connecting MacBook Pro, PT MBox Pro & external HD

[Deamhan Fola]

Hi all,
Sorry for the total newbie question here--tried to find the answer for it in the MBox user guide, Avid forums & with Google searches, but no dice (for the new MBox anyway).

I plan to use a brand-new MacBook Pro (2.8 GHz Intel Core 7, 8G RAM, 500GB serial ATA drive @ 7200 rpm) with the new Pro Tools MBox Pro. In what order should I physically connect laptop, MBox Pro, and external hard drive given the one FireWire port on my laptop and 2 Firewire ports on the MBox Pro? Does the presence of 2 FW ports on the new MBox Pro allow connection options not available in earlier incarnations?

Please explain this to me like you would to a 6 year old.

Beir bua, Deamhan Fola

[plastikman]

Ideally the connections should go:

computer---->external HD------> MBox Pro

[nst7]

As for the second firewire ports on the 002/003 and Mboxes, in the past it has not been recommended to use that for connection of hard drives. I would assume that has not changed.

Daisy chaining works fine, as long as you have a compatible drive.

I recommend these:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other.../MEAQ7S1TB32M/

With these, the drive will function as an 800 to 400 converter. You go: computer 800 port to hard drive 800 port, then hard drive 400 port, to Mbox Pro.