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jamil5454 · Nov 1, 2004, 09:24 PM

I just bought this external enclosure from www.newegg.com:

http://www.questtechnology.com/produ...nfo.asp?id=460

It seems I have bought the last one from newegg because I can't find it on their site anymore. Well, this device uses a GL811E bridge controller for USB2.0 to ATA/ATAPI operation of up to UDMA66 speeds. Here are the specs for the bridge chip:

http://www.genesyslogic.com/econtent...stcidx=3&SN=34

Well, I've gotten it to work with only some old hard drives. I have a Western Digital 20gig WD200 and a Maxtor 60gig D740X-6L that won't work at all. As the instructions say, I set the jumper to "Master" and it still doesn't work. I think the culprit is that it doesn't work with Ultra ATA drives, only older ATA ones (the 40-pin IDE ones). The ones with a Data Transfer Rate of 33Mbps. I've tried four of these older ones of different models and makes of up to 3 gigs and they were all successful. As soon as I tried a newer drive with transfer speeds of 100/133 Mbps, nothing happened. Actually, that's not the whole truth. When a newer drive was plugged in, I couldn't view the USB info on System Profiler or the disk info on DiskUtility (both sat there trying to load information). But, if I plugged in an older drive everything would show up and work as expected. There is only one reason I want a newer drive to work: the older 40-pin drives generally only got up to 10 or 15 gigs, and I need at least 60 to begin with. This is for audio production, so generally a fast (7200 RPM) drive is a must. I would have gotten a firewire drive, but I need the firewire port for the MOTU828mkII I'm going to buy soon. Oh yeah, the IDE cable inside the enclosure is in fact an 80-pin IDE cable, so it should support the newer drives.

Here are my specs:
12" ibook G4 1.2
1.25gb RAM
30gig internal HDD
Combo drive
AirportEx
OS X 10.3.5 with latest updates from "Software Update"

Whew, I wish I could at least find an open source version of the driver, so then I could at least have a chance of writing my own version of it.

jamil5454 · Nov 1, 2004, 09:35 PM

I just tested it on a WindowsXP PC (no Service Packs) using USB1.1 (even though the device is USB2.0) and it worked without me having to install the driver. It was recognized as a USB Mass Storage Device. sigh...

So I've narrowed it down to OS X and/or USB2.0.

jamil5454 · Nov 1, 2004, 09:51 PM

Woohoo! Go team jamil5454!

I just fixed the problem - OS X does *not* like NTFS partitions. It refused to even recognize my external HDD because it was an NTFS partition. I took it to the PC, deleted the partition, hooked it to my iBook, formatted, and Volia! Finally some breathing room from the internal 30 gig. And, file transfers are _fast_!!!! At least 2x faster than the internal HDD.

Ω · Nov 1, 2004, 10:32 PM

Glad we could be of assistance....

jamil5454 · Nov 1, 2004, 11:09 PM

Thanks.

I solved the problem in 27.4 minutes flat while facing 32 degrees east traveling 0.3 km/h in a room with temperature 23.65 degrees Celcius.

Ω · Nov 1, 2004, 11:30 PM

Do you think the heat helped or hindered your thinking process?

SSharon · Nov 1, 2004, 11:48 PM

I have that exact case and without reading every word in the thread don't see the issue. I towrks fine for me with both firewire and USB 2 in 10.3.5 and in 10.3 or whatever I had when I got the case. Oh yea, I hve a 180gb ata drive in the case (western digital or maxtor I'd have to check).

jamil5454 · Nov 2, 2004, 08:06 AM

Originally posted by SSharon:
I have that exact case and without reading every word in the thread don't see the issue. I towrks fine for me with both firewire and USB 2 in 10.3.5 and in 10.3 or whatever I had when I got the case. Oh yea, I hve a 180gb ata drive in the case (western digital or maxtor I'd have to check).

Yeah, I've got only the USB2.0 model. The problem was the NTFS partition on the hard drive, and once I formatted it everything worked.

Originally posted by _?_:
Do you think the heat helped or hindered your thinking process?

lol, I admit I'm American. I didn't feel like converting 72 degrees F to Celcius, so I just guessed.

jamil5454 · Nov 2, 2004, 07:38 PM

Well, crap.

It seems as thought I *thought* it was working. I can write data to it but when I try launching apps from it or anything else requiring me to read over a couple mbs of data I get the eternal spinning beach ball. Also, when I try formatting the disk as UNIX I get the beachball too. I'm going to try formatting it as MS-DOS and re-installing OS X. I remeber trying to install the driver from the CD for this drive, but it failed and maybe OS X is still looking for this driver when formatting.

jamil5454 · Nov 2, 2004, 11:20 PM

Fu(|< this case! I've spent two days trying to get a large storage drive in it and it just won't work. Smaller drives work fine, but larger ones bite the dust. I knew I should have gone with a Lacie or other familiar brand...

SSharon · Nov 3, 2004, 12:11 AM

any chance that you can swap the drive with an internal one? not worth wasting a drive obviosuly.

IceEnclosure · Nov 3, 2004, 06:02 AM

Originally posted by jamil5454:
Fu(|< this case! I've spent two days trying to get a large storage drive in it and it just won't work. Smaller drives work fine, but larger ones bite the dust. I knew I should have gone with a Lacie or other familiar brand...

send that POS back to New Egg.

jamil5454 · Nov 3, 2004, 08:11 AM

Ok, I'm sending it back and getting another one. Can anyone attest for this one?

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...146-601&depa=1

Isn't their priority Mac first then PC?

-Q- · Nov 3, 2004, 10:08 AM

Originally posted by jamil5454:

Isn't their priority Mac first then PC?

Certainly not. They're a pc shop that sells mac stuff. Their customer service has always been good tho', so I don't think you'll have a problem.

jamil5454 · Nov 3, 2004, 10:30 AM

Originally posted by -Q-:
Certainly not. They're a pc shop that sells mac stuff. Their customer service has always been good tho', so I don't think you'll have a problem.

I'm talking about the brand of the item, Macally. I agree that Newegg is awesome, though. I'm assuming MACally specializes in MAC stuff.

mbryda · Nov 3, 2004, 11:01 AM

Originally posted by -Q-:
Certainly not. They're a pc shop that sells mac stuff. Their customer service has always been good tho', so I don't think you'll have a problem.

Actually, their CS leaves a _LOT_ to be desired. Had a DOA drive from them. Their response was to call the Mfg. (too bad I needed it NOW) and would not cross-ship a drive or even sell me one and return the old for a refund. Ended up sending it back and eating the 15% restock fee.

Just something to beware of if it doesn't work out for you....

jamil5454 · Nov 8, 2004, 05:16 PM

Well, I got the Macally model, and it RAWKS! It's 10x better quality than that no name crap, about 2x faster, keeps my HD quiter, and actually works. YAY! Time for more storage than my internal 30gb...