Re: Target Disk Mode not working?

On Sat, 07 Jul 2007 13:18:49 GMT, Jaimie Vandenbergh
<jaimie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sat, 07 Jul 2007 08:27:08 GMT, T i m <news@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Fri, 06 Jul 2007 23:42:31 GMT, Bob Wardrope
<newsbybobwar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I use a firewire bus powered external on my portable and am paranoid
about making sure it's set to take no power from firewire when the cable
is initially plugged into the computer and drive case. I switch it to
firewire power mode after checking both ends of the cable are secure.

I wonder if that's why FW never really 'took off' (as in mass consumer
products sense), a bit like SCSI (in spite of all my boxes having SCSI
kit in them at some point and this PC still has re an Adaptec 2940W,
Zip and OnStream tape drive) and not like USB?

I'm not aware of my external FW enclosure having any 'settings' like
yours Bob and was slightly 'concerned' when I was plugging FW leads
between host and device, host to host, host > device host without
having to use special cables (x-over) etc? Looks like my 'concerns'
weren't without substance and 'hopefully' this exercise hasn't damaged
the Mini (as I now don't have anything else FW to test it against).

No, they're without substance.

Ok ..

Exactly like USB, the FW plug has different length conductors so that
ground then power then data connect. There's no difference between the
two in that respect.

Ok ..

There's no need for crossover cables (or A-B cables) because firewire
is a more general utility bus than USB. USB is designed to connect a
host computer to a subservient device, which is why if you plug two
computers together with an A-A cable the magic blue smoke comes out.

;-)

Firewire is an peering bus, which doesn't dictate master/slave
relationships, so all devices are equivalent.

So far, sounds good ..

The FW plug is also impossible to plug upside down (which usually
breaks the USB socket), and can supply more power than USB.

Yep, liked that, physically obvious (on the big FW plug anyway) what
is the right way round ...

It's also
better at streaming data constantly than USB, so it's considerably
faster for external hard drives etc.

Ok, and why I bought said for external 'video' drive for the Mini <>
TVEye.

It's a bit of a BetaMAX syndrome, I reckon. Better, but started out
slightly more expensive and that causes a snowball effect.

Ok ... shame then ..

All that said - with a bus-powered hard drive Bob's mild paranoia is
sensible: flickering the power up and down while plugging clumsily is
bad for any hard drive, so it's worth avoiding if possible.

And I don't remember doing any of that (and don't need to say I'm not
saying you are saying that I did as it's 'us' eh Jaimie <g>). Any
power cycles would have been deliberate with the appropriate delay
in-between.

However, I did have the FW drive in between the Mini and the PB (and
probably every combination thereof) in an effort to make Target Disk
Mode work (not knowing what to expect etc) so could I have un
wittingly created a 'you shouldn't have done that' scenario somewhere
along the line? (Something I couldn't have done with USB because of
the physical plug configurations .. A-B etc).

All the best ..

T i m
.

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