I am shopping for an external drive that is bus-powered. I have been looking at the WiebeTech UltraGB+ and was wondering if I can be sure it will be bus-powered with a Powerbook. Any input? The unit can be seen here: http://www.wiebetech.com/products/ultragbplus.php
Can't say for sure, but the manufacturer mentions specific exceptions
"* Intel Macs provide less FireWire bus power than previous models. An AC Adapter is usually required for use with Intel iMacs and the 17" MacBook Pro. UltraGB+ will bus power with 15" MacBook Pro. If you want a bus powerable product for Intel iMacs and 17" the MacBook Pro, check out ComboGB "
Kind of concerned about this bus-driving issue before actually purchasing an external drive, as below:
"I recommend avoiding bus-powered FW devices due to multiple cases of burnt-out FW ports that my clients have experienced. If your device is fairly low in its power demands it can be OK--I've got a 20gb 2.5" drive I use for support work, and card readers don't take much--but the bigger the drive, the more power it needs. If a device has an AC adapter, even if it's optional, use it whenever you can. And I would never try to daisy-chain bus-powered drives.
My MacBook was bus-powering a WiebeTech SuperDriveDock Plus with a 320gb Samsung ok, till I started to do some video editing. Boom, drive quit responding. Apparently it was wanting more power than the Macbook could provide. So I lost some work. Thankfully, my firewire port seems ok."
Should I be concerned about this before making a purchase?
Still searching for the best external solution, bus-power that is. I am considering the WiebeTech Combo GB with a Seagate Momentus 5400 rpm drive. The only thing that concerns me is that there is no power switch on the enclosure. Is this a big disadvantage? Is it risky not ahving a switch? What about FW bus-power? Is it safe enough? I'd hate to burn out a FW port on my Powerbook.
Kind of concerned about this bus-driving issue before actually purchasing an external drive, as below:
"I recommend avoiding bus-powered FW devices due to multiple cases of burnt-out FW ports that my clients have experienced. If your device is fairly low in its power demands it can be OK--I've got a 20gb 2.5" drive I use for support work, and card readers don't take much--but the bigger the drive, the more power it needs. If a device has an AC adapter, even if it's optional, use it whenever you can. And I would never try to daisy-chain bus-powered drives."
Should I be concerned about this before making a purchase?
I have a LaCie 30GB Pocketdrive that I've used on both of my machines and have never used an AC adapter for power. But I don't know about the bigger drives. I have an external LaCie 250GB D2 Firewire 800/400/USB 2 that I always use with the AC adapter. I always power it up with the AC adapter before plugging it in to the Firewire 800 port. I only use it with the PowerMac G5, though.
I generally don't like bus-powered devices (especially USB), but that bus-powered LaCie Pocketdrive is handy without the AC adapter (I think it does have an AC adapter).
I definitely wouldn't recommend daisy-chaining bus-powered devices - to me that sounds like you're just asking for trouble.
Here's the baby I'm interested in. Any ideas if it's an Oxford 922/924 bridge? What kind of drive might one expect in this- Seagate? Can tell if the drive is removable from the enclosure. Any ideas? http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10723
- I found them to be a little bit lower in price than the rest
- Not the best service - they told me that an item not in stock and back-ordered would take 10-15 days to be in stock, but I waited for a month and they still didn't get it in stock. I ended changing my order.
- They deliver using purolator, and for some strange reason, if you're not home when they come, you HAVE to pick it up at the depot, they won't try again the next day. Strange.
- But otherwise they are ok. I saved PST. But in your case you wouldn't save PST since you have HST.
Here's the baby I'm interested in. Any ideas if it's an Oxford 922/924 bridge? What kind of drive might one expect in this- Seagate? Can tell if the drive is removable from the enclosure. Any ideas? http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10723
This drive is 2x2.5" notebook drives in 1 enclosure (double the probability of a drive failure - one of the two drives goes, you loose all data). If you open it, you void the warrenty. LaCie uses what ever oem drive they can, and it changes from week to week. There is no indication on the box, nor in system profiler (as there is a hardware raid in the enclosure) what the drives are.
Also be aware that the speeds they indicate are only for the versions that are using the 7200rpm drives, (not the large capacity ones) and are base on using the FW800 port, on a fast, new machine. Real world.... ymmv.
How big a drive do you really need? why not just get a 2.5" enclosure and a notebook drive, you can get up to 100GB in 7200rpm, and 160 in a 5400rpm. FW 2.5" enclosures are plentyful, and it will be bus powered for almost any notebook/desktop.
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