Vantec EZ-Swap not compatible with Seagate Barracude 200 GB drives

[John Faughnan]

The Vantec EZ-Swap may be incompatible with Seagate Barracude 200 GB
drives. This is a problem for people who back up networks using
cartridge systems and cheap IDE drives.

See my blog for more details:

http://googlefaughnan.blogspot.com/2005/04/problems-with-my-hard-drive-backup.html

In short, the 200 GB Seagate Barracuda drive may not be compatible with
the Vantec EZ-Swap cartridges. I suspect the IDE cable splice is the
problem.

If you are using a cartridge/drive solution to backup I recommend
testing the cartridge with hard drives prior to purchasing a new drive.
I would avoid the Seagate drives for use in cartridges.

john
(e-mail address removed)

meta: jfaughnan, seagate, vantec, cartridge, EZ-Swap, backup, rotating,
incompatible, problem, defect IDE, ATA, offsite

 

[John Faughnan]

I have an interesting f/u on this.

The Vantec EZ-Swap is indeed completely incompatible with the Seagate
in every imagineable configuration (including configuring it as a 32GB
drive). I suspect the Seagate can't tolerate some signal imperfections
introduced by the splice in the IDE connection.

Ironically, however, the Seagate works much better in an external
firewire case I have than the Maxtor 200GB I used there. The Maxtor,
conversely, works well in the Vantec EZ-Swap.

All IDE hard drives are NOT the same!

http://googlefaughnan.blogspot.com/2005/05/all-ide-ata-drives-are-not-same.html

john
(e-mail address removed)
meta: jfaughnan, jgfaughnan, vantec, OWC, firewire, external enclosure,
USB, compatibility, incompatible, EIDE