[dnanian]

As I mentioned to John in email, this is certainly not typical: FireWire works better than USB in nearly all cases, and I've got a FreeAgent here that I test with on FireWire, plus many other users with the drive use the same.

That said, it's always worth trying a different connection if one doesn't work: you could have a cable problem, a port problem or -- as in John's case -- the manufacturer might have a FireWire issue with the drive itself.