I'm confused (again) and wonder if the uplink port number 7 is what I would use to connect this drive to a USB port on my MacMini. If this is the case, will my USB ports and my Firewire ports all work or do I need to install a cord between the firewire port on my MacMini and a firewire port on the external hard drive. The picture attached is all the information I have and it is from a screen shot of OWC website. No manual came with the hard drive.

The USB connections are independent of the FireWire connections. The eSATA connector is independent of both USB and FireWire. The bridge logic selects eSATA/FireWire/USB for the drive connection automatically in that priority order.

So, if you connect both FireWire and USB, the drive will use FireWire. With no FireWire cable to the Mini, no FireWire ports work. Likewise, with no USB cable to the Mini, the USB ports are inactive.


In my experience, FireWire works better with my Macs with no more than two FireWire connectors used on each enclosure. I'm currently using eight of these enclosures with various systems using mostly eSATA and FireWire 800.

Jim- Do I use the uplink port for anything?

Use the USB uplink port only if you want either or both of:
1. Another USB Hub
2. USB connectivity for the drive in the enclosure.

If you are connecting the drive using FireWire, you can just ignore the USB connectors.

Isn't the USB uplink port the port you would plug into to connect this to your Mac?

When connected to your Mac via the uplink port you would then get the use of the two USB ports (6)???

Terry- That's what I don't understand. Somehow, I need to connect the MacMini to the hard drive and I was thinking that the uplink 6 was the connection. They provide a USB cable with an "A" and a "B" end and a Firewire 800 cable. I'll be calling OWC today and I'll post their answer.

My guess is that you connect it via Firewire AND USB. Since this thing is giving you more ports you need to connect it both ways to have access to both the Firewire AND USB ports that are on it. Also this way you're not losing any ports.

Think of it as both a USB and Firewire HUB. In order to use the Firewire and USB ports on the back, you have to connect it to both Firewire AND USB on your computer.

Terry is correct.

If you want both USB Hub and FireWire drive connection, use both. The drive will automatically
use FireWire.

If you do not need the USB Hub, just connect via FireWire for the fastest read/write speeds.

If you just want to use the USB connection, that is fine too. It will be slightly slower than using FireWire.

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Thank you Jim and Terry. Both of you gentlemen are underpaid