Firewire 400 and 800. at DVinfo.net

Allan Black · October 25th, 2007, 10:16 PM

I decided on using 2 Western Digital My Book Premium 500G external drives as video file storage last year. They were available then with Firewire 400 and USB2. So daisychained FW400 it was and it works well. The current HP nw8440 workbook is Fw400 and everything is 7200rpm.

We need more storage and the My Books are now available with FW400 and 800.

FW800 (twice as fast as 400) is the way to go, but our system limitation at present is 400.
Running 4 My Books at FW400 sounds like it may be getting near the limit.

Is anyone up this creek and what are you using for a paddle?
Cheers.

Chris Soucy · October 25th, 2007, 10:48 PM

I'm presuming you're thinking of daisy chaining the 4 together?

The FW800 is backward compatible with the 400 (meaning they will work at 400 as well), so speed is not a problem here.

The only problem I forsee is trying to use more than one drive at a time. As I suspect that will not be the case, just stick 'em on the end and go for it, should work a treat.

CS

Bill Ravens · October 26th, 2007, 07:34 AM

Because of politics, IMHO firewire is defunct. I only use Sata III now, and love it. It's faster than firewire 800, and infinitely more reliable.

Chris Soucy · October 27th, 2007, 04:07 PM

Did you say "Sata III"? As in Sata 600? As opposed to Sata 150 & Sata 300?

I'm not disputing it, just wondering which rock I've been hiding under to have missed that bit of news.

What Mobo's/ add in controllers/ hard drives support that?

Stunned, Dunedin

CS

Bill Ravens · October 27th, 2007, 04:57 PM

Sorry, Dunedin. I meant Sata II, ie 300...sometimes I get ahead of myself wishing.

Chris Soucy · October 27th, 2007, 05:50 PM

with that one.

CS

Allan Black · October 27th, 2007, 07:10 PM

Chris, we started building the system over a year ago and FW400 is sorta locked in, for awhile anyway.

We regularly run the 2 WD My Books and one (awful) Maxtor II all daisychained dancin' together without any hangs. The 400 cable out of the HP nw8440 runs warm though.

We've got a huge amount of footage to archive. Looking at a Western Digital 2TB FW400 and eSATA external drive. One problem is there's only 1 port for each, so its gotta go on the end of the chain, or we start down the hub route. Any thoughts there guys?
Cheers.

Chris Soucy · October 27th, 2007, 08:29 PM

If you've got a spare e - sata port, that's got to be worth a punt, certainly take the load of that 400 link. Stick a 2 terabyte drive on and away you go.

A thought if this is truly archive footage not accessed in any regular fashion, as long as you can keep track of what goes on which drive, you can swap drives on the e - sata port. The data will still be available, you may just have to plug the appropriate drive in/ on to get it.

Worth a thought.

CS

October 25th, 2007, 10:16 PM	#1
Allan Black Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Sydney. Posts: 2,948	Firewire 400 and 800. I decided on using 2 Western Digital My Book Premium 500G external drives as video file storage last year. They were available then with Firewire 400 and USB2. So daisychained FW400 it was and it works well. The current HP nw8440 workbook is Fw400 and everything is 7200rpm. We need more storage and the My Books are now available with FW400 and 800. FW800 (twice as fast as 400) is the way to go, but our system limitation at present is 400. Running 4 My Books at FW400 sounds like it may be getting near the limit. Is anyone up this creek and what are you using for a paddle? Cheers.

October 25th, 2007, 10:48 PM	#2
Chris Soucy Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Fairfield, Dunedin, New Zealand Posts: 3,691 Images: 18	Hi Allan............ I'm presuming you're thinking of daisy chaining the 4 together? The FW800 is backward compatible with the 400 (meaning they will work at 400 as well), so speed is not a problem here. The only problem I forsee is trying to use more than one drive at a time. As I suspect that will not be the case, just stick 'em on the end and go for it, should work a treat. CS

October 27th, 2007, 04:07 PM	#4
Chris Soucy Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Fairfield, Dunedin, New Zealand Posts: 3,691 Images: 18	Er, Bill............ Did you say "Sata III"? As in Sata 600? As opposed to Sata 150 & Sata 300? I'm not disputing it, just wondering which rock I've been hiding under to have missed that bit of news. What Mobo's/ add in controllers/ hard drives support that? Stunned, Dunedin CS

October 27th, 2007, 05:50 PM	#6
Chris Soucy Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Fairfield, Dunedin, New Zealand Posts: 3,691 Images: 18	Had me going............ with that one. CS

October 27th, 2007, 08:29 PM	#8
Chris Soucy Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Fairfield, Dunedin, New Zealand Posts: 3,691 Images: 18	Hi again.. If you've got a spare e - sata port, that's got to be worth a punt, certainly take the load of that 400 link. Stick a 2 terabyte drive on and away you go. A thought if this is truly archive footage not accessed in any regular fashion, as long as you can keep track of what goes on which drive, you can swap drives on the e - sata port. The data will still be available, you may just have to plug the appropriate drive in/ on to get it. Worth a thought. CS

October 26th, 2007, 07:34 AM	#3
Bill Ravens Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: santa fe, nm Posts: 3,264 Images: 10	Because of politics, IMHO firewire is defunct. I only use Sata III now, and love it. It's faster than firewire 800, and infinitely more reliable.

October 27th, 2007, 04:57 PM	#5
Bill Ravens Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: santa fe, nm Posts: 3,264 Images: 10	Sorry, Dunedin. I meant Sata II, ie 300...sometimes I get ahead of myself wishing.

October 27th, 2007, 07:10 PM	#7
Allan Black Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Sydney. Posts: 2,948	Chris, we started building the system over a year ago and FW400 is sorta locked in, for awhile anyway. We regularly run the 2 WD My Books and one (awful) Maxtor II all daisychained dancin' together without any hangs. The 400 cable out of the HP nw8440 runs warm though. We've got a huge amount of footage to archive. Looking at a Western Digital 2TB FW400 and eSATA external drive. One problem is there's only 1 port for each, so its gotta go on the end of the chain, or we start down the hub route. Any thoughts there guys? Cheers.