[MacDV] WD Firewire drives/Aftermarket FW drive cases

[Jeff Fay]

I had 3 different WD Firewire drives (all pre-Oxford 911). All three had 
the Firewire bridge die just after the drives came out of warranty. When 
I called WD to see if they could do anything for me (like sell me a new 
bridge cheap or replace what certainly appeared to me to be faulty 
equipment) I was told that my only option was to "buy a new drive".

The drives connected to the bridge were all fine. They all continue to 
work as internal drives in various computers. The problem was in the 
firewire enclosure and the bridge it contained.

I've since bought WeibeTech enclosures (DesktopGB and DuoDock(?)) and 
they seem to work quite well.

After my experience with their tech support, needless to say, I DIDN'T 
buy another WD firewire drive.

my $.02.

Jeff

Ted Langdell wrote:

> Just wondering whether anyone has any experience with Western Digital 
> Firewire drives.
> 
> Also, whether anyone has had good success with specific brands of 
> Firewire cases into which you can put a hard drive.
> 
> I'm in part trying to troubleshoot problems I'm experiencing with two 
> older Western Digital drives.
> 
> If I connect either to my old iMac or new eMac, they mount, but after a 
> few minutes, crash the whole Firewire system, requiring a restart.
> 
> This was true in OS 9.2.2 and 10.3.2.  The drives involved are a 45GB 
> model WD450A001-RNN and the 60GB version in the same series.  Both are 
> at least a couple or three years old.
> 
> A newer 120GB Model WD1200B02-RNN has also been acting up.  At turn on, 
> if connected to another drive (while not necessarily connected to 
> anything else on the FW chain) its red drive activity light will blink 
> on and off like it was a heart in fibrillation.  Disconnecting anything 
> from both FW port ends the activity.  It also will sometimes act like it 
> is repeatedly spinning down, then back up again and down, up and finally 
> up.
> 
> I HAVE had some power supply problems with at least one of PS units and 
> replaced it with a factory unit for $25.  A 120 GB drive in the same 
> series as the 120GB just mentioned was replaced under warranty.  The 
> replacement seems to act as one would expect.
> 
> My interest in bare FW cases is to check whether the smaller WD drives 
> themselves are actually OK,
> 
> If they are, it may be that I'm actually seeing either problems with the 
> Firewire to ATA bridge or power supply issues.
> 
> If that's the problem, I can either replace the power units and/or pick 
> up new cases for about the cost of a 250 GB drive and get my data off 
> the older drives.
> 
> Alas, I don't have an ATA equipped Mac tower unit to plug the drives 
> directly into... or I could avoid buying a case to check things with.
> 
> Cheers.
> 
> Ted Langdell
> Ted Langdell Creative Broadcast Services
> Marysville, CA
> 
> 
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-- 
Jeff Fay
Media Services Technician
Cooperative Extension Service
College of Rural Alaska
University of Alaska Fairbanks
P.O. Box 756180
Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-6180

phone (907) 474-5349
fax (907) 474-5139
jeff.fay at uaf.edu
ICQ # 38482379
iChat ID (AIM): alaskasnocat
http://www.uaf.edu/coop-ext

"Buy a Mac and be thought a fool or buy a Windows box and remove all doubt."
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