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I asked about a firewire to USB2 adapter a while ago and everyone said I was crazy! Someone stole my idea dangit!
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I use USB thumb drives, but for larger storage I use a FW800 mini enclosure with a 60GB 7200rpm 2.5" drive. Very fast, and as mentioned earlier, small enough to be very portable. To connect it to a regular FW400 port, just carry a 9pin-6pin cable.
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Depending on the capacity you're looking for, there's always the idea of a 2nd Gen iPod on ebay...
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I've been looking, and the only FW thumb drives I've found are by Kangaru. These look exactly like what MicroMat uses for the Protegé.
They're pricey, and I haven't found them any cheaper that the manufacturer.
The one advantage is their very compact size. Sure you can but together a small 2.5" box and drive for less money with far greater capacity. But no matter how small, it's still a box with a cable.
It's documented that Intel Macs will boot off of USB, but I haven't seen anybody do so yet. That would be great since the big USB thumbs are about half price or less than the FW version.
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4 gig USB thumb drives atart at $48 on DealRam's list.
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Could an older iPod do what you want?
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1st through 4th gen I think, gen 1 and 2 have the basic FW port, 3 and 4 need a dock to FW cable.
The added advantage is that if it is an unpowered FW port on the laptop, the iPod supplies its own juice.
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[quote RAMd®d]IIt's documented that Intel Macs will boot off of USB, but I haven't seen anybody do so yet. That would be great since the big USB thumbs are about half price or less than the FW version.
I do that all the time.
Some older Macs boot from USB as well.
Need a photo, or video?
I use a 120GB HD with USB2, GUID formatted.
Haven't tried a thumbdrive, too lazy to whittle down OSX.
BGnR
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Older Macs with dual channel USB controllers will also boot off of a USB drive. Those are what BGnR is reffering to I believe.
To this day, Apple will not actually produce a page that says in simple plain english "These models will boot from a FW drive" and then "These models will boot from a USB drive"
That would be too simple.
