-
UPDATE – Extension power cable for Firmtek 2 bay drive boxes
Back in January I posted after finding a source for an extension cable for the power supply on Firmtek’s 2 bay drive boxes. It seemed like a good find and I even got a Five Cow rating from Jeremy for that post. I’m going to have to give the Cows back Jeremy, sorry. Under the heading of Unintended Consequences, I updated that earlier thread with the following:
***********************Well, it sure seemed like a good idea at the time. Seems that among Firmtek’s problems in the power supply area is a “known issue” that the 60 watt supply they sell for these boxes is not powerful enough for current generation large capacity (750GB+) drives. Have they superseded the supply with a larger capacity one? No they have not. “We can’t find a source for anything larger” is the line I just got from a (the?) Firmtek customer service rep.
Anyway, while I have gotten two 750GB drives to power up and read/write between them, I can do so only without the extension cable attached. I suppose the longer cable length drops some voltage, increasing the current draw to more than the power supply can handle.
The rep. also warned me against using the larger drives at all as it would “degrade the power supply”. Their solution? RMA the supply back IF it is under warranty, or buy another one.
I will be looking for another solution. A larger capacity supply with 4 pin XLR connector and a matching XLR wired to the Firmtek box. This is not a company that understands professional production requirements.
-
3 Replies
-
David,
I tried the larger power supply from Firmtek and my two bay unit still would not handle 750gb hard drives. They do work fine however in my 4-bay Firmtek unit. Part of the problem may be in the 2-bay unit itself, part in the power supply, and part in small 2-connector version of their controller card.
BTW, I do think your criticism of Firmtek is “slightly” unwarranted. In all fairness, when their 2-bay units were designed, the largest SATA drives of the day were only 320Gbs, and since the Firmtek products have always worked very well for anything up to 500Gb, what they were designed to do, its a bit unfair to critize them now. While it would be nice if everything we bought always stayed up to date, that’s just not possible when technology advances as quickly as it does.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
-
[David Roth Weiss] “BTW, I do think your criticism of Firmtek is “slightly” unwarranted. In all fairness, when their 2-bay units were designed, the largest SATA drives of the day were only 320Gbs, and since the Firmtek products have always worked very well for anything up to 500Gb, what they were designed to do, its a bit unfair to critize them now. While it would be nice if everything we bought always stayed up to date, that’s just not possible when technology advances as quickly as it does.”
Point well taken David, I don’t expect older products to always keep up. Allow me to point out however, that the Seritek 2EN2 is still for sale on their website. There is no mention of any limitation as to drive size, and they are still using the 60W power supply.
So my criticism is not about the box itself. I own a four bay Firmtek which has been great, and two of their eSATA PC cards which have worked well also. I do have a problem with their attitude towards resolving customer issues. They completely ignored several attempts to offer suggestions about the connector used on the 2EN2, and I know I’m not the only person to approach them about it. My opinion that they do not understand professional production was formed when I discovered their choice of connectors on this box. I took the time to explain in careful detail why that was a problem and offered some suggestions, including that they could offer a locking connector as an upgrade and charge more for it. No response.
They told me today that using large drives will damage the power supply, but offered an exchange only if it was still under warranty. I don’t find that acceptable.
Have they updated their marketing to reflect this limitation? They have not.
Have they notified registered owners like myself about the issue? They have not.Their suggestion to me today that I purchase yet another power supply from them did get my dander up, so apologies if my tone was rather sharp. However, I stand by the gist of my comments.
Regards,
David -
Give the cows back? Good one.
All of your points are valid and fair. Thanks for pointing all of this out.
I have a set of two 500GB drive and a set of two 320 gigs drives that I rotate out of that particular enclosure. they both work fine and I haven’t tried more modern drives in that one.
Its good to know I can’t go up from there and my unit is definitely out of warranty unless they have a looong warranty
Jeremy
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up