micky wrote:
> Well, you and nospam say the same thing, so I think that is the plan.
> To look for a Firewire drive and if somehow the internal drive fails
> before then, to do what I say above.
> I talked to WD -- JR.com transferred me to them -- and he said it's
> true, only their Thunderbolt drives can boot a computer. And I'll
> check again, but I think they are much more expensive. So I'll find
> another brand.
Argh.:-( - That's not true! - ANY Firewire harddisk will boot ANY OS X (or OS 8.6+) based Mac! - Of course the disk must be initialized the correct way - APM (Apple Partiætion Map) for PowerPC based Macs and GUID for Intel based Macs.
Most Firewire harddisks*) come as MBR (Master Boot Record = Windows) formatted disks, so the disk has to be re-initialized with 'DiskUtility'.
Open DiskUtility, mark the Firewire disk in the left window, select the pane 'partition', Set partition table to '1' (one), click 'Options', select 'Apple Partition Map' for use with PowerPC Macs / GUID for Intel Macs, click OK, click 'Apply' + 'OK'.
Such a Firewire disk will now boot _any_ Mac corresponding to the type and selected partition table as above.
NOTE. If you have an USB drive, it MUST bne initialized the exact same way to boot a Mac - APM for PowerPC, GUID for Intel Macs. MBR willnot boot any Mac!
NOTE2. Any partition table can be used for storage along with a Mac, but only the two mentioned will be able to boot a Mac
*) All WD Firewire disks are MBR formatted if it isn't explicitely named as 'Mac Edition'.
I'll recommend you to buy a separate combo enclosure with both Firewire and USB + a separate harddisk - such as the Mercury Elite Pro or Mercury Elite AL Pro from Otherworld Computing and either a WD Black or WD Green 1-2tb disk.
cheers, Erik Richard
-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Erik Richard Sørensen, Member of ADC, <mac-manN...@Mstofanet.dk>
NisusWriter - The Future In Multilingual Text Processing - www.nisus.com OpenOffice.org - The Modern Productivity Solution - www.openoffice.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In article <501faec6$0$293$14726...@news.sunsite.dk>,
Erik Richard Sørensen <tu...@tulle.dk> wrote:
> micky wrote:
> > Well, you and nospam say the same thing, so I think that is the plan.
> > To look for a Firewire drive and if somehow the internal drive fails
> > before then, to do what I say above.
> > I talked to WD -- JR.com transferred me to them -- and he said it's
> > true, only their Thunderbolt drives can boot a computer. And I'll
> > check again, but I think they are much more expensive. So I'll find
> > another brand.
> Argh.:-( - That's not true! - ANY Firewire harddisk will boot ANY OS X > (or OS 8.6+) based Mac! - Of course the disk must be initialized the > correct way - APM (Apple Partiætion Map) for PowerPC based Macs and GUID > for Intel based Macs.
That's true. I use SuperDuper! to write to bootable partitions on a Drobo S. I can't boot over eSATA but I can over Firewire 800. I might be able to boot over USB as well but I never tried it. At some point in the software development cycle I may be able to boot over eSATA but not the last time I tried.
Robert Peirce wrote:
> In article <501faec6$0$293$14726...@news.sunsite.dk>,
> Erik Richard Sørensen <tu...@tulle.dk> wrote:
>> micky wrote:
>>> Well, you and nospam say the same thing, so I think that is the plan.
>>> To look for a Firewire drive and if somehow the internal drive fails
>>> before then, to do what I say above.
>>> I talked to WD -- JR.com transferred me to them -- and he said it's
>>> true, only their Thunderbolt drives can boot a computer. And I'll
>>> check again, but I think they are much more expensive. So I'll find
>>> another brand. >> Argh.:-( - That's not true! - ANY Firewire harddisk will boot ANY OS X >> (or OS 8.6+) based Mac! - Of course the disk must be initialized the >> correct way - APM (Apple Partiætion Map) for PowerPC based Macs and GUID >> for Intel based Macs.
> That's true. I use SuperDuper! to write to bootable partitions on a > Drobo S. I can't boot over eSATA but I can over Firewire 800. I might > be able to boot over USB as well but I never tried it. At some point in > the software development cycle I may be able to boot over eSATA but not > the last time I tried.
I know Drobos can be rather critical to which eSATA controller it is connected. Some Macs will boot, some won't.
Some cards from both Firmtek and NewerTech are also bootable, but haven't read which ones will boot which won't...
