Which Firewall cable

If you were feeding a DAC with a Firewire cable, there might be some value in exploring better cables. But From an external drive to the computer, I would use a basic, inexpensive cable only. I don't believe there is any sonic benefit to be gained from spending more for that application. Check to see if both the drive and the computer support Firewire 400 or 800, as the jacks are different.

When I was using my Seagate hard drive connected to the MAC computer, I used the Firewire cable that came with the Seagate drive. It worked fine.

However, I am now using the LaCie 3TB d2 USB 3.0 Thunderbolt Series Hard Drive. I am using the Thunderbolt cable to connect it to my MAC Book Pro Computer. It also is working fine. My LaCie hard drive is backed up to my Seagate drive.

Assuming your hard drive is near your computer, I suggest you use the cable that came with the hard drive. As noted above, I see no reason to spent more money on a different cable.

I use one of the Ultra Fi Firewire cables - their Basque. Really nice improvement.

People need to speak from experience rather than speculation in order to be helpful to the original poster. That happens way too much in this hobby.

Enjoy!

Twc_cableguy
I use one of the Ultra Fi Firewire cables - their Basque. Really nice improvement.

People need to speak from experience rather than speculation in order to be helpful to the original poster. That happens way too much in this hobby.

I had the same experience but with Audioquest.

I ran the Audioquest Diamond FireWire between Oyen Digital housing (twin 4 TB Hitachi Deskstar drives) to Mac Mini. In my system the Audioquest was worth the price, perhaps not in another situation.

The one way that occurs to me by which a benefit might result from upgrading a non-defective firewire cable that is used to connect an external drive to a computer, assuming the cable is not unusually long, is that the higher quality shielding provided by the upgraded cable may eliminate sonic issues that might be caused by radiation of RFI from the cable to other parts of the system. That kind of effect can be expected, of course, to be highly system and setup dependent.

I suspect that the triple-shielded Granite Digital firewire cable I suggested earlier would be likely to provide that particular benefit as effectively as any of the much more expensive audiophile-oriented cables.

Regards,
-- Al