Hard Drive FW800 Dock

[paulrgmusic]

Hi

I just wondered if anyone uses a hard drive dock with firewire 800. I've looked around but none of the online sites actually say which FW chipset is used. I know that PT is only qualified using Oxford 911, 912 and 924 chipsets.

Does anyone use one of these that works?

If it matters I'm on an iMac 27" 3.4GHz i7, 12GB RAM using Snow Leopard

Cheers
Paul

[Park Seward]

Check out OWC. They state which chipsets they use and it is the Oxford.

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/

[Craig F]

not on the Drive Docks
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/Newer...ard_Drive_Dock

or am I blind?

Ask OWC they are good about these kind of things

[paulrgmusic]

Thanks for the info. The only dock I can find that has a chance is one with an Oxford 944se chipset. This isn't on the supported list but it is the same chipset as used by one of their 'for best performance' hard drives. I find it a little ironic that one of the recommended HDDs actually has an unsupported chipset.

I think I'll shelve the dock idea and just use my current USB dock for backup purposes.

Now...to find a FW HDD with a supported chipset over here in the UK?

[mix109]

The Voyager
as posted above has a 944 Chipset,and fyi they have a dealer in UK if you check on the Where to Buy Tab ;-)
..and imho i would not go crazy with all that chipset compatibility saga...

[Park Seward]

Originally Posted by Craig F

not on the Drive Docks
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/Newer...ard_Drive_Dock

or am I blind?

Ask OWC they are good about these kind of things

Or you just maybe need glasses:

"Bridge Chipset
Oxford 944SE UPDATED"

Other World Computing (OWC) has added the newest Oxford chipset to its Mercury Elite Pro Mini Quad Interface models. The new Oxford 944SE chipset offers faster data throughput, up to 300MB per second, with reduced power consumption and cooler operation.

Read more: http://www.macnn.com/articles/11/06/...#ixzz1UpnnyWLf

[Craig F]

or scroll all the way down

[paulrgmusic]

Hi

I just thought I'd update. I bought (with an 'if it doesn't work, bring it back' deal) a G Drive Mini 500GB FW800/400 . It has an Oxford 934, which Avid only qualifies with FW400.

I've been using it for a few days with the FW800 port running on bus power only and it has been rock solid on some pretty big sessions.

Happy!

[bradch00]

Glad it's working out for you... Not sure which interface you are using (FW, USB...) the thing that makes FW800/400 an issue is only if you are putting a FW400 interface on the same port. What the iMac should do is step down to FW400, because the interface would force it to do so. People sometimes have issues with that type of configuration and that's why Avid states it only qualifies FW400 drives and only with Oxford xxx bridging chips. If that makes any sense at all. I run 2 FW800 drives and a FW400 interface off one single port with no problems, but it is only transferring data at FW400 speed.

[paulrgmusic]

I've plugged it straight into my shiny new iMac's FW port. The G Drive only has FW800 sockets but it comes with a lead that converts 800 down to 400. I haven't used this lead but I'm pretty sure it is transferring at very high speeds. This is my first FW device so I can't be certain as I have nothing to compare it to.

Avid doesn't advise against all FW800s. With the Oxford 911 (and a couple of others), both 400 and 800 are supported. With the 934, only the 400 version is qualified but I assume mine is using 800 (so far without issue, touch wood!)

Paul