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Farewell FireWire?
The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) — ... No company has pushed IEEE-1394 (the technical name for FireWire) more than Apple (though Sony is close). The iPod was a FireWire device until its fifth revision in 2004 (USB adapters were available for the third and fourth generation units). Target Disk Mode is arguably one of the most useful Mac diagnostic tools. As long as you have a FireWire hard drive, you can safely migrate, repair or perform component tests on Mac, without damaging the internal drive. As of right now, there is no true support for USB devices in target disk mode. Yes, you can boot from a USB ...

The T-Poll: Is the Death of MacBook FireWire an Outrage?
Technologizer — ... . When I said that the death of MacBook FireWire was no biggie, I confessed that I was basing that mostly on my own experience. But it is true that it eliminates the ability to use OS X’s handy FireWire Target Disk mode , which lets you easily and quickly copy files between Macs by treating one of them as an external hard drive. I will miss Target Disk Mode, but I’m thinking that Apple will get around to making it work with USB, too. And Targus already sells a $50 cable that lets you do ...

IT Pros Find Lack of FireWire on MacBooks Disturbing
Wired: Gadget Lab — ... Specifically, the problem is that the new MacBooks are unable to start up in FireWire Target Disk Mode, which enables users to connect to the computer from another Mac, turning the target computer into an external drive. That's especially useful for diagnosing problems when the targeted computer won't even run. Without Target Disk Mode, the only alternative for troubleshooting a corrupt MacBook is to physically remove the drive, which increases the risk of losing information, said Koch. ...

FireWire target disk mode to the rescue
Macworld — ... FireWire target disk mode has saved my bacon countless times. If you’re not familiar with FireWire target disk mode it transforms a Mac equipped with a FireWire port (either 400 or 800) into an external hard drive. Simply hold down the T key when you boot up and the Mac in question, as long as it supports this mode, will boot into FireWire target disk mode. Connect it to another Mac with a FireWire cable and the disk mounts in the Finder like any other external disk would. Whenever I replace the boot disk of a Mac my routine is to restart the Mac in target disk mode, connect ...

TUAW Tip: Clean your hard drive with Target Disk Mode
The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) — ... A reader recently contacted us with a question regarding her decision to recycle an older iMac computer. She wanted to know how she could clear/reformat the hard drive, but didn't have the disks that came with the system. So, we thought we would take a minute to tell you how you can cleanse your hard drives before getting rid of your computer. I'm going to show you how to wipe the hard drive using Target Disk Mode, since this will work even if you don't have the install disks. ...

FireWire saves an iMac from a failed 10.5.7 upgrade
Macworld — ... Holding down Command-S at startup (to watch the boot process, to see if I could see where it got stuck) didn’t work either, nor did holding C to boot from the CD-ROM. It was like the boot process wasn’t even starting. At this point, I was beginning to think I was in for a reinstall from the iMac’s recovery disks, though I wasn’t sure how I’d do that—there was a music CD in the iMac’s slot, and no amount of trickery would get it to eject. Finally, I remembered the old standby, FireWire Target Disk Mode (FWTDM for short). For those not familiar with it, this special boot mode ...