Coolscan 4000 Firewire

<p>My Coolcan 4000 has a Firewire cable and as I look for a new PC it is difficult to find one that has a Firewire port. I can have a PC built with a Firewire port, but it jumps the price up considerably. Are there Firewire 1394 to USB3 adapters? I have seen Firewire to USB2 adapters, but the huge files from the Coolscan might take a while using this approach.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<p>What PC do you have now? Does it have any open PCI or PCIe slots? If so, adding a FireWire card is a piece of cake as long as you mind your Electro Static Discharge. For most PCs it's slightly more complicated as changing batteries in a remote control car. If you really just don't want to do it yourself I'm sure you can find someone to install one for you at a reasonable price.</p>

<p>Be aware that you'll have to go through some contortions to get your Coolscan 4000 to work under Windows 7, which any new computer will have. It supposedly is possible (there is info on the web) but not officially supported by Nikon. I say "supposedly" because I have not tried it.</p>

<p>As Les said, adding a firewire card should not add much to the cost. If a particular system can't be ordered with one, just make sure it has a PCI or PCIe slot so you can add one yourself.</p>

<p>I would not recommend attempting any sort of firewire-to-USB adapter. That's likely to only end in frustration.</p>

<p>My Coolscan 4000 came with a firewire card. Perhaps yours is installed in your current computer. I can easily be moved to whatever new (desktop) computer you purchase.</p>

<p>Getting NikonScan to work under Win7 is not terribly complicated. The instructions can be found right here in PNet.</p>

<p>The firewire card supplied with a Coolscan 9000 bought several years ago does not fit into a new Dell PC installed here last weekend. There's a slot for a firewire card ok, but the one I had fitted in my last computer just doesn't fit.</p>

<p>There are also PCMCIA to FireWire cards if you have an older laptop with PCMCIA/Cardbus.</p>