External HDD jumper settings?

[The Monkey]

Hi,

Here's my plan. I ordered two new Seagate PATA drives: a 500GB for storage and a 750GB for backup. These external drives are in addition to my iMac's internal 250GB drive. The external HDDs will be cased in OWC cases w/ firewire. Here are my questions:

1) Should the external 500GB HDD (extra storage) be set to Master, Slave, or Cable Select?

2) Should I daisy chain the external 750GB (backup) to the 500GB external HDD, or should it go into the other FW port on the iMac?

3) What jumper setting should I set for the 750GB (backup) external HDD? Master, Slave, Cable Select?

Thanks in advance for answering what are probably very basic questions.

 

[iPhil]

Hi,

Here's my plan. I ordered two new Seagate PATA drives: a 500GB for storage and a 750GB for backup. These external drives are in addition to my iMac's internal 250GB drive. The external HDDs will be cased in OWC cases w/ firewire. Here are my questions:

1) Should the external 500GB HDD (extra storage) be set to Master, Slave, or Cable Select?

2) Should I daisy chain the external 750GB (backup) to the 500GB external HDD, or should it go into the other FW port on the iMac?

3) What jumper setting should I set for the 750GB (backup) external HDD? Master, Slave, Cable Select?

Thanks in advance for answering what are probably very basic questions.

If your Daisy-Chaining drives then each drive will show as it's own drive on the desktop..

 

[trainguy77]

1) Should the external 500GB HDD (extra storage) be set to Master, Slave, or Cable Select?

If you look at the documentation for the enclosure it will say but i i would suspect master or Cable select.

2) Should I daisy chain the external 750GB (backup) to the 500GB external HDD, or should it go into the other FW port on the iMac?

If possible connect to separate ports. It will get better speed this way.

3) What jumper setting should I set for the 750GB (backup) external HDD? Master, Slave, Cable Select?

See number 1 They run independently.

 

[maestrokev]

Hi,

Here's my plan. I ordered two new Seagate PATA drives: a 500GB for storage and a 750GB for backup. These external drives are in addition to my iMac's internal 250GB drive. The external HDDs will be cased in OWC cases w/ firewire. Here are my questions:

1) Should the external 500GB HDD (extra storage) be set to Master, Slave, or Cable Select?

2) Should I daisy chain the external 750GB (backup) to the 500GB external HDD, or should it go into the other FW port on the iMac?

3) What jumper setting should I set for the 750GB (backup) external HDD? Master, Slave, Cable Select?

Thanks in advance for answering what are probably very basic questions.

Are the enclosures FW400 or FW800? I daisy-chain 4 FW800 external hard drives and they work fine.

 

[The Monkey]

If you look at the documentation for the enclosure it will say but i i would suspect master or Cable select.

Thanks, it says either Master or Cable Select. Does it matter which?

Are the enclosures FW400 or FW800? I daisy-chain 4 FW800 external hard drives and they work fine.

It's FW400.

 

[maestrokev]

Thanks, it says either Master or Cable Select. Does it matter which?

It's FW400.

My iMac only has 1 FW400 and 1 FW800 port so I'm stuck daisy-chaining if I want all to run at FW800.

 

[trainguy77]

Are the enclosures FW400 or FW800? I daisy-chain 4 FW800 external hard drives and they work fine.

Yeah they we will BUT you won't be able to access all 4 drives at full speed at the same time. As you will max out the firewire 800 interface.

Thanks, it says either Master or Cable Select. Does it matter which?

It's FW400.

No it doesn't matter which. And just plug them each into there own ports then.

 

[The Monkey]

Thanks everyone. Got the 500GB up and running, will save the 750GB for tomorrow.

Can I now use the second FW ports on the OWC enclosures to connect other devices like cameras, ipods, etc.?

 

[iPhil]

Thanks everyone. Got the 500GB up and running, will save the 750GB for tomorrow.

Can I now use the second FW ports on the OWC enclosures to connect other devices like cameras, ipods, etc.?

daisy-chaining any FW device is a go.. e.g. camcorder etc..





edit: the ipod has have the FW chip to work thru daisy-chain process..

 

[seniorstinky]

Thanks everyone. Got the 500GB up and running, will save the 750GB for tomorrow.

Can I now use the second FW ports on the OWC enclosures to connect other devices like cameras, ipods, etc.?

Yes. Keep in mind, especially if you are doing video editing, that you may experience unacceptable performance hits with your daisy chain.

 

[The Monkey]

Thanks again. Another question: the OWC enclosures have a power switch. What do most of you do about powering down the external HDD. Do you leave it on? Turn it off?

 

[iPhil]

Thanks again. Another question: the OWC enclosures have a power switch. What do most of you do about powering down the external HDD. Do you leave it on? Turn it off?

I leave mine on . since one of them is my boot drive ..

 

[cbrain]

Thanks again. Another question: the OWC enclosures have a power switch. What do most of you do about powering down the external HDD. Do you leave it on? Turn it off?

I switch mine off along with my Mac.

 

[maestrokev]

Yeah they we will BUT you won't be able to access all 4 drives at full speed at the same time. As you will max out the firewire 800 interface.

So how can I access all 4 drives at full speed at the same time if my new iMac only has 1 FW400 and 1 FW800 port?

 

[trainguy77]

So how can I access all 4 drives at full speed at the same time if my new iMac only has 1 FW400 and 1 FW800 port?

You won't be able to get full performance out of all of them, but to get the best performance i would put one drive on the 400 two drives on the 800 and maybe one on USB if it has a USB port.