macOS 26 Tahoe: Apple seems to be cutting FireWire support
Users of the current developer betas of macOS 26 are reporting that Apple's former fast cable no longer works. macOS 15 still recognizes FireWire.
macOS 26 with the FireWire logo crossed out: Rest of the party.
(Image: Apple / Kollage: Mac & i)
Apple appears to be ending support for the once popular FireWire interface for macOS 26 alias Tahoe. This is reported by beta testers of the operating system. According to design expert Stephen Hackett, who carried out tests with adapters and a FW-800 hard disk on Monday, macOS 26 simply no longer recognizes these media. It initially remained unclear which beta of Tahoe was involved and whether it was also affected. Apple published the third developer pre-release version yesterday evening.
Not an easy set-up, but it works – with macOS 15
Access to the FW-800 medium is still possible under macOS 15. This was tested with a MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt 5, but two adapters are required for connection: Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 plus Thunderbolt 2 to FireWire 800. Apple offers or offered these converters itself. Hacket's hard disk was also bus-powered, so it did not have its own power supply. Nevertheless, the disk appeared as desired in the macOS 15 Finder and could be used. The FireWire connection created in this way was also visible in the system information.
Under macOS 26, however, nothing at all happened. The fact that Apple could abandon FireWire support in Tahoe is already clear from the fact that the system information there no longer includes a FireWire entry in Developer Beta 3, it is simply no longer listed. Interestingly, the Mac at least recognized the FireWire adapter, which was listed under Thunderbolt. However, a further connection to the medium attached to the adapter was not possible.
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Apple remains silent so far: goodbye after 30 years?
Apple was once a great advocate of FireWire, which was significantly faster than USB-A. The company equipped its iPod MP3 player with the interface, which enabled fast transfers of the music collection from the Mac. FireWire 800 was introduced in 2003 and offered a transmission speed of not quite 800 Mbit per second (full duplex).
The actual FireWire standard, also known as FireWire 400, debuted as a standard format with half the speed (half-duplex) back in 1995. In addition to Apple, Sony, Panasonic and other component manufacturers were also involved. Apple has not yet officially stated whether FireWire will actually be removed from macOS 26. The public release of the new operating system will appear in the fall.
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