4 pin firewire doesn't carry bus power, so it's incapable of powering external devices. You need the 6 pin variety of firewire to get bus power, so you can power things off it.

Addonics’ FireWire Mini DigiDrive is compatible with Mac OS 8.6 or higher. The device costs US$89, and includes a FireWire cable and 6 to 4 pin FireWire adapter (useful for PCs that use the four ...

So I need a 4-pin to 4-pin that has two male 4-pin connectors. From the pics on newegg of the 4-pin to 4-pin cables I have no idea if both ends are male or not.

Bilingual cables connect “legacy” FireWire devices to FireWire 800 interfaces — they have either a 4 or 6-pin Firewire connectors on one side and 9-pin connectors on the other.