Ext.HD FW 800 uses same FW channel than Mbox 2 FW 400 ? ?

[Arska]

I have Mbox 2 Pro connected via FireWire 400 port in my macbook pro 2.16 Ghz. I've noticed however that after I connected my new Western Digital MyBook Pro edition ext.HD via FW 800 port Pro Tools looses Mbox 2 connection after some working. All the sudden there comes popping sound and after that connection is lost and any MIDI instrument can't playback, either audio.

Have anyone any experiences of using FW 800 Hard disk, Mbox 2 and MacBook?? In apple store they said firewire in my macbook uses same chip to both FW ports which shouldn't be obstacle but at now it seems to be.

I have ProTools 7.1.3.

Thank You !

[mix109]

It could be a chipset incompatibility issue,plus the fact that bandwith splits due to different speeds of FW800-FW400
I would suggest that you use an Express FireWire Card for the Mbox,
ike this http://www.siig.com/ViewProduct.aspx?pn=NN-EC2812-S1

This will really take off the load of from the internal FW bus and performance-stability will be better.

[Arska]

hi,

Otherwise that may be the solution but the link you gave was appointed to product with following info:

System Requirements
ExpressCard-enabled notebook with an available ExpressCard/54 slot
Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003/Vista

I have Mac and no ExpressCard slot either =)

But maybe I can proceed with this. Thank you anyway!

[mix109]

You're right here is the correct link
http://www.siig.com/ViewProduct.aspx?pn=NN-EC2012-S1

And if do have a MacBook-Pro(and not a MacBook) then you do have an Express 34 compatible slot

[DigiTechSupt]

Just for reference, FW800 drives are not qualified or compatible for use with the Mbox 2 Pro:

FireWire 800 (or FireWire 400) Hard Drives

FireWire 800 (or FireWire 400) drives with the Oxford 912 or 924 chipset interface have been qualified for record and playback with the following systems on Mac OS X 10.4:
Pro Tools|HD and Pro Tools|HD Accel Systems (with Pro Tools 6.9.2 or higher)
Pro Tools LE Systems (with Pro Tools LE 6.9.2 or higher) with the following exception:
FireWire 800 drives are not supported for record and playback with Mbox 2
Pro Tools M-Powered Systems (with Pro Tools M-Powered 6.8r2 or higher)
Pro Tools Academic Systems
Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" only (not tested on Mac OS X 10.3 and earlier)
Please Note:
Hard drives using the Oxford 924 chipset interface have FW800, FW400, USB 2.0, and eSATA ports on them. (In our testing, Digidesign qualified Glyph GT Series Hard Drives with the Oxford 924 chipset)
Hard drives using the Oxford 912 chipset interface have USB 2.0, FW400 and FW800 ports on them.
Only the use of the FW800 or FW400 interface is supported on these drives with Pro Tools.
Up to 4 FireWire 800 daisy-chained drives supported when used without other FireWire drives
FireWire 400 and FireWire 800 drives should not be combined
For additional information when using an M-Audio FireWire interface when also using a FireWire 800 hard drive, please see this M-Audio Knowledgebase item:
Problems in combination with FW800 hard drives Pro systems

[Arska]

"FireWire 800 drives are not supported for record and playback with Mbox 2"

So: ALL and ONLY Oxford 912 or 924 chipset equipped ext.drives does work with Mbox 2/LE and glyptech is the only officially supported Oxford 912 or 924 chipset drive?

How can I now which drives have Oxford 912 or 924 chipset ?

It's very unfourtunate that this sort of information isn't available at any really public place as it's very crucial info for any PT LE user(?)

[Arska]

I tried to record with my Western Digital MyBook Pro edition ext.drive and I got the message:

"The audio device buffer underflowed. If this occurs frequently, try decreasing the "H/W Buffer Size in the Playback Engine panel or remove other devices from the audio firewire bus (-6085)"

So does that confirm at least that my ext. drive is not compatible with my MacBook Pro and Mbox 2 Pro ?

Should I buy the glyptech or what? Are all the glyptech compatible or is there certain models which you recommend?

[Craig F]

WD My Books are known to be problematic

[nonsqtr]

oops....

[nonsqtr]

It's very unfourtunate that this sort of information isn't available at any really public place as it's very crucial info for any PT LE user(?)

DIGI, are you listening?

(Yes, I'm over here too)....

I just picked this one up out of thin air, but maybe we should play a little game and count the number of posts in this forum that echo this sentiment?

Nah. As long as you're listening.

And then maybe you'll say, "heard and understood".