Expert: Jeffrey J. Wrobel - 2/21/2005

Question
Hi Jeffrey,

Here's the problem:

Attempting to connect an HFS formatted firewire/USB2.0
external hard drive to a PowerPC G4 Dual 1.25 GHz Mac OSX
10.3.8. The ext. HD is recognized when connected through a
USB port, but not with firewire. I've tried rebooting several times
through different sequences of ext. HD connection including
powered up and down. I've also updated the OSX software to the
latest available. The drive is functional through the USB port, but
extremely slow via the USB1.1 bus speed. The move to Firewire
would be extremely helpful.

Thanks for your time and I hope this message finds you well.

vicente

Answer
Dear Vicente,
You have encountered an increasingly common problem with certain drive manufacturer's usb/firewire drives and OS X 10.3.x.  Unfortunately, there is no one simple fix, so you must use a "shotgun" approach, throwing everything possible at the problem in the hopes of getting the right combination of "fixes."  For some reason, I have seen and worked on more Dual 1.25 Ghz Power Macs that have this issue more than any other computer.  Apple doesn't admit to knowing anything, but they are asking that you report your problem to them so that they can address it.  Drop them an email with the Make and Model of your external HD.  Do that by going to this URL:   http://www.apple.com/macosx/feedback/

Next, do the following things and see if that makes a difference.  One of these usually does the trick for me:

1)  Reset the PRAM (Command + Option + P + R keys while booting)
2)  Reset the NVRAM (Command + Option + O + F while booting, and then
    reset-nvram and reset-all at the prompt)
3)  Remove power, battery, etc. and disconnect everything for more than half
    an hour, then start up without the drive plugged in or turned on.  When
    you are completely done with startup, plug the firewire in and turn the
    drive on.

MacFixIt Forums is an indispensable resource and they have a forum discussion on your subject (if the above does not work).  It is located here:

http://www.macfixitforums.com/php/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=Forum39&Number=657059&...

Wow, that's a wicked long one!  There is a short article (also from the great folks at MacFixIt) about your issue too.  It is at the following URL, but I quoted it here for you:

http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=2003102903070357

"FireWire drive issues We previously covered reports of FireWire drives becoming inoperable after installing Panther. We have received a good number of similar reports, and the issue is being discussed in numerous places around the Web, including a lengthy message thread in Apple's discussion forums.

After examining these discussions and reports, it appears that there is more than one issue with FireWire-related drives. Some people are experiencing FireWire drive issues, both minor and major, that seem to be unrelated to this issue. Most of these have been reparable using utilities such as Alsoft's DiskWarrior and/or Apple's Disk Utility.

On the other hand, we have received numerous messages -- and the Apple forum thread referenced above is full of similar posts -- describing a particular situation in which the affected FireWire drive incurs severe directory damage. It will no longer mount or function on any computer, regardless of the operating system (OS 9, Jaguar, Panther, etc.), and Utilities such as DiskWarrior cannot rebuild or salvage the disk's directory. The drive is not even recoverable by installing it internally into a Mac. In most of these cases the only recourse is to use Prosoft's Data Rescue X to attempt to recover files. Reformatting the drive allows it to be used again. One MacFixIt staffer was in fact affected by this issue and lost a FireWire drive.

The constant in this latter group of reports is that the user had installed Panther on an internal drive, and then restarted with FireWire drive(s) connected. The drive(s) worked fine in Panther before the restart; it was only after the restart that the drive became unusable. So far, the issue doesn't seem to be related to manufacturer, drive size, FireWire 400 vs. 800, or how the user installed Panther (clean vs. update vs. archive) -- a wide variety of such configurations have experienced the same problem. Apple is apparently asking users affected by the problem for more details on their systems, including machine model/configuration, peripherals, and the FireWire bridge chipsets used in their FireWire drive enclosures. One reader speculated that the issue may be related to Apple's iSight, which was implicated in FireWire problems soon after its release. However, we haven't confirmed that an iSight was present with all of the reported drive failures (although our system did indeed have an iSight attached at the time). As we get more information about this issue, we'll pass it on immediately.

To be clear, this problem isn't happening to every Panther user with an external FireWire drive. However, until more information on the exact combination of factors that contributes to this issue is discovered, if you have Panther installed on your internal drive, and have one or more external Firewire hard drives connected to your Mac, we recommend unmounting and disconnecting FireWire drives before shutting down or restarting. This may be a hassle, but it seems a prudent course of action to take until Apple is able to identify the precise cause. (It appears as though reconnecting your FireWire drives after startup is safe, as we have no reports of drives being damaged at that time.)"

I believe that the problem is with a communication breakdown between the bridge manufacturers and Apple.  The bridge is the device that connects to firewire and to the ATAPI or IDE interface of a drive to enable it to be read by Firewire.  The most reliable chipsets used in these bridges are the Oxford 911 (firewire 400) and Oxford 912 (Firewire 800) chipsets.  There are other brands of Firewire (or IEEE 1394) chipsets out there, but they often have a problem or problems with Apple's interface.  NEC chipsets, for example, are a disaster when used on an external drive used to transfer or play video data.  This is odd because Apple INVENTED Firewire AND USB so they really should be the one that the manufacturers work with to ensure compatibility.  Hopefully, Apple will figure this out soon.

A fix which works quite well and is very inexpensive is a USB 2.0 PCI Card.  I have the Keyspan one and it is just GREAT.  The price is an INSANE $17.95 with FREE 2nd day Air from ZipZoomFly.  It has 4 external USB 2.0 ports and one internal.  When you plug it in, start your machine and install the driver software, you mac is USB 2.0.  WHOOPEE!!  Faster than Firewire at 480 kbs!!  I love mine and it is great for extra ports..  I have 2 4-port powered hubs, giving me a total of 9 USB 2.0 slots and 2 USB 1.1 slots (use the USB 1.1 slots for the keyboard and printer).  Here's where you get the card:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=269891

I should get a KICKBACK from all the companies I recommend.  Jeepers.  Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch?

Vicente, if you can't figure your firewire out, send the Apple-Gram to them and hope for an answer, then order this card and get yourself upgraded to USB 2.0 for less than $20!  

Good luck and don't hesitate to ask me any lingering questions or ask me to clarify anything, okay?

Sincerely,
Jeffrey Wrobel