bbum’s weblog-o-mat » Blog Archive » FireWire Cables do wear out.

bbum’s weblog-o-mat » Blog Archive » FireWire Cables do wear out.:

Bad cable? Been working for years!

Turns out that the little bits of metal inside the connectors have been worn down from use. As a result, the data pins — which are a different length than the power pins, btw — were worn down and had lost their springiness. To the point of not giving a solid connection at all.

Cable is now in multiple pieces in the trash — I always cut up cables that are bad as it keeps others from “recycling” them unknowingly — and I likely now have two portable drives (which is fine — I’ll back a bunch of important stuff up to one of ‘em and leave it in the safe deposit box).

Been there, done that. I finally decided to swap out cables over time — say when I replace a CPU. A moderate cost for a much lower risk of ohmygod. Like bbum, I’ll usually chop off the ends and toss them, but I’ve also been known to leave them in close proximity (and plain sight) of desks of special people in my life…

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