Seagate Firewire Drive Non-recognition

[uduwudu]

Hi,

Recently (yesterday) bought a Seagate Firewire Go Flex - which is not being read by Windows (the USB) port reads it fine. As Pro Tools requires Firewire at least, I need that facility. I was interested (and a bit disconcerted) to find there is no external power option for this drive. I used to use a Western Digital drive until it became completely unreliable (as opposed to occasionally).

USB btw is no good as Buffer underrun error messages crop up in Pro Tools.

Is this drive likely to work? Not sure how (I've emailed Seagate). The alternative I suppose would be to exchange it for a WD - my last experience with that was not the best. The on / off switch that might work - or not. It might be recognised by Windows, sometimes not. But it may be the best option.

Any suggestions by Windows Pro Tools users recommending an external drive option - or how to get this one recognised by Windows would be most gratefully received.

I use Le 8 on Windows 7 (32 bit basic).

Cheers

Lawrence

[albee1952]

Actually, with Windows 7, USB2 IS supported and firewire is NOT. This is due to the drivers, so use it on a USB port and you should be good. I also had a poor experience with WD firewire drives(I still have them but they are only for backups and transfers). You gave no details on your computer so, be aware that another internal drive will give the best performance(only a handful of laptops allow for this, but most any desktop system should have space for more internal drives so its worth a look). I run 4 internal drives on my tower(system, samples, audio 1, audio 2). As to why the drive isn't "seen" with a firewire hookup; that could mean the drive does NOT have the required Oxford chipset, the FW controller in the PC is not compatible, or maybe the formatting on the drive isn't correct(should be formatted as NTFS and BASIC). I also use several external drives, but they only do drive images and backups. I also use a generic USB case and CLONE my working system drive(Acronis True image is my choice for cloning and imaging). I can suffer a total crash of the C: drive, swap hard drives(takes less than 10 seconds with a SATA drive cage) and be up and running in minutes(or I can install a blank drive and restore from a saved image in an hour)

I just read again and see that you are not having success with the USB connection. Besides the formatting, could this be a "green" drive? By that I mean, a drive that spins slower(like 5900 rpm) or a "power saving" drive that is definitely a bad choice for recording? Maybe its time for a Sandra report so check this link found at the top of the page: Help us Help You - READ THIS Before Posting!