Best way to connect 002 Cpu and HD

[oulablank]

Greetings,
I have been successfully running a 400 firewire cable from my cpu to my 002 and then another 400 from the other port on the 002 to my Lacie hard drive. I understand that digidesign does not recommend this and that you should always plugin the drive directly to the cpu but I have an imac that only has 1 firewire port that is 400, and an external hard drive that has only 1 400 firewire port as well. I also understand that digidesign does not recommend disconnecting the firewire cable from the 002 while it is still powered on. So my question is, with an imac with 1 400 and 1 800 , a 002 with 2 400 and a external drive with 1 400 and 1 800, how could I set up with digidesigns recommendations? First, I ran the cpu to the 002 and then the 002 to the external, and for about 4 months with no problems. I would click on the image of my external, select eject, and then disconnect the firewire cable connected to my cpu. Then I would turn off my drive and then the 002, until I had read that the 002 should not be disconnected with the power on. So then I started a new pattern which was clicking the image of my drive, selecting eject, disconnecting the cable from my external drive instead, and then shutting off the 002 with it still connected to the cpu. Now for the first time ever, I quit pro tools, went to the bathroom, and when I came back the images of my external were not showing on my desktop and the 002 read nothing, not standby, not standalone, nothing!!! I had to improperly shut off my drive and 002. Could my 002 be screwed due to improper chain?? Any suggestions on how to fix this issue.
Thank you for your time.........Paul

[albee1952]

I suspect the power harness. I doubt you "hurt" the 002 unless you unplgged it while turned on(which has been known to sometimes kill either the firewire board of the 002 or the firewire port of a Mac). You may be a victim of the old 002 power harness issue which has been beat to death on the DUC. First thing to try is connect the drive to the computer and see if you can read it. If so, you know the drive and computer firewire port are both good. I would next try just the 002 attached and see if protools opens. If it does, then I am confused. If it does not, you may have to open the unit and reseat all the power harness connections several times and try again. Getting back to your original setup, with a firewire drive that only has a single FW400 port, you were running it all the only way you can. The danger is in turning off the 002 while data is being written to the drive. The best thing is to use a firewire drive that has 2 FW400 ports. In lieu of that, its probably best to simply not turn the 002 off until you shut down the computer.

[flommer]

Connect the drive via the 800 port and the 002 via the 400. I think the mbox2 pro doesn't work with firewire800 drives, but 002 should be OK. Is there any reason why you are disconnecting cables? I would avoid that if I could...

I keep everything connected, but turned off if not in use...

[oulablank]

When I am speaking of connecting and disconnecting and trying different setups I'm not keeping everything on. I'm making sure the order of powering on and off is proper. For the power harness issue, until I can grab an 003 can I just follow the steps for maintenence from previous threads or must I purchase a new power harness??? Keep in mind, that this power harness issue has only happened once. Is once enough to need a new one?? One last question. Forgetting about the power harness now and thinking only connection, If I have to work right NOW with external drives that only have 1 400 port is this the best option I have until I buy an external with 2 400 ports.......... .STARTING....400 from cpu to 002...400 from 002 to external HD...Turn on drive and wait about 30 seconds....Turn on 002 and wait for validation and standby...Turn on Cpu

FINISHING...Click on HD and eject...remove 400 cable from back of external drive....Turn 002 off....Turn off Cpu...Oh, and if my cpu is already on, then should I ALWAYS shut it off first........Thanks for listening.....Paul
MY APOLOGIES TO FLOMMER FOR PREVIOUS THREADS...Thanks for answering

[oulablank]

I thought 800 firewire wasnt recommended??

[flommer]

http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?...4&itemid=23114

On this page are the FW Mac requirements etc...

The only exception I see is for the Mbox2 Pro, don't know why that is...

Also not to mix 400 and 800 drives...

[oulablank]

So I shouldnt be expecting any performance difference speed wise or something like that.??

[oulablank]

I mean by using the 800 port on my cpu for the external. I see on the link the compatibility I am just ignorant to the use of the other port in any way shape or form. I only use drives and cpu s for pro tools so I'm lost in the drive area a little. Thanks for the help so far.

[flommer]

FW 800 is faster than 400, so if anything it should be a potential performance increase.

[oulablank]

Running multiple drives ( like when running the music production toolkit and using 48 tracks ) is it ok to run 800 from cpu to the drive and 400 to link a second drive or must it stay the same....i.e. all 800 or all 400