Chers, Erik Richard
-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Erik Richard Sørensen, Member of ADC, <mac-manN...@Mstofanet.dk>
NisusWriter - The Future In Multilingual Text Processing - www.nisus.com OpenOffice.org - The Modern Productivity Solution - www.openoffice.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In article <501fa259$0$294$14726...@news.sunsite.dk>, Erik Richard
S rensen <tu...@tulle.dk> wrote:
> > i'd love to be able to boot my ppc mini off usb, but it won't do it.
> The Mini should be able to boot from USB, but I'm also aware that some > won't, but why this misbehavior I'm not sure. My guess is that it might > be because of differences in the USB chip used...
it has nothing to do with the usb chip.
powerpc macs can't boot off usb, except for one or two models and
possibly even a specific revision of those models.
In article <501faec6$0$293$14726...@news.sunsite.dk>, Erik Richard
Sørensen <tu...@tulle.dk> wrote:
> > Well, you and nospam say the same thing, so I think that is the plan.
> > To look for a Firewire drive and if somehow the internal drive fails
> > before then, to do what I say above.
> > I talked to WD -- JR.com transferred me to them -- and he said it's
> > true, only their Thunderbolt drives can boot a computer. And I'll
> > check again, but I think they are much more expensive. So I'll find
> > another brand.
> Argh.:-( - That's not true! - ANY Firewire harddisk will boot ANY OS X > (or OS 8.6+) based Mac
completely false.
some firewire bridges do not allow booting, no matter what you do.
> ! - Of course the disk must be initialized the > correct way - APM (Apple Partiætion Map) for PowerPC based Macs and GUID > for Intel based Macs.
also wrong. intel macs can boot off of either apm or guid partition
map.
only powerpc requires apm.
> Most Firewire harddisks*) come as MBR (Master Boot Record = Windows) > formatted disks, so the disk has to be re-initialized with 'DiskUtility'.
Peirce <b...@peirce-family.com> wrote:
> > > Well, you and nospam say the same thing, so I think that is the plan.
> > > To look for a Firewire drive and if somehow the internal drive fails
> > > before then, to do what I say above.
> > > I talked to WD -- JR.com transferred me to them -- and he said it's
> > > true, only their Thunderbolt drives can boot a computer. And I'll
> > > check again, but I think they are much more expensive. So I'll find
> > > another brand.
> > Argh.:-( - That's not true! - ANY Firewire harddisk will boot ANY OS X > > (or OS 8.6+) based Mac! - Of course the disk must be initialized the > > correct way - APM (Apple Parti tion Map) for PowerPC based Macs and GUID > > for Intel based Macs.
> That's true.
it's not true. some firewire drives are not bootable no matter what you
do.
> I use SuperDuper! to write to bootable partitions on a > Drobo S. I can't boot over eSATA but I can over Firewire 800.
since macs don't have esata built-in, you have esata via an add-on
card, which is what is preventing the booting.
> I might > be able to boot over USB as well but I never tried it.
intel macs can boot from usb. powerpc macs normally do not.
nospam wrote:
> Erik Richard Sørensen <tu...@tulle.dk> wrote:
>> The Mini should be able to boot from USB, but I'm also aware that some >> won't, but why this misbehavior I'm not sure. My guess is that it might >> be because of differences in the USB chip used...
> it has nothing to do with the usb chip.
> powerpc macs can't boot off usb, except for one or two models and
> possibly even a specific revision of those models.
I have booted both a Swatooth 400mhz, DigitalAudio 533mhz as well as all QS's and MDDs that I've had among hands. I've also booted a B&W G3 CPU upgraded to 1133mhz from an external USB drive and even my PM 9600/350 with a PowerLogix Combo USB2.0/FW card. - But common for all running USB 1.1 onboard is that they are extremely slow. - The fastest was infact the PM 9600 with the Combo card.
