[Love Calm Quiet]

I stumbled across a WIRED archive about the Panther-Firewire 800 problems http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,61107,00.html and worried that maybe the root problems never got resolved. It's a good sign that the thread on the subject have died down here, but I'm wondering what judgements experts in the forums have on FINAL JUDGEMENT on several concerns raised this fall:

1) A Long WiebeTech "white paper" raises several issues about overall reliability of firewire, including trouble with its POWER connection as well as data. Anyone done a comprehensive review of WiebeTech's issues? What do you think of WIRED's summary of the article that "Firewire increasingly looks less reliable than had been generally assumed." ?

2) Was the problem limited to FW 800 drives or did it extend to FW 400 drives? Did "fixes" apply to both?

3) Is it only an issue with Oxford 922 chipset (i.e., just needing updating of firmware v. 1.0.3 and earlier)?

4) Was this whole mess really a problem of Apple's Panther? Or was it a matter Firmware-designers not following specs for 922?

5) Is it or is it not a necessary precaution (with FW 800 and/or 400) to DISCONNECT external FW drives (camcorders?) before RESTART? before SLEEP? [ review of threads here & MacFixIt seems to say "your mileage may vary"? That sort of situation does not leave me very confident that the fundamental source of the problems has been established. ]

6) Sounds like FW may not have the userfriendliness of, say, USB - and I wonder if I can safely recommend FW 800 external drives to low-tech Mac user friends -- or will they need to be prepared for PRAM resetting, trouble-shooting via these forums, etc.?

Anybody dare to claim there is now a "conventional wisdom" on the state of FW (esp. 800) on the Mac?

[macsfromnowon]

I'm not sure what to think about this issue. The WIRED article you cite is rather old (Nov 06) by now. But I still find troubling the following description there that Apple's interpretation of the problem & Apple's fix may not be comprehensive:
________________
"Apple and Oxford Semiconductor have confirmed that firmware version 1.05 resolves the data loss issue experienced by some FW800 users," Apple's statement said.

However, several experts say the problems with Panther aren't limited solely to FireWire 800 drives. Contrary to Apple's assertion, they say, other FireWire devices -- including earlier FireWire 400 devices and even camcorders -- also are affected.

Ben Wilson, senior editor of MacFixIt, a Macintosh troubleshooting site, said he continues to receive reports of lost data from users with both FireWire 400 and 800 drives.

"FireWire drive problems with Panther, regardless of whether or not there are multiple root causes, are manifesting in both FireWire 400 and 800 drives," he said.
______________
What's anybody else think?

[pueblomi]

:bump:

Hi, I'm new to Mac, and just enjoying an iBook (sweetly donated by uncle who's moved on to a 17" Powerbook). I've still got the Jaguar installation my uncle used on this 600MHz machine.

I'm looking to get an 800 Firewire external drive for AV work (and hopefully upgrade to Panther), and I'm finding all the hoopla about Panther/Firewire (400?800?) confusing in all the huge threads about the data loss very

Like the thread-starter, I'd love to hear from somebody experienced here what the final resolution has been about the firewire risks? Specifically: are there any absolute NO-NOs? Especially: do I need to always be unplugging my external drives before sleep? restart?

[Spheric Harlot]

The iBook does not have Firewire 800 connectors, only a FW 400.

I believe there are adapters available, but you will only get FW 400 speeds.

My friend had problems with Firewire disks not showing up on his brand new G4 iBook, but the drives were not damaged, and the problem was fixed by re-installing Mac OS X Panther (go figure).

I have not had any problems with my Firewire (400 only) drives on my 12" Powerbook running 10.3 Panther.

-s*

[Sam Venning]

Firewire 800 RAIDs - Warning! Warning! Warning!

I had big problems with a Firewire 800 RAID. I think there are big problems with Firewire 800... I'm just not sure if it is a hardware or software problem. Drives seem to unexpectedly drop off the bus.

I detail my eperience here: http://samv.customer.netspace.net.au/fwproblem/ I ended up ditching Firwire 800 and put the drives in my PowerMac G4 Dual 1GHz. I'm using RAID for Final Cut Pro editing - I don't trust Firewire 800 yet.

Mac OS 10.3.3 update *might* fix this (I hope it isn't a hardware problem with the chip set)

[cambro]

I have not had any problems with Firewire 400 devices on Panther. The biggest problem that I have with Firewire 800 is that the f$#&#^ ports are different. What were they thinking? Add on top of that the issues that have been raised here and you have a significant handicap for the future of Firewire.

USB 2.0 uses the same ports as the previous generation and the end-user doesn't even have to know the difference. This is a huge advantage and will translate into success, IMO.

[-Q-]

I've also had no trouble with FireWire 400 connections and Panther. I back up my machine every day to a connected FW drive and the backup is verified as OK every time.

And USB 2.0 does have it's own problems - the biggest being that if you put a USB 1.1 device on the same bus and it slows everything down. I can see both sides of the connection issue as I'd imagine the same thing would happen with FW 400 vs. 800. At least the separate connector keeps everything moving along at the highest possible speeds.