the FireWire devices or use a hub?

Rob Lohman · February 12th, 2004, 03:49 PM

My Maxtor firewire harddisk comes with two firewire ports so I
can chain more units. Doesn't yours? I think there is a firewire
"hub", but those are quite expensive I believe. The most ports
I've seen on a card is 3.

Jim Gunn · February 12th, 2004, 07:56 PM

Thanks for the suggestions. I use my three external firewire drives and firewire videotape deck for video editing , so I'm loathe to daisy chain them together for fear they will slow down and drop frames. (I've never tried.) But 6-port firewire hubs are reasonably priced so I'm bidding on one on E-bay now.

Jeff Donald · February 12th, 2004, 08:45 PM

I think hubs are more likely to drop frames than daisy chaining the drives together. I daisy chain drive frequently and rarely have problems. The problems are usually from the drives being too full and not the daisy chain (at least that's my theory).

February 11th, 2004, 09:44 PM	#1
Jim Gunn Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL Posts: 151	Do four or five (external) port pci firewire cards exist? Do four or five (external) port pci firewire cards exist and does anyone know where to order one? I currently have a two port firewire card that came with my new desktop connecting to a video tape deck and also a three port firewire card in another slot connecting to three external hard drives. But I need to consolidate these to one pci firewire card with either four or five ports so I can free up a pci slot for a Linksys wirelesss card adapter. Anyone have a url or other suggestion?

February 11th, 2004, 09:55 PM	#2
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	Can't you daisy chain some of the FireWire devices or use a hub? __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

February 12th, 2004, 03:49 PM	#3
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	My Maxtor firewire harddisk comes with two firewire ports so I can chain more units. Doesn't yours? I think there is a firewire "hub", but those are quite expensive I believe. The most ports I've seen on a card is 3. __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

February 12th, 2004, 08:45 PM	#5
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	I think hubs are more likely to drop frames than daisy chaining the drives together. I daisy chain drive frequently and rarely have problems. The problems are usually from the drives being too full and not the daisy chain (at least that's my theory). __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

February 12th, 2004, 07:56 PM	#4
Jim Gunn Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL Posts: 151	Thanks for the suggestions. I use my three external firewire drives and firewire videotape deck for video editing , so I'm loathe to daisy chain them together for fear they will slow down and drop frames. (I've never tried.) But 6-port firewire hubs are reasonably priced so I'm bidding on one on E-bay now.