Firewire question for laptop

[ESPplayer7]

Hey guys, im have a firewire port on my laptop but its the 4 pin type (shaped kind of like a U) I need to get a hub for it because i need to hook up an external hard drive and my external sound card. Do i have to get a hub that has an input from my laptop that is a 4 pin or can it get translated through a wire that has 4 pin on one side and 6 on the other. Lastly which hub should i get, will different ones give different speeds? (only need two ports)

[fuzzrhythm]

You can use a 4-pin to 6-pin cable to hook up to a hub.

4-pin and 6-pin are both 400 Mbps.

[TimOBrien]

First 4 pins carry the data; the extra 2 pins carry power (which are not needed if the device plugs in the wall or has its own power supply).

If you interface has 2 firewire ports and supports daisy-chaining (it should but some some manufacturers dont support it; check your manual) you may be able to daisy-chain the interface to a hard drive. Firewire400 can support hundreds of simultaneous audio streams....

(Been using a 6-4pin cable on my Motu828mkII daisy-chained to a Glyph firewire drive to my laptop with zero problems.)

[The Black Circl]

You better figure out the specs on your laptop first. Have two sitting here right now with 4 pin 1394 in and neither of them can see the external device without the power supplied to the PC.

So I had to use usb until I get a better PC...

I used a 6 to 6 firewire cable with a 6 - 4 pin adapter going into the laptop

I tried it with 1 hard drive, 2 different firewire cables, 2 different 6-4 pin adapters, and 2 different laptops.

If you are saying that you have found a way to solve this problem by using a hub then please explain it in a little more detail. It would be extremely helpful.

[The Black Circl]

the dude from lacie said that my drive wouldn't get along with a hub - i forgot