Cheers, Erik Richard
-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Erik Richard Sørensen, Member of ADC, <mac-manN...@Mstofanet.dk>
NisusWriter - The Future In Multilingual Text Processing - www.nisus.com OpenOffice.org - The Modern Productivity Solution - www.openoffice.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In article <501ff921$0$290$14726...@news.sunsite.dk>, Erik Richard
S rensen <tu...@tulle.dk> wrote:
> I have booted both a Swatooth 400mhz, DigitalAudio 533mhz as well as all > QS's and MDDs that I've had among hands. I've also booted a B&W G3 CPU > upgraded to 1133mhz from an external USB drive and even my PM 9600/350 > with a PowerLogix Combo USB2.0/FW card. - But common for all running USB > 1.1 onboard is that they are extremely slow. - The fastest was infact > the PM 9600 with the Combo card.
nospam wrote:
> Erik Richard Sørensen <tu...@tulle.dk> wrote:
>> I have booted both a Swatooth 400mhz, DigitalAudio 533mhz as well as all >> QS's and MDDs that I've had among hands. I've also booted a B&W G3 CPU >> upgraded to 1133mhz from an external USB drive and even my PM 9600/350 >> with a PowerLogix Combo USB2.0/FW card. - But common for all running USB >> 1.1 onboard is that they are extremely slow. - The fastest was infact >> the PM 9600 with the Combo card.
> on what planet was this?
...Not on the red planet called Mars, but certainly on the blue planet called Earth. - But you seem to live somewhere quite else, since you don't know that booting these machines from USB is possible.
Cheers, Erik Richard
-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Erik Richard Sørensen, Member of ADC, <mac-manN...@Mstofanet.dk>
NisusWriter - The Future In Multilingual Text Processing - www.nisus.com OpenOffice.org - The Modern Productivity Solution - www.openoffice.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In article <50201271$0$282$14726...@news.sunsite.dk>, Erik Richard
S rensen <tu...@tulle.dk> wrote:
> >> I have booted both a Swatooth 400mhz, DigitalAudio 533mhz as well as all > >> QS's and MDDs that I've had among hands. I've also booted a B&W G3 CPU > >> upgraded to 1133mhz from an external USB drive and even my PM 9600/350 > >> with a PowerLogix Combo USB2.0/FW card. - But common for all running USB > >> 1.1 onboard is that they are extremely slow. - The fastest was infact > >> the PM 9600 with the Combo card.
> > on what planet was this?
> ...Not on the red planet called Mars, but certainly on the blue planet > called Earth. - But you seem to live somewhere quite else, since you > don't know that booting these machines from USB is possible.
my old 8600 has a combo fw/usb card and it does *not* boot off of
either interface. it also has an ata card and it won't boot off of that
either. it only boots off of either scsi bus.
nospam wrote:
> Erik Richard Sørensen <tu...@tulle.dk> wrote:
>>>> I have booted both a Swatooth 400mhz, DigitalAudio 533mhz as well as all >>>> QS's and MDDs that I've had among hands. I've also booted a B&W G3 CPU >>>> upgraded to 1133mhz from an external USB drive and even my PM 9600/350 >>>> with a PowerLogix Combo USB2.0/FW card. - But common for all running USB >>>> 1.1 onboard is that they are extremely slow. - The fastest was infact >>>> the PM 9600 with the Combo card.
>>> on what planet was this?
>> ...Not on the red planet called Mars, but certainly on the blue planet >> called Earth. - But you seem to live somewhere quite else, since you >> don't know that booting these machines from USB is possible.
> my old 8600 has a combo fw/usb card and it does *not* boot off of
> either interface. it also has an ata card and it won't boot off of that
> either. it only boots off of either scsi bus.
Hm... You should be able to at least boot a 8600 from an ext. Firewire unit, if this is running with either a NEC, Intel or Oxford chipset. USB boot on a 8600 is more questionable...
Here you must remember that the 9600/350 has quite another mobo than any of the other in the 86/9600 series. - My other 9600/250 would not boot from an USB drive though it had the same type of Combo card from PowerLogix.
Both my 250mhz and 350mhz 9600 had an Acard ATA-133 dual channel fully bootalbe PCI card with OS 9.1 and later. My main bootdisk in the 9600/350 was a 40gb Seagate Barracuda IV.
I replaced the ATA card in the 9600/350 with a Ultra SCSI card (Acard UL-4), because I was lucky to get 2x 18gb 10K Atlas IV disks. - Unfortunately I forgot that the 9600 isn't hot pluggable and just unmounted the monitor when a friend came with his G4 that wouldn't boot, - that burned the motherboard.:-(
...Sad - It else had 1,0gb RAM, FW+USB2.0, USB1.1, 2x18gb 10k disks, Matrox Millenium 2/400 32mb gfx, Ultra320 ext./int., M-Audio 1814 sound card. I mostly used it for SoundEdit 16/II for master recording with lots of special VST plug-ins. Unfortunately most of these plug-ins won't work with a G3 or G4, so I can't use them along with my 1,25ghz MDD booted in OS 9.2.2. - I moved the UL-4 and M-Audio cards to my one QS Dual 1,8ghz machine and tried all the questionable plug-ins with SoundEdit, but no luck... those were the days....
