Oxford 924DS vs. 934DSB FW bridge chipset ?

[Brian33]

I'm in the market for an external drive enclosure, and I want it to have an Oxford Semiconductor bridge chipset supporting FireWire 800 and eSATA.

Does anyone know what the difference is between the Oxford 924DS chipset and the 934DSB chipset?

I figure the 934 must be newer, in part because the 924 is not listed at all on this page at the company's website: http://www.plxtech.com/products/consumer/das. (PLX aquired Oxford Semiconductor in 2009.)


I ask because I'm debating between two similar "quad interface" enclosures: The "OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro" (http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEFW924AL1K/) apparently uses the older OXUF924DS chipset, a 3-amp power supply, an (arguably?) better reputation, and cost $95 including shipping.

The "Rosewill RX81-MP-SC- SLV" (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182123) uses the newer OXUF934DSB chipset, a 2-amp power supply, and cost $60 with free shipping.

Experiences with either of these enclosures would also be appreciated.

I've got an early 2008 27" iMac, and I plan to install a 2TB drive in the enclosure and to daisy-chain it on the FW800 bus, along with my "Seagate FreeAgent Desk for Mac" (which I believe has the 934 chipset). Usage would include importing MiniDV clips and iMovie work.

 

[alphaod]

It doesn't matter. I have a bunch of drives and that they have many different Oxford chipsets and I can't tell the difference. All I know is some of them support more interfaces than others and some support RAID functions.

I'd get whatever is cheapest.

 

[Brian33]

Thanks alphaod. You're probably right, and I'm probably over-analyzing it (typical for me). I have noticed that some chipsets support more interfaces than others, but these two are both quad interface USB/FW400/FW800/eSATA devices. I just can't help wondering what the difference is!

 

[Brian33]

Well, newegg just lowered the price of the Rosewill enclosure by $9, making it $44 cheaper than the OWC enclosure. Plus it has the (presumably) newer Oxford chipset. I'm going with it, in spite of a few negative reviews (and lots of positive ones). Too bad OWC doesn't seem to allow customer reviews of its products.