usb 2 ide drivers

[fu**kingcomputers]

Appreciate any pointers on these questions, thanks...

Was going to use one of the usb 2 ide cables or maybe even an external
usb 2 ide enclosure for frequent backups from an external ide drive.

It looks like I'm going to need drivers to get 98se to properly use an
ide drive connected to the usb ports. Local comp. shop sells kingwin
external case for this but it does not come with drivers. Users of these
ide 2 usb cables report mixed results with not infrequent: "it does not
work, or the drivers are sucky." I always had thought that 98se had good
usb support, but I guess it doesn't?

Question, is it worth the effort? Going to one of the unix OS's from
here so don't tell me to upgrade to XP. Past experience with many of
these w98se drivers for other usb hardware is that they are often flaky
with win98se often with install problems. Using a cruzer stick usb drive
that works great however (it's only 512 mb-I want to use full size ide
drives).

 

[Recrea]

Appreciate any pointers on these questions, thanks...

Was going to use one of the usb 2 ide cables or maybe even an external
usb 2 ide enclosure for frequent backups from an external ide drive.

It looks like I'm going to need drivers to get 98se to properly use an
ide drive connected to the usb ports. Local comp. shop sells kingwin
external case for this but it does not come with drivers. Users of these
ide 2 usb cables report mixed results with not infrequent: "it does not
work, or the drivers are sucky." I always had thought that 98se had good
usb support, but I guess it doesn't?

Question, is it worth the effort? Going to one of the unix OS's from
here so don't tell me to upgrade to XP. Past experience with many of
these w98se drivers for other usb hardware is that they are often flaky
with win98se often with install problems. Using a cruzer stick usb drive
that works great however (it's only 512 mb-I want to use full size ide
drives).

Hi,

I recently started a thread ("Breaking 137GB Barrier 440BX") that turned
very similiar to what you are wanting to achieve, as I decided to just use
the drive in an external case.

The drive is 250GB (P)ATA/EIDE Samsung. The case is an ADS "Dual Link Drive
Kit" (DLX185), which I used a couple years ago to house a DVD-RW for a
laptop. (Since got a slimdrive DVD-RW for the laptop and put the DVD-RW
that was in the case into a desktop, so the case was going unused.)

I've since been using the 250GB'er, in the case, with many different
computers and OS's. (One of the first uses I put to the drive was to go
around and get ghost backups of other computers.) Its been working with no
problems at all under Win98, XP, and Linux.

Regarding USB drivers under Win98: The ADS drive came with an "installation
CD", but didn't have drivers per say --- it simply directed me to a
Microsoft KB update. (Which I already had installed from Windows Update a
while back, anyway.)

It worked fine with just the MS USB drivers. I should mention that, at the
time, I only had USB1 on the m/b that was running W98 though. It was
working, albeit slow, but that was due to it using USB1. (I was able to
ghost an image just fine under USB1. However, it did take hours!)

I since picked up a USB2/Firewire (Adaptec) card and it made a world of
difference. (Ghosting the same drive in the W98 computer that took hours
now only takes ~35 minutes! Reason I did a USB1 and USB2 before and after
Ghost was mainly because I was curious as to the level of performance
increase.)

I wouldn't worry about it. You only need USB drivers installed for your USB
ports to talk to the drive. Nothing needs to be installed, directly, for
the drive. Everything is already built-in the hardware in the case to talk
USB to your USB ports. Worst case would be your current USB ports
(onboard?) are flakey and you would be wanting to get a USB2 PCI add-on
card -- and even Adaptec sells those for a measly $25.

My Adaptec card did come with it's own USB2/firewire drivers, but it is
running rock solid. The silly little "USB Control" program is even
recognizing, and working just fine, with the m/b's onboard USB1 ports as
well.

(Yep, computers are a pain in the ass. I too miss when BS was much
simplier.)

 

[fu**kingcomputers]

Thanks for the reply. Do you have url for the external box
in question or know which vendors have it? Also any url
for the MS usb driver you mentioned? Thanks.

<snip>

 

[Roadrunner]

Thanks for the reply. Do you have url for the external box
in question or know which vendors have it? Also any url
for the MS usb driver you mentioned? Thanks.

Hi,

Well, the particular enclosure that I'm using (ADS DLX185) has been
discontinued, so wasn't recommending any particular enclose.
At the time, I paid more for it than I normally would. It was one of those
deals, being out of town, and wanting something "now".

If I were going to buy a new one today, I'd probably look for an enclose
that not only has USB2 but also ethernet. Ethernet would be convienent as
you could just it straight into your network and it becomes instant Network
Attached Storage. Could even attach a wireless/ethernet adapter to it...

RE: Win98 USB2 drivers. Its been a while, but wasn't USB2 one of things
that initially was part of SP2 -- along with later updates? If you run
"Windows Update" until it is completetly updated, you'll have the most
current MS USB2 drivers...