Please, For The Love Of *Insert Who You Worship Here* - HELP ME!

[DrinkMore]

Ok, I have a Western Digital My Book Pro Edition II - 1 TB - drive. There was a fiasco a while back about the firmware update and when you applied it the whole thing stopped working. Anyways, I got a brand new one way way back.

However, here is my dilemma. I can only get this thing to work on USB. I have bought a firewire 800 card, 2 cables and it will not work. It picks up the drive, but it spins and spins and won't access/read it. So I gave up on that. I bought another firewire card. This time firewire 400. Same thing. It picks it up but will not access/read it.

So, during this trial period - I tried connecting the drive - firewire 400 - to my laptop (only computer with built in firewire) firewire 4 pin and it picks up the drive and access/reads it fine.

This tells me the following... the firewire works fine on the laptop and drive - those two only. The firewire DOES NOT WORK when connected to an add in card.

I do this for a living and it's pissing me off that I can't figure out the problem. WD support - NON EXISTENT so don't even tell me to speak to those mongrel idiots. They read from a set of automated responses. They don't support crap.

What do I do? Are the cards I am buying crap? One is a SIIG firewire 800 only card. The other was a VIA chipped Firewire 400 and USB card.

I would LOVE to take advantage of firewire instead of freaking usb but at the rate things are going, I don't think it will ever happen!

I AM BEGGING TO ALL THOSE THAT HAVE INFO! HELP ME PLEASE!

Thanks

[Azumi]

A piece of advice unless someone has a better solution.

The value of the data is far more important than the value of the drive, so don't take any chances. LaCie makes good external drives. Copy everything onto an external drive, or even better pay a company to do the data transfer.

If it's professional data, you should consider a double backup -- a first backup on a large RAID-1 drive, and on top of that some regular archival on a NAS or RAID-5 tower.

[sj001]

Originally Posted by DrinkMore

Ok, I have a Western Digital My Book Pro Edition II - 1 TB - drive. There was a fiasco a while back about the firmware update and when you applied it the whole thing stopped working. Anyways, I got a brand new one way way back.

However, here is my dilemma. I can only get this thing to work on USB. I have bought a firewire 800 card, 2 cables and it will not work. It picks up the drive, but it spins and spins and won't access/read it. So I gave up on that. I bought another firewire card. This time firewire 400. Same thing. It picks it up but will not access/read it.

So, during this trial period - I tried connecting the drive - firewire 400 - to my laptop (only computer with built in firewire) firewire 4 pin and it picks up the drive and access/reads it fine.

This tells me the following... the firewire works fine on the laptop and drive - those two only. The firewire DOES NOT WORK when connected to an add in card.

I do this for a living and it's pissing me off that I can't figure out the problem. WD support - NON EXISTENT so don't even tell me to speak to those mongrel idiots. They read from a set of automated responses. They don't support crap.

What do I do? Are the cards I am buying crap? One is a SIIG firewire 800 only card. The other was a VIA chipped Firewire 400 and USB card.

I would LOVE to take advantage of firewire instead of freaking usb but at the rate things are going, I don't think it will ever happen!

I AM BEGGING TO ALL THOSE THAT HAVE INFO! HELP ME PLEASE!

Thanks

So wait, you mentioned at the beginning you got a replacement hard drive for the existing one? Or did you replace another component, one of the firewire cards? Do you still have data on the 1TB drive? Is it USB/Firewire only? Does it have SATA connectors or other laptop hard drive connectors?
I work in the IT industry and we have several kits that convert between all the hard drive formats to get info off of those things. I guess is depends, do you want to get the data, or are you more concerned with just getting it to work via Firewire?

[DrinkMore]

The drive itself is fine. Brand new, no issues. There is data on it. It's not professional data - but it is work related and personal pictures, videos and the like. What everyone has.

Problem is getting firewire working. The drive has USB, Firewire 400 and Firewire 800. Only one that works is USB and I did try firewire 400 on my laptop and it worked. However it does not work with add in cards for some reason.

