FireWire Drives Explanation

Bill Mette · June 23rd, 2008, 03:26 PM

Based on perceived reputation, I purchased a CalDigit FirewireVR drive which also seems to have a roughly 10 minute spindown time. I never actually timed it though.

Interestingly, I ran into issues with the CalDigit unit within two weeks of taking it out of the box. I've twice had the drives in the unit get stuck in what seemed to be and endless loop of trying to park themselves over and over again when spinning down. It makes a really horrendous sounding noise when it happens that has me worried about the physical well being of the drives. Unfortunately, CalDigit has proven to been less than responsive so far. Quite disappointing to say the least.

Giroud Francois · June 24th, 2008, 12:57 AM

you have to take care if you capture from firewire to firewired drive.
firewire is not a real bus (electronically speaking), so if you put several devices on the same line (daisy chaining for example), the speed of the firewire will be the one of the slowest device (usually the camera at 100mb/s) while the disk can run at 400mb/s.

Scott Routt · June 24th, 2008, 09:26 AM

Well guys, I'm the original poster of the thread and the problem seems resolved so far- thanks. The 7200 RPM external firewire-800 drive seemed to do it after I moved everything over to it. Of course after reading the replys about 400 & 800 and the speed dropping down to the lowest denominator, I do have some concerns. I ejected the slower 400 drives, but according to what I've heard here, using my camera will slow it down anyway. But still, I'm happy with the performance now. Thanks again.

June 24th, 2008, 09:26 AM	#18
Scott Routt Major Player Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 206	Well guys, I'm the original poster of the thread and the problem seems resolved so far- thanks. The 7200 RPM external firewire-800 drive seemed to do it after I moved everything over to it. Of course after reading the replys about 400 & 800 and the speed dropping down to the lowest denominator, I do have some concerns. I ejected the slower 400 drives, but according to what I've heard here, using my camera will slow it down anyway. But still, I'm happy with the performance now. Thanks again. __________________ Scott Routt "Talk is cheap unless you have a lot of audio toys"

June 23rd, 2008, 03:26 PM	#16
Bill Mette New Boot Join Date: May 2008 Location: Streamwood, IL Posts: 12	Based on perceived reputation, I purchased a CalDigit FirewireVR drive which also seems to have a roughly 10 minute spindown time. I never actually timed it though. Interestingly, I ran into issues with the CalDigit unit within two weeks of taking it out of the box. I've twice had the drives in the unit get stuck in what seemed to be and endless loop of trying to park themselves over and over again when spinning down. It makes a really horrendous sounding noise when it happens that has me worried about the physical well being of the drives. Unfortunately, CalDigit has proven to been less than responsive so far. Quite disappointing to say the least.

June 24th, 2008, 12:57 AM	#17
Giroud Francois Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: switzerland Posts: 2,133	you have to take care if you capture from firewire to firewired drive. firewire is not a real bus (electronically speaking), so if you put several devices on the same line (daisy chaining for example), the speed of the firewire will be the one of the slowest device (usually the camera at 100mb/s) while the disk can run at 400mb/s.