Cheers, Erik Richard
-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Erik Richard Sørensen, Member of ADC, <mac-manN...@Mstofanet.dk>
NisusWriter - The Future In Multilingual Text Processing - www.nisus.com OpenOffice.org - The Modern Productivity Solution - www.openoffice.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<b...@peirce-family.com> wrote:
>In article <501faec6$0$293$14726...@news.sunsite.dk>,
> Erik Richard S rensen <tu...@tulle.dk> wrote:
>> micky wrote:
>> > Well, you and nospam say the same thing, so I think that is the plan.
>> > To look for a Firewire drive and if somehow the internal drive fails
>> > before then, to do what I say above.
>> > I talked to WD -- JR.com transferred me to them -- and he said it's
>> > true, only their Thunderbolt drives can boot a computer. And I'll
>> > check again, but I think they are much more expensive. So I'll find
>> > another brand.
>> Argh.:-( - That's not true! - ANY Firewire harddisk will boot ANY OS X >> (or OS 8.6+) based Mac! - Of course the disk must be initialized the >> correct way - APM (Apple Parti tion Map) for PowerPC based Macs and GUID >> for Intel based Macs.
Thanks. Yes, he must be talking through his hat. What a shame they
let him answer the phone.
>That's true. I use SuperDuper! to write to bootable partitions on a >Drobo S. I can't boot over eSATA but I can over Firewire 800. I might >be able to boot over USB as well but I never tried it. At some point in >the software development cycle I may be able to boot over eSATA but not >the last time I tried.
>On Mon, 06 Aug 2012 10:52:01 -0400, Robert Peirce
><b...@peirce-family.com> wrote:
>>In article <501faec6$0$293$14726...@news.sunsite.dk>,
>> Erik Richard S rensen <tu...@tulle.dk> wrote:
>>> micky wrote:
>>> > Well, you and nospam say the same thing, so I think that is the plan.
>>> > To look for a Firewire drive and if somehow the internal drive fails
>>> > before then, to do what I say above.
>>> > I talked to WD -- JR.com transferred me to them -- and he said it's
>>> > true, only their Thunderbolt drives can boot a computer. And I'll
>>> > check again, but I think they are much more expensive. So I'll find
>>> > another brand.
>>> Argh.:-( - That's not true! - ANY Firewire harddisk will boot ANY OS X >>> (or OS 8.6+) based Mac! - Of course the disk must be initialized the >>> correct way - APM (Apple Parti tion Map) for PowerPC based Macs and GUID >>> for Intel based Macs.
>Thanks. Yes, he must be talking through his hat. What a shame they
>let him answer the phone.
OOops. I meant he was wrong when he said no drive but Thunderbolt
would boot a Mac. Because their own webpage and people here have
said that Firewire will usually boot an intel based processor.
But most WD Firewire drives won't boot powerPc processors. And some
are the reverse and can't boot intel. I read webpages about that, and
WD's own webpage says so. It's url is earlier in the thread.
I'm going to buy something from G-Technology.
>>That's true. I use SuperDuper! to write to bootable partitions on a >>Drobo S. I can't boot over eSATA but I can over Firewire 800. I might
>>be able to boot over USB as well but I never tried it. At some point in >>the software development cycle I may be able to boot over eSATA but not >>the last time I tried.
micky wrote:
> micky <NONONOmis...@bigfoot.com> wrote:
>> Robert Peirce <b...@peirce-family.com> wrote:
>>> Erik Richard Sørensen <tu...@tulle.dk> wrote:
>>>> micky wrote:
>>>>> Well, you and nospam say the same thing, so I think that is the plan.
>>>>> To look for a Firewire drive and if somehow the internal drive fails
>>>>> before then, to do what I say above.
>>>>> I talked to WD -- JR.com transferred me to them -- and he said it's
>>>>> true, only their Thunderbolt drives can boot a computer. And I'll
>>>>> check again, but I think they are much more expensive. So I'll find
>>>>> another brand. >>>> Argh.:-( - That's not true! - ANY Firewire harddisk will boot ANY OS X >>>> (or OS 8.6+) based Mac! - Of course the disk must be initialized the >>>> correct way - APM (Apple Partiætion Map) for PowerPC based Macs and GUID >>>> for Intel based Macs.
