Firewire drive size limit?

tjj · 02-11-2003, 05:24 PM

I seem to remember reading about an upper size limit for firewire drives, but I can't locate the info.
I have a 160 Gb external FW drive (Googie sandwich,w/ Oxford chipset) connected to my powerbook (G3 Pismo/500MHz/1Gb) running 10.2.3 i.e. It refuses to give me more than 128 Gb. Does anyone know of a way to circumvent the alleged limit?
TIA

mclbruce · 02-11-2003, 05:51 PM

A bit of a guess here: Try formatting it on a newer machine, then plugging it into the Pismo.

saint.duo · 02-11-2003, 06:24 PM

The limit is not of firewire itself, but of the ATA controller on the bridge that it uses. If it is an ATA66 controller, it probably stops at 132GB, due to the addressing space of ATA66.

tjj · 02-12-2003, 08:30 AM

Thanks for the replies.
I guess it is an ata66 controller in this machine, though I had a hard time finding out.
According to a knowledge base article (Article ID:86178) however, this limit should not be an issue with FW or SCSI controllers:

Quote:


	Not all Macintosh products can take advantage of the full capacity of large (128 GB or greater) hard drives that use 48-bit LBA when they are connected via an ATA controller. Other controllers (SCSI or FireWire) are not affected.

Much of this hardware specification stuff is annoyingly difficult to carve out of the net, Apple's spec pages not being very informative.
Probably, the last 30Gb or so are no-show (ok, sorry

) for me until I upgrade to a newer machine.

saint.duo · 02-12-2003, 10:37 AM

If my thinking is correct, then upgrading the machine will not help. What appears to be going on is that the ATA controller inside of the firewire case is ATA66. (FireWire drives are just boxes with an ATA/IDE drive in them and a firewire to ATA bridge in them).

So, the culprit is the firewire case itself, not your machine.

mclbruce · 02-12-2003, 10:43 AM

Quote:


	Originally posted by tjj Thanks for the replies. I guess it is an ata66 controller in this machine, though I had a hard time finding out. According to a knowledge base article (Article ID:86178) however, this limit should not be an issue with FW or SCSI controllers:

I remember reading about this somewhere. I think the only issue is in formatting. I think if you take your HD into the local Mac store and format it on a new Mac, your Pb will see the whole thing.

tjj · 02-12-2003, 01:37 PM

It doesn't make sense to ship a 160 GB drive with a controller that only gives access to 128?
The drive was shipped mac formatted (I don't recall if it was hfs or hfs+) and mounted as expected, but only with 128 GB. If it's the controller inside the fw-drive then of course it won't help formatting on a newer machine.
I'll see if I can get access to a new machine and/or contact the vendor for information.
Thanks again.

mervTormel · 02-12-2003, 02:30 PM

Quote:


	Originally posted by tjj It doesn't make sense to ship a 160 GB drive with a controller that only gives access to 128...

not to us, but to the cold, heartless vendor, they don't really care as long as the cash is flowing, and perhaps you won't notice, or won't go to the trouble of dealing with them about it before it's too late

tjj · 02-13-2003, 09:02 AM

Well, guys, you were right about the controller in the drive. It is an ata66 controller in the drive's firewire bridge. I called the vendor and they knew about the problem. Thing is they're expecting to have it solved in a few weeks and offered to exchange the drive at that time. As I live rather close by this is not great trouble, aside from the time I, and others (thanks again) have wasted on this. No apologies were offered.

mclbruce · 02-13-2003, 01:11 PM

Thanks for the followup. I was definitely curious about this one. How rude of the manufacturer!

tjj · 02-13-2003, 02:28 PM

Yes, I was rather stupefied. I actually was about to cancel the deal and buy another, but then I figured I might very well run into the same problem again.
I'll post back when the drive has been fixed (I hope

)

eravau · 02-14-2003, 01:26 AM

Dare I ask what manufacturer was so straightforward in its sales so that I may run to their ever-ethical arms?

tjj · 02-14-2003, 07:20 AM

You do dare. For the audacious, it's here

tjj · 04-03-2003, 02:22 AM

Well, seeing that the subject keeps popping up, I thought some of you might be interested in the resolution of my "case".
The manufacturer of the first drive kept postponing the promised ATA-controller update, so I eventually turned it back and went for a Maxtor XT 250GB (ATA133). Having no need for the Retrospect software included, I just powered it up and connected. It came formatted as FAT32 for windblows compatability, but disk utility recognized it as a 236GB drive. Writing zeroes took forever on my G3 powerbook so I left it overnight. Woke up to a freshly formatted HFS+ drive. So I guess this confirms what wiser people already have posted in this and other threads (thanks again). It's the firewire bridge in the drive that may impose limits on the size.
I might add that the drive is pleasantly silent.

