ieee 1394 firewire

I bought this card after trying another Adaptec card - the DuoConnect 3121 - which has Firewire and USB2.0 connectors.

My advise: if you run Windows 2000 - stick with the simpler 4300 Firewire card (this card). It is simple and easy to install. No drivers, and the extra software is only needed for cameras/DVDs (I use my card for my new scanner). I have had troublefree service from it so far.

The Adaptec DuoConnect 3121, on the other hand, looks very tempting on paper - but trying to install it on Windows 2000 is an absolute nightmare (if you already have other adapter cards). I had severe hardware conflicts - which caused operating system driver corruptions in the end - and lots of wasted hours.

This is where Adaptec support came in. They gave me really good support, and refunded my money when we couldn't get the DuoConnect 3121 working under Windows 2000. And I bought their AFW-4300 instead.

In summary: The 4300 is a good card. Adapter cards from other companies are cheaper than Adaptec brand down here, but the Adaptec support is worth the extra money.

The card worked fine with plug-and-play on XP Home. One concern is that it showed up with a different name in the Hardware Manager than the instructions said it would. However, it seems to work fine.

One slightly annoying problem is that it didn't come as the MGI software that the description claims. I received Sonic MyDVD (misnamed since the demo version you get only creates VCDs, not DVDs) along with Arcsoft Showbiz. Sonic MyDVD wasn't able to burn a VCD on my computer. (It gave me "unknown error"), but the software that came with my camcorder didn't have a problem. Over-all I'm unimpressed with this replacement software, particularly since the bundled software was one of the reasons I bought this card. However, between Windows Movie Maker (that came with my machine) and the software that came with my Sony camcorder, I think I can do everything I need for now.

I got a Dell Dimension 2400 for Valentine's Day and it didn't come with any firewire ports for my ipod. So I asked my Dad what he used, and he told me about this handy little card. I have XP, so maybe that's the difference maker, but this card was SO easy to work with... seriously, having never seen the inside of a computer before, I installed it in 5 minutes while I was talking on the phone with my girlfriend. After that, a simple reboot and I had three firewire ports ready for use! Highly recommended for XP users.