So I am wondering if my cards are junk or what?

[theknub]

Originally Posted by DrinkMore

The drive itself is fine. Brand new, no issues. There is data on it. It's not professional data - but it is work related and personal pictures, videos and the like. What everyone has.

Problem is getting firewire working. The drive has USB, Firewire 400 and Firewire 800. Only one that works is USB and I did try firewire 400 on my laptop and it worked. However it does not work with add in cards for some reason.

So I am wondering if my cards are junk or what?

i'm going with a computer / motherboard / card problem. have you tried other pci slots? have you tried different pci cards in those slots? i'd anticipate it's either the slot or the card. if the drive works on one firewire device, the drive works. that leaves a problem with ur current setup / config

[DrinkMore]

Originally Posted by theknub

i'm going with a computer / motherboard / card problem. have you tried other pci slots? have you tried different pci cards in those slots? i'd anticipate it's either the slot or the card. if the drive works on one firewire device, the drive works. that leaves a problem with ur current setup / config

The computer itself is fine - brand new dell. I am going to try my laptop here shortly and see if the firewire works on the drive and the laptop. If it does work again - I know it's something with the cards that it does not like.

Which leaves with - WTF card do I use! Damnit.

[DrinkMore]

Ok, just found my dell laptop. It has firwire 4 pin. I plugged in the 6 pin side to the WD drive and the 4 pin side into my laptop.

Picked it up and worked just fine. This tells me I have an add in card issue which pisses me off.

[NJMetsFan]

Originally Posted by DrinkMore

Ok, just found my dell laptop. It has firwire 4 pin. I plugged in the 6 pin side to the WD drive and the 4 pin side into my laptop.

Picked it up and worked just fine. This tells me I have an add in card issue which pisses me off.

Did you try to update the driver for the card you have. Go the the manufactures website and find out what is the lastest driver.

[DrinkMore]

Originally Posted by NJMetsFan

Did you try to update the driver for the card you have. Go the the manufactures website and find out what is the lastest driver.

Tried that. Problem is a lot of these cards are no name brands and don't have "updated" drivers.

I am actively seeking a PCI card (either full 32bit or 32/64) that has 2 external 800 ports and 2 or 1 external 400 ports.

My ideal card is 2 x 400, 2 x 800 and 2 x USB. However I have yet to find it. I am also told that TI (texas instruments chipsets) work better. No clue.

Anyone using an add in firewire card?

[NJMetsFan]

Originally Posted by DrinkMore

Tried that. Problem is a lot of these cards are no name brands and don't have "updated" drivers.

I am actively seeking a PCI card (either full 32bit or 32/64) that has 2 external 800 ports and 2 or 1 external 400 ports.

My ideal card is 2 x 400, 2 x 800 and 2 x USB. However I have yet to find it. I am also told that TI (texas instruments chipsets) work better. No clue.

Anyone using an add in firewire card?

This is a good card form a known brand.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815108010

Reading some of the reviews, as long as you don't have Vista 64 you should be fine.

[DrinkMore]

Originally Posted by NJMetsFan

This is a good card form a known brand.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815108010

Reading some of the reviews, as long as you don't have Vista 64 you should be fine.

Thanks - however that is PCIe. Also no firewire 400. I have looked over Newegg more than I care to say. I am annoyed now

[DrinkMore]

I ordered this - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815104224

Hopefully it will work. If not, it will go back and I will officially give up. I have this right now and it does not work - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16800998060 - at least it installs and seems to be fine, but the drive is not accessible when plugged in.

[NJMetsFan]

Originally Posted by DrinkMore

I ordered this - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815104224

Hopefully it will work. If not, it will go back and I will officially give up. I have this right now and it does not work - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16800998060 - at least it installs and seems to be fine, but the drive is not accessible when plugged in.

Keep your fingers crossed.

[DrinkMore]

Here is an update..

