Firewire HD failure

[Lil' Dave]

Left laptop and connected firewire HD on overnight. Laptop had not been
used for sometime, so needed battery charge. The laptop was on the desk
with the firewire HD on the floor.

Heard an irritable click, pause, click noise early next morning. Could not
figure out where it was coming from. It was the firewire HD on the floor.
Laptop could not access it. Tried it on a PC, same thing.

Bought this thing about 10 months ago from CompUSA. ADS 40GB Firewire.
Don't have the receipt. So, it is up to me to try to get it to work again
or make workable for recovery. Very simple construction. Has a Jupiter
made HD in it, made in China. Standard ide connection and power connector.
Removed from firewire case, installed in a PC master/alone. Same results.
Right now, the HD is in the freezer. Hopefully, tomorrow I can get it to
work. Data on it is not life/death critical, but would be nice to get it
back. This is just caution to those who may have this ADS version.

Had a WD AB 60GB laying around and stuck in Firewire case. Backed up 7GB
via DI2002 across home network to it. Works great.
Dave

 

[Rod Speed]

Left laptop and connected firewire HD on overnight. Laptop
had not been used for sometime, so needed battery charge.
The laptop was on the desk with the firewire HD on the floor.

Heard an irritable click, pause, click noise early next morning. Could
not figure out where it was coming from. It was the firewire HD on
the floor. Laptop could not access it. Tried it on a PC, same thing.

Bought this thing about 10 months ago from CompUSA. ADS 40GB Firewire.
Don't have the receipt. So, it is up to me to try to get it to work again
or make workable for recovery. Very simple construction. Has a Jupiter
made HD in it, made in China. Standard ide connection and power connector.
Removed from firewire case, installed in a PC master/alone. Same results.

Certain the drive has just died.

Less clear why, most likely a combination of an external housing and
electronics that dont handle the supply rail dropping properly and
the same for the drive itself, if its powered from the firewire cable.

If it isnt powered from the firewire cable, the drive has
just died, maybe because it got to hot in the external case.

Right now, the HD is in the freezer.
Hopefully, tomorrow I can get it to work.

Not that likely, but possible. Certainly worth trying.

Data on it is not life/death critical, but would be nice to get it back.
This is just caution to those who may have this ADS version.

Had a WD AB 60GB laying around and stuck in Firewire case.
Backed up 7GB via DI2002 across home network to it. Works great.

Yeah, definitely good value for backups. Still a bit immature
technology tho, particularly with the drive temperatures.

 

[Lil' Dave]

Its self-powered. Did notice the case was very warm, almost hot when I
turned it off. Didn't see any kind of fan in it. No apparent ventilation
slots cut into the case. Not even any cooling fins. Case is metal encased
in plastic. Front is translucent plastic.
Guess if I'm going to continue using it, a cooling mod would be very
appropriate. Like vent slots and perhaps a fan. Have a spare HDD cooler
for front bay mounting, use the fans from it.
Thanks for bringing that to my attention.
Dave

 

[Rod Speed]

Its self-powered.

What do you mean by that ? The power
comes over the firewire cable presumably.

Did notice the case was very warm,
almost hot when I turned it off.

And the drive itself inside may well have been stinking hot.

Didn't see any kind of fan in it. No apparent ventilation
slots cut into the case. Not even any cooling fins. Case
is metal encased in plastic. Front is translucent plastic.

Thats very likely what killed it.

Guess if I'm going to continue using it, a cooling mod would be
very appropriate. Like vent slots and perhaps a fan. Have a
spare HDD cooler for front bay mounting, use the fans from it.

Might be a problem power wise tho since
its powered over the firewire cable.

Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

No probs.

 

[Joshua Beall]

What do you mean by that ? The power
comes over the firewire cable presumably.

Most of the larger 1394 drives I have seen do *not* get power through the
1394 connection. Instead, they have a separate power supply that must be
plugged into the back of drive, and then into a wall socket/powerstrip.

 

[Rod Speed]

Most of the larger 1394 drives I have seen do *not* get power through the
1394 connection. Instead, they have a separate power supply that must be
plugged into the back of drive, and then into a wall socket/powerstrip.

His 40GB isnt that large.

 

[Lil' Dave]

In reference to "self-powered", was referencing the entire Firewire box.
Has an AC input from wall outlet, and onboard DC power supply.

My intentions were to piggyback the standard 5/12V input line that is part
of the Firewire internal guts to power a fan. Excuse my ill-description.

Dave