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Re: firewire questions

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Andreas Rutishauser wrote:
> Salut John
> 
> In article <j5d6ac$fa7$1@dont-email.me>,
>  "M. John Matlaw" <mjlaw@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> 
> 
>>First of all what I just ordered is a Western Digital Caviar Green 
>>WD20EARS 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare 
>>Drive from 
>>http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136514 .  I 
>>thought I'd shop around for an enclosure for it.  I'm looking for a 
>>firewire interface.  I'm thinking firewire's bidirectional nature is 
>>worth the extra money over USB only enclosures.  I've got an older 
>>macmini and other even older g3s and 4s so I'm looking for firewire 400. 
>>  And I'm getting very confused about 1394, 1394a, 1394b.  Also I have a 
>>chipset question.
>>
>>A listing on e-bay ( 
>>http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-5-SATA-Hard-Drive-Enclosure-Case-USB-Firewire-1394-/
>>200357960798?pt=PCC_Drives_Storage_Internal&hash=item2ea643dc5e#ht_2783wt_1398
>> 
>>) says the enclosure the vendor's offering uses the JMicron JMB-353 
>>chipset.  An EZQuest Pro Monsoon Enclosure eSATA, 400, and High-Speed 
>>USB 2.0 listed at Macsales ( 
>>http://eshop.macsales.com/item/EZ%20Quest/N27300/ ) says it uses the 
>>Oxford 934 chipset.  Is this something I need to consider?
> 
> 
> Oxford FireWire chipsets are known as reliable
> 
>>The e-bay enclosure says 2x 6-pin Firewire 1394a ports.  If I read the 
>>wikipedia 1394 entry right ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_1394 ) 
>>1394a is able to use a standard which may not include power supply over 
>>the interface.  But it may include power supply over the interface.  I'm 
>>assuming in the case of the e-bay item I'll need to use the included, 
>>separate power supply but I'm just wondering about 1394a.  It may or may 
>>not include power through the cable?
> 
> 
> You'll find out, that every enclosure that takes 3.5" disks has it's own 
> power supply. 
> 
>>The EZQuest enclosure at Macsales is even more confusing.  It says 2X 
>>1394b / (6 Pin) FireWire 400 Ports.  The wikipedia entry says 1394b is 
>>FireWire 800.  And I thought FireWire 800, while backwardly compatible 
>>to FireWire 400, was a different, 9-circuit connector.  What gives?
> 
> 
> I'd say, the 1394b is a typo... the pictures show it's 1394a
> 
> Just to bring in another idea: you can also shop for 1394b enclosures. 
> Convertors from FW800 to 400 exist, cables with FW800 and FW400 exist...
> 
> Cheers
> Andreas
> 
Thanks for the idea.  I think enclosures that have firewire 400 and 800 
exist but it's probably cheaper to get the 800 and a converter.  It'd 
also be useful if and when I got a computer with fw800.
John

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Thread

firewire questions "M. John Matlaw" <mjlaw@invalid.invalid> - 2011-09-21 13:19 -0400
  Re: firewire questions Andreas Rutishauser <andreas@macandreas.ch> - 2011-09-22 06:45 +0200
    Re: firewire questions "M. John Matlaw" <mjlaw@invalid.invalid> - 2011-09-22 08:48 -0400
  Re: firewire questions nmassello@yahoo.com (Neill Massello) - 2011-09-22 14:11 -0600
  Re: firewire questions Erik Richard Sørensen <tulle@tulle.dk> - 2011-09-22 22:59 +0200
    Re: firewire questions Steve Fenwick <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2011-09-22 20:45 -0700
      Re: firewire questions "M. John Matlaw" <mjlaw@invalid.invalid> - 2011-10-04 09:41 -0400
        Re: firewire questions Tom Stiller <tom_stiller@yahoo.com> - 2011-10-04 10:28 -0400
          Re: firewire questions "M. John Matlaw" <mjlaw@invalid.invalid> - 2011-10-04 11:50 -0400
        Re: firewire questions Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> - 2011-10-04 09:49 -0700

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