Ok - here is the issue:

USB - Works fine on all computers I have tried.

Firewire A (400) - Only works on my laptop (6 pin to 4 pin). Picks up the drive and I am able to use it without issue.

Firewire A (400) - Does not work on my desktop. 6 pin to 6 pin.
Firewire B (800) - Does not work on my desktop. Tried 2 cables.

Here is what I have done. I tried 1 card (siig), that had 3 firewire 800 ports. The drive kept giving an I/O error when I tried to use it. Never able to access it. Locked up my system for a few seconds.

Got another card. That card was faulty so I got rid of it.

Got another new card by Koutech. It has 2 firewire 800 and 1 firewire 400 ports. Installed fine and works.. at least the firewire 400 does.

Plugging the WD My Book drive into the 800 ports appears to work - windows makes the ding ding noise, it shows up in device manager and all that. However it does not show up in explorer and in the raid manager, it shows up, but as 0.0 space available. I have tried uninstalling, re-installing - everything. Nothing I have done makes it available. USB on this drive works fine.

Firewire 400 on this drive also produces the same thing. It does not show up as useable. No space or anything.

Now here is the interesting part. I know the card works because I used another external drive and connected it to the card via firewire 400. Picked it up just fine.

The kicker??? I can plug this drive via firewire 400 into the back of the my book into the firewire 400 port and it is detected and accessible like normal. Keep in mind that the My Book is still connected via firewire 800 yet does not work, but I can access a firewire 400 drive connected to it without issue??

What the heck am I missing here?? What is the problem?? WD tech support is a joke. If I would have known that, I would not have purchased this thing.

[sj001]

Originally Posted by DrinkMore

Here is an update..

Ok - here is the issue:

USB - Works fine on all computers I have tried.

Firewire A (400) - Only works on my laptop (6 pin to 4 pin). Picks up the drive and I am able to use it without issue.

Firewire A (400) - Does not work on my desktop. 6 pin to 6 pin.
Firewire B (800) - Does not work on my desktop. Tried 2 cables.

Here is what I have done. I tried 1 card (siig), that had 3 firewire 800 ports. The drive kept giving an I/O error when I tried to use it. Never able to access it. Locked up my system for a few seconds.

Got another card. That card was faulty so I got rid of it.

Got another new card by Koutech. It has 2 firewire 800 and 1 firewire 400 ports. Installed fine and works.. at least the firewire 400 does.

Plugging the WD My Book drive into the 800 ports appears to work - windows makes the ding ding noise, it shows up in device manager and all that. However it does not show up in explorer and in the raid manager, it shows up, but as 0.0 space available. I have tried uninstalling, re-installing - everything. Nothing I have done makes it available. USB on this drive works fine.

Firewire 400 on this drive also produces the same thing. It does not show up as useable. No space or anything.

Now here is the interesting part. I know the card works because I used another external drive and connected it to the card via firewire 400. Picked it up just fine.

The kicker??? I can plug this drive via firewire 400 into the back of the my book into the firewire 400 port and it is detected and accessible like normal. Keep in mind that the My Book is still connected via firewire 800 yet does not work, but I can access a firewire 400 drive connected to it without issue??

What the heck am I missing here?? What is the problem?? WD tech support is a joke. If I would have known that, I would not have purchased this thing.

Same OS on the laptop and desktop?

What brand/model Motherboard is on the desktop?

[Footloose301]

Originally Posted by DrinkMore

Thanks - however that is PCIe. Also no firewire 400. I have looked over Newegg more than I care to say. I am annoyed now

Go get your Mac back, you would have never had these issues.

[DrinkMore]

Originally Posted by sj001

Same OS on the laptop and desktop?

What brand/model Motherboard is on the desktop?

Dell Inspiron 530. Whatever mobo dell uses Same OS on the computers - WinXP Pro

Originally Posted by Footloose301

Go get your Mac back, you would have never had these issues.

Lol, thanks