>> Thanks. Yes, he must be talking through his hat. What a shame they
>> let him answer the phone.
> OOops. I meant he was wrong when he said no drive but Thunderbolt
> would boot a Mac. Because their own webpage and people here have
> said that Firewire will usually boot an intel based processor.
> But most WD Firewire drives won't boot powerPc processors. And some
> are the reverse and can't boot intel. I read webpages about that, and
> WD's own webpage says so. It's url is earlier in the thread.
> I'm going to buy something from G-Technology.
I understood you that way. - Sometimes webpages' support pages aren't what they should be..-)
>>> That's true. I use SuperDuper! to write to bootable partitions on a >>> Drobo S. I can't boot over eSATA but I can over Firewire 800. I might
> Firewire 400 would work the same, right?
Yes, and FW400 will be quite a lot faster than USB too.
Cheers, Erik Richard
-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Erik Richard Sørensen, Member of ADC, <mac-manN...@Mstofanet.dk>
NisusWriter - The Future In Multilingual Text Processing - www.nisus.com OpenOffice.org - The Modern Productivity Solution - www.openoffice.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Mon, 06 Aug 2012 22:15:42 -0400, nospam <nos...@nospam.invalid>
wrote:
>In article <50207874$0$283$14726...@news.sunsite.dk>, Erik Richard
>S rensen <tu...@tulle.dk> wrote:
>> Yes, and FW400 will be quite a lot faster than USB too.
>actually, only slightly faster.
BTW, I did backup his Mac to a spare SATA harddrive of my own, and he
bought SuperDuper and was supposed to start doing incremental updates.
But even if he didn't, he still has a copy of almost all his files, so
the time pressure for me to set him up is gone.
I think I'm going to call G-tech and ask them 1) if their HD's will boot a Mac with Firewire
2) if their G-Drive spins down when the computer is off.
3) and if their portable drive (the g-drive mobile) has the longevity
of their G-driive.
While portables are more expensive, in his case the price will be
about the same but the drive will be smaller, and even 500G is far
bigger than he needs, given that he only has 19 G now after years..
Sort of thinking out loud here. Finally wrote down my questions
before I call.
In article <pge2285tg86i9nl0tfuj2gpibjvu1qe...@4ax.com>, micky
<NONONOmis...@bigfoot.com> wrote:
> I think I'm going to call G-tech and ask them > 1) if their HD's will boot a Mac with Firewire
they will.
> 2) if their G-Drive spins down when the computer is off.
i think they do.
a better question is whether it spins down when the computer is idle.
> 3) and if their portable drive (the g-drive mobile) has the longevity
> of their G-driive.
they make the boxes, not the drives. the drives are made by seagate,
hitachi, western digital, etc. and they can fail at any time. the
question is when. most will last a while. sometimes not. that's why you
make backups.
nospam wrote:
> micky <NONONOmis...@bigfoot.com> wrote:
>> I think I'm going to call G-tech and ask them >> 1) if their HD's will boot a Mac with Firewire
> they will.
>> 2) if their G-Drive spins down when the computer is off.
> i think they do.
> a better question is whether it spins down when the computer is idle.
I think most will, but I have seen some older Archos enclosures with an Intel FW chipset that didn't spin down while idle... I know nothing about the newer Archos units - or even if Archos still is around.:-)
Cheers, Erik Richard
-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Erik Richard Sørensen, Member of ADC, <mac-manN...@Mstofanet.dk>
NisusWriter - The Future In Multilingual Text Processing - www.nisus.com OpenOffice.org - The Modern Productivity Solution - www.openoffice.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
nospam <nos...@nospam.invalid> wrote:
> In article <50207874$0$283$14726...@news.sunsite.dk>, Erik Richard
> S rensen <tu...@tulle.dk> wrote:
> > Yes, and FW400 will be quite a lot faster than USB too.
> actually, only slightly faster.
On an iMac G4, Firewire 400 will be in the order of twice as fast as USB
2.0 (assuming the drive is fast enough).
The iMac in question supports USB 2.0, but USB performance is limited by
the CPU and possibly the hardware architecture. On similar vintage Macs,
the best speed I ever saw from USB 2.0 was about 17 MB/s (with a
moderate CPU load), while Firewire was around 35 to 40 MB/s (and almost
no CPU load), using the same hard drive to test both interfaces, and
with no hubs or other USB devices connected (which would disadvantage
USB further).
Late G4 models got somewhat faster, and I expect G5 models are faster
again, but I've only seen USB 2.0 speeds reaching 30 MB/s on Intel Macs.