02-11-2003, 05:24 PM	#1
tjj Major Leaguer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark Posts: 271	Firewire drive size limit? I seem to remember reading about an upper size limit for firewire drives, but I can't locate the info. I have a 160 Gb external FW drive (Googie sandwich,w/ Oxford chipset) connected to my powerbook (G3 Pismo/500MHz/1Gb) running 10.2.3 i.e. It refuses to give me more than 128 Gb. Does anyone know of a way to circumvent the alleged limit? TIA __________________ -- Thomas 10.4.11 on Pismo 500 MHz/1GB 10.5.6 on iMac intel 2.16 GHz core duo/2GB

02-12-2003, 01:37 PM	#7
tjj Major Leaguer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark Posts: 271	It doesn't make sense to ship a 160 GB drive with a controller that only gives access to 128? The drive was shipped mac formatted (I don't recall if it was hfs or hfs+) and mounted as expected, but only with 128 GB. If it's the controller inside the fw-drive then of course it won't help formatting on a newer machine. I'll see if I can get access to a new machine and/or contact the vendor for information. Thanks again. __________________ -- Thomas 10.4.11 on Pismo 500 MHz/1GB 10.5.6 on iMac intel 2.16 GHz core duo/2GB

02-13-2003, 09:02 AM	#9
tjj Major Leaguer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark Posts: 271	Well, guys, you were right about the controller in the drive. It is an ata66 controller in the drive's firewire bridge. I called the vendor and they knew about the problem. Thing is they're expecting to have it solved in a few weeks and offered to exchange the drive at that time. As I live rather close by this is not great trouble, aside from the time I, and others (thanks again) have wasted on this. No apologies were offered. __________________ -- Thomas 10.4.11 on Pismo 500 MHz/1GB 10.5.6 on iMac intel 2.16 GHz core duo/2GB

02-13-2003, 02:28 PM	#11
tjj Major Leaguer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark Posts: 271	Yes, I was rather stupefied. I actually was about to cancel the deal and buy another, but then I figured I might very well run into the same problem again. I'll post back when the drive has been fixed (I hope) __________________ -- Thomas 10.4.11 on Pismo 500 MHz/1GB 10.5.6 on iMac intel 2.16 GHz core duo/2GB

02-14-2003, 07:20 AM	#13
tjj Major Leaguer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark Posts: 271	You do dare. For the audacious, it's here __________________ -- Thomas 10.4.11 on Pismo 500 MHz/1GB 10.5.6 on iMac intel 2.16 GHz core duo/2GB

02-11-2003, 05:51 PM	#2
mclbruce Hall of Famer Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 3,878	A bit of a guess here: Try formatting it on a newer machine, then plugging it into the Pismo.

02-11-2003, 06:24 PM	#3
saint.duo MVP Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Seattle Posts: 1,084	The limit is not of firewire itself, but of the ATA controller on the bridge that it uses. If it is an ATA66 controller, it probably stops at 132GB, due to the addressing space of ATA66.

02-12-2003, 10:37 AM	#5
saint.duo MVP Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Seattle Posts: 1,084	If my thinking is correct, then upgrading the machine will not help. What appears to be going on is that the ATA controller inside of the firewire case is ATA66. (FireWire drives are just boxes with an ATA/IDE drive in them and a firewire to ATA bridge in them). So, the culprit is the firewire case itself, not your machine.

02-13-2003, 01:11 PM	#10
mclbruce Hall of Famer Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 3,878	Thanks for the followup. I was definitely curious about this one. How rude of the manufacturer!

02-14-2003, 01:26 AM	#12
eravau Triple-A Player Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Labadie, MO Posts: 136	Dare I ask what manufacturer was so straightforward in its sales so that I may run to their ever-ethical arms?

04-03-2003, 02:22 AM	#14
tjj Major Leaguer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark Posts: 271	Follow-up Well, seeing that the subject keeps popping up, I thought some of you might be interested in the resolution of my "case". The manufacturer of the first drive kept postponing the promised ATA-controller update, so I eventually turned it back and went for a Maxtor XT 250GB (ATA133). Having no need for the Retrospect software included, I just powered it up and connected. It came formatted as FAT32 for windblows compatability, but disk utility recognized it as a 236GB drive. Writing zeroes took forever on my G3 powerbook so I left it overnight. Woke up to a freshly formatted HFS+ drive. So I guess this confirms what wiser people already have posted in this and other threads (thanks again). It's the firewire bridge in the drive that may impose limits on the size. I might add that the drive is pleasantly silent. __________________ -- Thomas 10.4.11 on Pismo 500 MHz/1GB 10.5.6 on iMac intel 2.16 GHz core duo/2GB