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nebben123 · Oct 25, 2003, 08:16 PM

i've been through two firewire enclosures so far and neither works reliably with a western digital caviar 200gb drive (wd2000).

the first one was a compucable fireexpress 350. something about it is glitchy and after a random amount of time accessing the files on it (such as playing an mp3), the drive will start erratically spinning up and spinning down.

i thought maybe this was a drive problem, but i got an ads pyro firewire drive kit, and the drive functioned normally except some of the files on my drive weren't able to be accessed properly. for instance, most of my mp3 files were unplayable in itunes, quicktime, or audion. and some of my .dmg files gave me an error when i tried to mount them. however, the drive did stay spun up the whole time.

i put the drive back in the old case, and all my files were fine. called up ads tech support and they sent me a firmware upgrader for the pyro, but now my drive doesnt mount at all when installed in the pyro case (i did test that it's ok in the old case with the apparently glitchy power supply).

i'm at my wits end. not only is it infuriating not being able to reliably access my files, but i'm afraid at some point that one of these cases is just going to hose my drive and i'll lose all the mp3s i've downloaded (paid for) from emusic, not to mention all my backup files!

i have also tested this out on a powerbook and ibook and get the same symptoms, so it's not the firewire port either.

does anyone have this exact drive, the western digital caviar 200gb, in an external case? if so, what brand?

HELP!!!
ben

Stogieman · Oct 25, 2003, 08:40 PM

Check out www.fwdepot.com.
A little pricey but all of their enclosures are guaranteed to work with large capacity drives. I haven't had any problems with my 180 GB Western Digital and Speedzter 3 FW/USB 2 enclosure.

nebben123 · Oct 25, 2003, 09:09 PM

Originally posted by Stogieman:
I haven't had any problems with my 180 GB Western Digital and Speedzter 3 FW/USB 2 enclosure.

Is that blue line on the front of the Speedzter 3 case a drive access indicator?

Stogieman · Oct 25, 2003, 11:03 PM

Yes, it looks pretty cool when it's lit up. Much better than it does in that picture.

israces · Oct 26, 2003, 02:58 AM

OWC

No problems after upgrading to their case from a ADS Pyro that was acting funny like yours with a WD Caviar 120

nebben123 · Oct 26, 2003, 07:49 AM

Originally posted by israces:
OWC

No problems after upgrading to their case from a ADS Pyro that was acting funny like yours with a WD Caviar 120

Thanks. I looked around last night and the OWC Mercury Elite Pro got some really good reviews. Plus I've ordered from them many times in the past and never had a problem returning if an item didn't work out. So I ordered the FW/USB2 version.