[chasg]

Hi All,

I'm a photographer with a very full camera bag. In an effort to reduce the clutter and to organise things a bit, I'm in the process of replacing any of my loose cables with the retractable kind (often marketed as "zip-linq" here in the UK).

I'm quite happy with the usb, iPod and ethernet versions I've got, but I've been through three different brands of retractable 6-pin to 6-pin firewire cables, and none have worked (are they really different brands? Well, they don't seem to be rebadged OEMs, as the cables and plastic bodies are different in each, but I'm willing to be proven wrong). This is really annoying me, as I can't understand why all three aren't working.

I use this particular cable to connect my compact flash card reader to my PowerBook. I get a light on the reader, but no cards mounting (if I use any of my normal FW cables, no problems with mounting cards on my Desktop).

Does anybody know if there is some other flavour of 6-pin to 6-pin firewire cable that perhaps the manufacturers of retractable cable housings are using that may be the problem? (say, the 4-pin to 4-pin cables, by any chance?). I just can't help but think it's extremely unlikely that I've purchased three different retractable versions that all happen to be faulty (all purchased from different sources).

Thanks in advance for any insights,

Chas

[tooki]

Honestly, I'm not surprised that they don't work. FireWire requires twisted pairs and shielding, and the flat cable can offer neither. I'm frankly surprised that Apple's thin FireWire cables (which are much too flexible to be shielded) work at all, either, and in fact, many people have had trouble with them.

tooki

[chasg]

I'd wondered about the cables being flat (twisted pair being such an ideal way of dealing with interference). I'm happy with that explanation, many thanks (it's a wonder that any of these are selling at all??)

I do use a rather thin fw cable at the moment (it came with my fw compact flash reader), haven't had any problems so far (though I've never tested throughput with the thin cable vs. a shielded one...)

Chas