Seagate GoFlex FW800

I have a Seagate GoFlex 1.5TB drive I just got in the mail.

If I connect it to my MBP it mounts right up. Downstairs I have a Mac
mini with an external FW800 and an external FW800 RAID case daisy-
chained to the mini.

mini -> external -> RAID

If I plug the Seagate into the RAID case's second FW800 port, it doesn't
mount.

It should do, though, right? I'm not sure I'v ever had 3 FW800 devices
daisy-chained, but I thought the maximum was well over 50 (and I know I
once had 9 FW400 devices daisy chained, just to prove it worked).

Is it possible that the RAID case isn't providing enough power for the
bus powered drive? I thought that was a requirement (unlike USB).

I am going to try shuffling the devices so that it is

mini -> RAID -> external

and then put the Seagate on the end of that chain, but it will be
several hours before I can shut down.

--
Ille Qui Nos Omnes Servabit

In message <>
Lewis <> wrote:
> I have a Seagate GoFlex 1.5TB drive I just got in the mail.

> If I connect it to my MBP it mounts right up. Downstairs I have a Mac
> mini with an external FW800 and an external FW800 RAID case daisy-
> chained to the mini.

> mini -> external -> RAID

> If I plug the Seagate into the RAID case's second FW800 port, it doesn't
> mount.

> It should do, though, right? I'm not sure I'v ever had 3 FW800 devices
> daisy-chained, but I thought the maximum was well over 50 (and I know I
> once had 9 FW400 devices daisy chained, just to prove it worked).

> Is it possible that the RAID case isn't providing enough power for the
> bus powered drive? I thought that was a requirement (unlike USB).

> I am going to try shuffling the devices so that it is

> mini -> RAID -> external

> and then put the Seagate on the end of that chain, but it will be
> several hours before I can shut down.

That didn't work.


--
FOUR QUEENS. HMM. THAT IS VERY HIGH. Death looked down at his cards,
and then up into Granny's steady, blue-eyed gaze. Neither moved for
some time. Then Death laid the hand on the table. I LOSE, he said. ALL
I HAVE IS FOUR ONES.

Lewis <> wrote:
> > and then put the Seagate on the end of that chain, but it will be
> > several hours before I can shut down.
>
> That didn't work.

Does Disk Utility or System Profiler see the drive?

--
K.

Lang may your lum reek.

In message <jts5ij$u6d$>
Király <> wrote:
> Lewis <> wrote:
>> > and then put the Seagate on the end of that chain, but it will be
>> > several hours before I can shut down.
>>
>> That didn't work.

> Does Disk Utility or System Profiler see the drive?

No, the drive never powers on. The Seagate GoFlex 2.5" bus powered
drives have a light on the connector that come on when the drive gets
power. If I plug it into the chain, it doesn't turn on. If I plug it in
directly to the FW port on the computers, it does and then the drive
mounts after a few seconds as expected.

I find this odd as I though only USB pulled this kind of crap with power
on the bus. Both the other FW devices have independent power.

It seems to work fine via USB2, for certain values of 'fine' that
include 'a **** of a lot slower'.

--
Evil is a little man afraid for his job.

Lewis <> wrote:
> No, the drive never powers on. The Seagate GoFlex 2.5" bus powered
> drives have a light on the connector that come on when the drive gets
> power. If I plug it into the chain, it doesn't turn on. If I plug it in
> directly to the FW port on the computers, it does and then the drive
> mounts after a few seconds as expected.
>
> I find this odd as I though only USB pulled this kind of crap with power
> on the bus. Both the other FW devices have independent power.

It seems that the power supplies of the intermediary devices are not
powerful enough to supply their own devices and an additional
bus-powered device. I don't think this can be considered unexpected.

--
K.

Lang may your lum reek.

In message <jtsnce$7q3$>
Király <> wrote:
> Lewis <> wrote:
>> No, the drive never powers on. The Seagate GoFlex 2.5" bus powered
>> drives have a light on the connector that come on when the drive gets
>> power. If I plug it into the chain, it doesn't turn on. If I plug it in
>> directly to the FW port on the computers, it does and then the drive
>> mounts after a few seconds as expected.
>>
>> I find this odd as I though only USB pulled this kind of crap with power
>> on the bus. Both the other FW devices have independent power.

> It seems that the power supplies of the intermediary devices are not
> powerful enough to supply their own devices and an additional
> bus-powered device. I don't think this can be considered unexpected.

I was under the impression the FW spec required every device with two FW
ports to provide full power to both ports. This ensures the daisy chain
works. devices without two ports obviously do not have this requirement,
but are necessarily limited ot the end of the chain.

Could be wrong, it's been many years since I looked at the FW spec
requirements.

--
I WILL NOT BARF UNLESS I'M SICK Bart chalkboard Ep. 8F15

On Sat, 14 Jul 2012 20:12:12 +0000, Lewis wrote:

> In message <jts5ij$u6d$>
> Király <> wrote:
>> Lewis <> wrote:
>>> > and then put the Seagate on the end of that chain, but it will be
>>> > several hours before I can shut down.
>>>
>>> That didn't work.
>
>> Does Disk Utility or System Profiler see the drive?
>
> No, the drive never powers on. The Seagate GoFlex 2.5" bus powered
> drives have a light on the connector that come on when the drive gets
> power. If I plug it into the chain, it doesn't turn on. If I plug it in
> directly to the FW port on the computers, it does and then the drive
> mounts after a few seconds as expected.
>
> I find this odd as I though only USB pulled this kind of crap with power
> on the bus. Both the other FW devices have independent power.

I have a couple of 70 GB Lacie FW 400 drives dating back to 2005/2006.
These allegedly worked from the FW power but my old iBook didn't pump
enough out so I had to use the external power supplies. I haven't tried
running them without the external supplies on a later Mac simply because
they are already plugged in.

> It seems to work fine via USB2, for certain values of 'fine' that
> include 'a **** of a lot slower'.

I see a tremendous variation in USB2 speeds, especially when transferring
large numbers of GB at a time. FW has much more consistent performance
here.

--
Paul Sture

In message <5lfbd9->
Paul Sture <> wrote:
> On Sat, 14 Jul 2012 20:12:12 +0000, Lewis wrote:
>> It seems to work fine via USB2, for certain values of 'fine' that
>> include 'a **** of a lot slower'.

> I see a tremendous variation in USB2 speeds, especially when transferring
> large numbers of GB at a time. FW has much more consistent performance
> here.

Yep. Certainly don't want to be moving nearly a terabyte of data over
USB2. I plugged it into the macbook, plugged that into gigabit, and
copied that way.

--
"A thousand years ago we thought the world was a bowl. Five hundred
years ago we knew it was a globe. Today we know it is flat and round
carried through space on the back of a turtle. Don't you wonder what
shape it will turn out to be tomorrow?" [Lord Vetinari]