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+--- Thread: Steve responds to Mac user's email regarding lack of FW on new MBs (/showthread.php?tid=64296)
Re: Steve responds to Mac user's email regarding lack of FW on new MBs - Robert M - 10-17-2008
Article,
True but your focus was on bootable backups.
Robert
Re: Steve responds to Mac user's email regarding lack of FW on new MBs - 3d - 10-17-2008
Article Accelerator wrote:
[quote=3d]
In the 6 years i've owned a 17" powerbook with firewire. I've used the firewire port exactly zero times. My OWC external HD i use for backups has USB2.
Are you making a bootable backup? If so, why?
Bootable? Not sure. I use SuperDuper to back-up photos and iTunes.
Re: Steve responds to Mac user's email regarding lack of FW on new MBs - 3d - 10-17-2008
N-OS X-tasy! wrote:
[quote=kj4btkljv]
[quote=3d]You have DOZENS of FW based harddrives? DOZENS?? Yikes. I have 1 external for backups.
Yep. I haven't counted them lately, but I'd bet it's close to 30 that I'm responsible for.
A previous client of mine (author and documentary maker) had a dozen FW drives hanging off of her Mac, all with active Final Cut Pro files; as she filled up her most-recently purchased drive, she would simply send her assistant out to purchase another and add it to the end of the daisy chain. I tried more than once to get her to move to a high-capacity RAID solution, but she wouldn't have it, as the FW daisy chain "just worked."
Would this client seriously consider working in Final Cut Pro on a 13" MacBook if it had FireWire? A 13" laptop is TINY.
Re: Steve responds to Mac user's email regarding lack of FW on new MBs - Article Accelerator - 10-17-2008
Robert M wrote:
True but your focus was on bootable backups.
Exactly. If the poster is making them on a USB drive for his PB, the effort is futile.
Re: Steve responds to Mac user's email regarding lack of FW on new MBs - DaviDC. - 10-17-2008
Years ago I upgraded my 1st iBook in order to get USB 2.0. Firewire was nice to have for Target Disk Mode but that's all I ever used it for.
Were Mac users outraged when the floppy drive was omitted from the original iMac?
Re: Steve responds to Mac user's email regarding lack of FW on new MBs - MacMagus - 10-17-2008
> Were Mac users outraged when the floppy drive was
> omitted from the original iMac?
At that point, it had been several months since the last time I needed a floppy disk.
I use FireWire every day.
My office has turned away MacBook Air customers because the lack of FireWire makes it too costly a proposition to support them. It's presently done on a case-by-case basis, but we've discussed refusing all MacBook Airs as a firm policy. Nobody wants to go out on a service call that involves a sick Air. Nobody wants to work on them when they come into the shop.
We use FireWire not just for making (fast) bootable backups, but for target mode (diagnostics/data-recovery/installations) and yeah, even FireWire networking. It gets around problems with bad optical drives and fussy installer disks. It is absolutely necessary in my work.
The cost of the extra time needed and the extra work necessary to get around the lack of target disk mode (as well as the extra risk from handling the bare drive, which is a necessary consequence) must now be absorbed by my employer or passed on to customers.
This was a stupid decision and it will come back to haunt Apple.
Re: Steve responds to Mac user's email regarding lack of FW on new MBs - Robert M - 10-17-2008
Article,
But, as this discussion is about the new Macbooks which have USB 2.0 the effort isn't futile at all.
Robert
Re: Steve responds to Mac user's email regarding lack of FW on new MBs - deckeda - 10-17-2008
DaviDC. --- back in the day you could pony up for a USB floppy drive if you still needed one. No such solution here.
Also, MacMagus' example shows the Enterprise erosion that results whenever Apple shoots themselves in the foot in order to gain a few more sales from college kids who only want Macs "because they're cool": you take away the tech's ability to easily work on your box and they shun the box. Little wonder Apple isn't taken seriously in business.
Re: Steve responds to Mac user's email regarding lack of FW on new MBs - MacMagus - 10-17-2008
There's also this: My employer gives all of the field techs MacBooks. FireWire is indispensable in the field.
When the refurbs run out, new hires will need MacBook Pros. Replacements must now be MacBook Pros.
'Think it's easy spending more than $2,000 on new kit in this economy?
Re: Steve responds to Mac user's email regarding lack of FW on new MBs - JEBB - 10-18-2008
Robert M: If your Firewire bus powered hard drives have proven unreliable it is probably the cases that were failing. I've been using them for years and have had no failures. I did have a firewire port go bad on a 3.5" externally powered hard drive but it had two ports and the other kept working.