In article <1kogp27.1sfy6xw1buayvqN%demp...@actrix.gen.nz>, David
Empson <demp...@actrix.gen.nz> wrote:
> > > Yes, and FW400 will be quite a lot faster than USB too.
> > actually, only slightly faster.
> On an iMac G4, Firewire 400 will be in the order of twice as fast as USB
> 2.0 (assuming the drive is fast enough).
on powerpc macs, that is true. apple's drivers were pretty bad. windows
pcs back then with usb were much faster.
on intel macs, the difference between usb and firewire is negligible.
firewire is a little faster but nothing anyone is likely to notice
without a stopwatch.
>> I think I'm going to call G-tech and ask them >> 1) if their HD's will boot a Mac with Firewire
>they will.
That's what he said. It was t he only question he had to look up and
it took him a while to find something, but that's what he said.
>> 2) if their G-Drive spins down when the computer is off.
>i think they do.
He said they don't. Now I was only talking about the G-Drive 1T and
maybe the Mini. I asked in a different way, if I'd have to turn the
drive off, and he said Yes.
So I'm tempted to buy a mobile after all, because that willl surely
turn off when the computer does.
He also said that with the mini drive, though the USB port isn't
always enough to power the drive, depending on the computer, the
Firewire port is. So if it's running on Firewiere, that would turn
if off when the coputer went off. OTOH, they sell an optional power
supply for using the USB when the USB power is not enough. I'm
trying to decide if there is any reason why my friend would want to do
this. (I'm not counting that the Firewire port breaks, but maybe I
should count that.)
>a better question is whether it spins down when the computer is idle.
That was the question I first asked here, but for me I think it is the
wrong questoin. It was followed by a bit of debate about whether
spining up and down a lot still damages bearings. And since my friend
will use the computer for maybe t wo hours and have it off for 22, the
thing that really matters is when it's off.
>> 3) and if their portable drive (the g-drive mobile) has the longevity
>> of their G-driive.
He said they were the same. and that the 3-year guarantee was the same
(I hope that's not his basis for saying longevity is the same. I
think a lightly used harddrive should last a lot longer than 3 years
and the all seem to. )
>they make the boxes, not the drives. the drives are made by seagate,
>hitachi, western digital, etc. and they can fail at any time. the
>question is when. most will last a while. sometimes not. that's why you
>make backups.
Yes, I'm hoping to go by averages.
BTW, copy speed is not an issue for this guy. If it takes a while
he'll do other computer or non-computer stuff.
> In message <070820122045472332%nos...@nospam.invalid>
> nospam <nos...@nospam.invalid> wrote:
>> on intel macs, the difference between usb and firewire is negligible.
> Except that all (or nearly all?) Intel Macs have Firewire 800 ports.
No MacBooks have FireWire 800. The last couple of models do not have FireWire.
MacBook Airs do not have any FireWire.
Early 15" MacBook Pros with CoreDuo processors only had FireWire 400
iMacs only had FireWire 400 before 2007
Mac Minis only had FireWire 400 before 2009
That is a lot of Macs without FireWire 800 ports.
-- _________________________________
Larry I. Gusaas
Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan Canada
Website: http://larry-gusaas.com "An artist is never ahead of his time but most people are far behind theirs." - Edgard Varese
On Wed, 08 Aug 2012 12:17:50 +1200, David Empson wrote:
> On an iMac G4, Firewire 400 will be in the order of twice as fast as USB
> 2.0 (assuming the drive is fast enough).
> The iMac in question supports USB 2.0, but USB performance is limited by
> the CPU and possibly the hardware architecture. On similar vintage Macs,
> the best speed I ever saw from USB 2.0 was about 17 MB/s (with a
> moderate CPU load), while Firewire was around 35 to 40 MB/s (and almost
> no CPU load), using the same hard drive to test both interfaces, and
> with no hubs or other USB devices connected (which would disadvantage
> USB further).
What I have noticed is that Firewire file transfers are a lot more consistent in speeds achieved than USB 2.0. I have noticed this on a PowerBook G4 and my AMD boxes running Windows or Linux.
> Late G4 models got somewhat faster, and I expect G5 models are faster
> again, but I've only seen USB 2.0 speeds reaching 30 MB/s on Intel Macs.
30 MB/s seems to be the limit on the AMD kit I have here, whether running Windows or Linux. Here again with USB 2.0 I often see lower figures than that.
