Is this firewire drive too slow?

Hi,

A client brought in a drive yesterday and I added it to my chain of two external G Techs - but by the "D" plug, since it didn't come with the square type firewire extension cord.

The content is SD.

I am running latest System, Mac Dual 2 gigs. Everything normally runs just fine.

The picture files from this client's movie run fine through my Blackmagic card, but, the audio, strangely, plays ahead of picture and therefore out of sync - sometimes by two or three frames, and sometimes by as much as one second.

There is no distortion and no other suspicious behavior.

When I hold down the right arrow key to play super slow, the picture and sound appear to fall into sync.

I'm wondering if this firewire drive on which they brought me their material is wonky or too slow since I note that it goes "Up to 400 Mb/sec". Here are the specs:

(1394 ATAPI,Rev 1.00):

Manufacturer: Prolific PL3507 Combo Device
Model: 0x1
GUID: 0x50770E40000700
Maximum Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
Connection Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
Sub-units:
(1394 ATAPI,Rev 1.00) Unit:
Unit Software Version: 0x10483
Unit Spec ID: 0x609E
Firmware Revision: 0x12804
Product Revision Level:
Sub-units:
(1394 ATAPI,Rev 1.00) SBP-LUN:
Capacity: 698.64 GB
Removable Media: Yes
BSD Name: disk6
OS9 Drivers: Yes
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
Volumes:
Media-698-1:
Capacity: 698.51 GB
Available: 444.65 GB
Writable: Yes
File System: HFS+
BSD Name: disk6s10
Mount Point: /Volumes/Media-698-1

Thanks very much for any thoughts or inspiration.

Best

Harry

may be the daisy chaining. have you tried connecting it directly to your front port?

Yes, Wayne. And also to the back port.

Is 400 Mb/sec fast enough in your opinion?

Thanks for the reply.



Harry.

for the most part, things seem to check out. the 400mb/sec is just the general fw400 spec. doesnt really mean anything...

could be the drive mechanism itself may be too slow. if its a 5xxx rpm drive, theres a chance that could be the issue.

other than that, dunno. helps if a firewire drive has the oxford 9xx chipset. though not always a deal breaker if it doesnt. what brand is the enclosure?

Sorry, but is the 'D' plug talked about here actually USB?

Nope - Don't think so. It's not flat and square and it fits the D plug thingy.

Many thanks for your reply.

Harry

Wayne,

I'll check out the answers to your questions in the morning. It's becoming clear to me that this drive was "assembled" from an enclosure and a drive by some enterprising person, so maybe the whole deal is in some way not kosher.

In the morning I will post the brand of the enclosure, but meanwhile I thank you and all others for your replies.

Best and thanks for all your time,

Harry.

That "D" plug bothers me too... you might be in a USB port-- I note it's listed as a "Combo Device."

USB will NOT deliver what you need.

- Loren
Today's FCP 4 / 5 keytip:
Fast scan your clips or timeline with Control-F12 !
Go slower with lower F keys.
Go reverse with F6 down to F2

The FCP KeyGuide?: your power placemat.
Now available at KeyGuide Central.
www.neotrondesign.com

Thanks for the replies,

1. It's definitely NOT a USB port.

2. The enclosure calls itself "3.5" ME-740 Series External Hard Disk Enclosure. ME-740U2F IDE to USB2.0+1394A" but doesn't have a manufacturer's actual name anywhere on it.

Any further thoughts?

Thanks again.

Harry

its clearly either cobbled together or a cheap manufacturer. its probably a slower rpm drive. though thats not an absolute deal breaker - it is, along with a gimpy chipset the most obvious places to place blame.

copy the media off to a proper drive, cut your losses and forge ahead!

OK. Thanks a million for the advice.

Best

Harry

Hi Harry,

With the drive plugged in, go to Apple Menu/About This Computer/More Information....

See if it comes up under Firewire or USB tabs.

My bet is it won't be oxford chipset (is Proline or something the dodgy one?), and I reckon wayne is right that it might be 5400. Combination of bad case and bad drive = lots of baddness....

I'll do that tomorrow morning.

Thanks.

Harry

harry323 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
ME-740U2F IDE to
> USB2.0+1394A" but doesn't have a manufacturer's
> actual name anywhere on it.
>
> Any further thoughts?
>
> Thanks again.
>
> Harry

I think the problem may be that it has an IDE drive inside the enclosure. Your chain of drives will now be slowed down to the lowest denominator which will be the IDE drive. Even by itself I dont think it will be fast enough to handle playing your footage. Copy the footage to your G drives and you should be good to go.