{"id":48315,"date":"2025-07-02T16:17:39","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T20:17:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=48315"},"modified":"2025-07-04T15:50:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T19:50:10","slug":"macos-tahoe-drops-firewire-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/02\/macos-tahoe-drops-firewire-support\/","title":{"rendered":"macOS Tahoe Drops FireWire Support"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joe Rossignol<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

The first macOS Tahoe developer beta does not support the legacy FireWire 400 and FireWire 800 data-transfer standards, according to @NekoMichi on X<\/a>, and a Reddit post<\/a>. As a result, the first few iPod models and old external storage drives that rely on FireWire cannot be synced with or mounted on a Mac running the macOS Tahoe beta<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unlike on macOS Sequoia and earlier versions, the first macOS Tahoe beta does not include a FireWire section in the System Settings app.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

I’ve seen reports that FireWire support has been<\/a> partially<\/a> broken<\/a> since macOS 12.3, anyway.<\/p>\n\n

Mark Sokolovsky<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Take a fine comb and look through the latest developer beta, tell me if you find any mention of FireWire anywhere – not even System Profiler has it anymore. They’re saying on AppleInsider<\/a> that even with a Thunderbolt Dock, it won’t let you connect any FW device to macOS.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Macs started carrying FireWire<\/a> as early as 1997 as a BTO\/CTO option, however, was not included onboard on any model until 1999. Even then, not all models carried it. The mid-2012 13″ non-retina MacBook Pro<\/a> was the last model Mac to carry any sort of FireWire port.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

USB continues to improve, but I just don’t think it’s ever been as reliable as FireWire was.<\/p>\n\n

Jack Wellborn<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

In honor of FireWire support presumably going away in macOS Tahoe, here’s pictures from when I connected my original iPod to my M1 MacBook Pro.<\/p>\n

MacBook Pro to
\nThunderbolt 3 to 2 adapter to
\nThunderbolt 2 cable to
\nThunderbolt 2 to FireWire 2 adapter to
\nFirewire 2 cable to
\nExternal HD with FireWire 2 and FireWire 1 ports to
\nFireWire 1 cable to
\niPod<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n