high capacity USB/Firewire HD enclosure

[bigboy99]

I've tried three combo HD enclosures from TigerDirect & CompUSA, and none of them will support a Maxtor DiamondMax 10 300GB HD to full capacity (279GB) using the firewire connection. They all hit the wall at 128GB.

A search turns up hundred of drive enclosures, but the online documentation is thin in this regard.

Please let me know if anyone has figured this out as I'd like to get this issue behind me.

Thanks,

BB99

[CanadaRAM]

So, stop buying cut rate generic enclosures at PC discounters then...

Look at MacAlly, or GForce, or OWC Mercury or a manufacturer who specifically guarantees large drive support.

[Sun Baked]

Didn't see too big a problem, just google "OXUF922 and 300GB" ... or something similar.

Should see quite a few drive enclosure manufacturers supporting large drives in FW/USB combo encosures.

Of course if you are looking for 2.5" bus powered combo enclosures for cheap ...

Or as CanadaRAM said, go to a typical retail supplier ...

Edit: What is really funny is that Maxtor offers a 300GB OneTouch FW/USB enclosure, quite sure they work with Maxtor drives. ;)

[cube]

Also, buy from some company which doesn't just use generic firmware, and gives basically no support, but one that licenses the source code and is able to provide you their own improvements/bug fixes. I buy here: http://www.granitedigital.com/

[Sun Baked]

Just looked back at your posts, purchasing a drive with the Oxford 911 Chipset for large drives was a mistake.

The Oxford 922 chipset is the current chipset ....

[cube]

The 911 is now OK, but you need good firmware and a kext for Tiger.

[CanadaRAM]

Didn't see too big a problem, just google "OXUF922 and 300GB" ... or something similar.

Should see quite a few drive enclosure manufacturers supporting large drives in FW/USB combo encosures.

Of course if you are looking for 2.5" bus powered combo enclosures for cheap ...

Or as CanadaRAM said, go to a typical retail supplier ...

Edit: What is really funny is that Maxtor offers a 300GB OneTouch FW/USB enclosure, quite sure they work with Maxtor drives. ;)

Problem with Maxtor external drives is that they have only 1 year warranty, and if the enclosure fails they DONT ALLOW YOU to crack open the case to take your drive out and scavenge the data - that voids the warranty... So you have to choose between trashing the warranty or trashing your data.

[bigboy99]

Just looked back at your posts, purchasing a drive with the Oxford 911 Chipset for large drives was a mistake.

The Oxford 922 chipset is the current chipset ....

No kidding.

[bigboy99]

Also, buy from some company which doesn't just use generic firmware, and gives basically no support, but one that licenses the source code and is able to provide you their own improvements/bug fixes. I buy here: http://www.granitedigital.com/

Nothing at this site fits the need, but thanks anyway.

[bigboy99]

So, stop buying cut rate generic enclosures at PC discounters then...

Look at MacAlly, or GForce, or OWC Mercury or a manufacturer who specifically guarantees large drive support.

I'm not looking for a cheap enclosure. Maxtor does not sell an enclosure for their drives, they only sell packages, or I would have purchased it.

Thanks for the info.

[bigboy99]

Problem with Maxtor external drives is that they have only 1 year warranty, and if the enclosure fails they DONT ALLOW YOU to crack open the case to take your drive out and scavenge the data - that voids the warranty... So you have to choose between trashing the warranty or trashing your data.

LaCie HD packages only have a 1 year limited warrant, as well.

[cube]

Nothing at this site fits the need, but thanks anyway.

:confused: They have practically everything one can think of, except Oxford 924 enclosures yet. If you go to the specific pages, you can see you can buy the cases alone. (For the basic ones, they only sell universal 5.25" cases that you can use for anything, not 3.5"-only enclosures anymore).

http://www.granitedigital.com/catalog/indx_firewire.htm

[bigboy99]

Problem with Maxtor external drives is that they have only 1 year warranty, and if the enclosure fails they DONT ALLOW YOU to crack open the case to take your drive out and scavenge the data - that voids the warranty... So you have to choose between trashing the warranty or trashing your data.

LaCie HD packages only have a 1 year limited warranty.

[bigboy99]

So, stop buying cut rate generic enclosures at PC discounters then...

Look at MacAlly, or GForce, or OWC Mercury or a manufacturer who specifically guarantees large drive support.

OWC has the answer.

Thanks,

BB99