Daisy Chain?

[wayland1985]

I have a LaCie external Hard drive. I currently have it hooked up to my Airport Extreme, but I'll be buying a 500gb Time capsule with my MBP.

When you daisy chain HD's with FW800, do they show up on the desktop as 1 drive, or multiple?

Can you daisy chain HD's together, and plug them into a source using USB? Or does everything need to be FW800?


Think a daisy chain setup will work with the Time Capsule??? (I will probably be getting a larger LaCie for added storage...)

 

[McGiord]

I think you can also make a RAID arrangement via Disk Utility.
________
one vaporizer

 

[TEG]

Everything in a daisy chain appears as its own device (as it is just a data bus connection). You cannot convert between formats, so USB drives must all connect into USB ports, FireWire into Firewire, you cannot use a drive with both connectors to "bridge the gap".

Time Capsule does allow for the use of external drives as both AirDiscs and for Time Machine backups. They will all connect via USB, and depending on the models you may need a hub (if they don't have USB passthrough).

TEG

 

[benlangdon]

i like the word daisy chain

wait so are you connecting a hard drive to a hard drive and so on?

is this why there is sometimes 2 firewire or usb ports?

 

[TEG]

i like the word daisy chain

wait so are you connecting a hard drive to a hard drive and so on?

is this why there is sometimes 2 firewire or usb ports?

Yes. That way you can set up drives in a cascading chain (daisy chain) instead of using a hub-and-spoke system. It is much cleaner.

TEG

 

[wayland1985]

Everything in a daisy chain appears as its own device (as it is just a data bus connection). You cannot convert between formats, so USB drives must all connect into USB ports, FireWire into Firewire, you cannot use a drive with both connectors to "bridge the gap".

Time Capsule does allow for the use of external drives as both AirDiscs and for Time Machine backups. They will all connect via USB, and depending on the models you may need a hub (if they don't have USB passthrough).

TEG

I see. Well, maybe it's time to buy a new Hard drive as well.... the LaCie is getting old, so I guess it's only getting closer to its demise.

You seem to know a lot about drives, Teg. Any recommendations? (I.E.- LaCie, WD MyBook, just replacing the LaCie's HD and using it's case (If so, who are the good HD brands?))


Thanks!

 

[benlangdon]

thanks for the info.

so... when i buy another external enclosure and it has 2 firewire and 1 usb, does that mean i can plug a drive into the 1 usb and then use the firewire?
or if one comes with 2 usb and 2 fire wire what is my limitations.

as i have 1 drive at this moment that is usb and esata with 1 port each.
i need to buy an enclosure for this other drive and...


sorry for stealing the thread a little.

 

[cohibadad]

USB2 blows. I wish would resolve to put a FW800 port on all their stuff. USB2 is going to become more and more irrelevant as HDDs enlarge and other bandwidth increases.

 

[benlangdon]

USB2 blows. I wish would resolve to put a FW800 port on all their stuff. USB2 is going to become more and more irrelevant as HDDs enlarge and other bandwidth increases.

ya i feel ya. i orginally planned to use my external 500 hdd with an esata connection which is pretty fast. but the express card with the esata port just does not like my computer or something. went through 4 cards before saying f it. when to the geniuses and everything. was there for 3 hours 1 day and went everyday for a week/week and a half

so now when i have to move like 30-60gb its very very .

i start the transfer before school and come back after and sometimes its not even done .

then i was putting it on a firewire external which was ..... not that fast. it was 400 but ... had to return the enclosure as the fan was defective

 

[TEG]

Western Digital or LaCie do seem to have some of the best results out there, but they often come with crap you don't need, or are limited in their passthrough ports. Find something that you can Daisy Chain, and has the speed and storage you want. Remember FW800>FW400>USB2.0>USB1.1, so if your system supports it go with a FW800 enclosure, otherwise stick to FW400. You cannot use one connection (like FireWire) then use the USB ports that may be on the enclosure to connect other devices. The two systems are incompatible and never cross linked.

I bought a MyBook 500 at Thanksgiving for $99. Had that sale not occured, I would have built my own, because I trust my ability to build a cheaper external HD than I do most companies.

TEG

 

[benlangdon]

eSATA>FW800>FW400>USB2.0>USB1.1
I trust my ability to build a cheaper external HD than I do most companies.

TEG

ya i know i was thinking that too about building my own. this last one i had was le shitz.

all i need is something to bend metal really well.
any ideas that i can do and not spend much

o ya
this is peak transfer from what i know
3GB/S>800MB/S>400MB/S>50MB/S>5MB/S

 

[shiato storm]

just continuing this discussion further - I found this:
http://times.usefulinc.com/2007/01/17-sata-box
as an sata solution to external storage. I currently have an IcyBox with Fw800, SATA and USB (3-in-1) connected to a desktop PC direct to an SATA connection port (a little barbaric with a wire going in the side of the case but works fine), would I be correct in assuming an express card like the Sonnet would fit the bill in much the same way for eSATA on a MBP? any other cards recommended?