"PowerLogix G3/900MHz is now posted for $230 on the XLR8YourMac reader specials page.

We now have a new line of 'economy' 7200RPM FireWire 400 Solutions. They feature the same external Power Supply and the same FireWire bridge card that our highly regarded and top rated Elite FW400 uses - only the enclosure is different and it is by no means of low quality. I call the solution 'Value Done Right' as it is high quality at an especially competitive price.
Currently offered in sizes 60GB to 160GB from $119.99. The bridge fully supports ATA/6 drives up to 500GBs and beyond for those that might want ever upgrade it. We do not offer the case separately. The Neptune drives include all cables, Dantz Retrospect (Express), and Intech Speedtools.
We have again lowered our OWC Mercury Firewire DVD-RW/+RW/CDRW solution. (Pioneer DVR-106 based, native burn support in 10.2.8 and 10.3.) The new price is $229.99 Found here. The DVDRW/CDRW solution includes Dantz Retrospect (Express), 25 Pieces CDRW, 5 Pieces DVD-R, all cables, dragon burn software. Both have a 1yr warranty.

We've been able to reduce the 2GB G5 Memory upgrade kit consisting of two matched 1GB DDR 3200 modules (tested here recently) to $659 from $675.
Best Regards,
Lawrence O'Connor
Other World Computing"

" Hi Mike, A few items for you:
* MCE is now selling a SuperDrive (1x) for the new iBooks introduced a few weeks ago.

* Should anyone try to restore their software on the new iBooks and get the error message -1402, which is a bug that carries the dialog: Copy failed due to error of type -1402 which occurred while copying... have no fear. Apple Specialists recommend going to HD/Applications/Utilities/Software Restore and trash the Software Restore app and try the restore again and it will work as expected to restore the chosen items. A new Software restore app is created each time the restore is run, somehow corrupting the initial Software Restore app.

*I have not experienced any of the FireWire problems reported this AM on either Pismo or iBook 1ghz and 10.3.1 is on both and FW with and w/o Oxford chip sets are booting fine.

* The only real 10.3.1 slow down or negative has been with VPC 6.1 and XP.
Matthew C. "

There's a previous page here of iBook G4 owner comments/impressions and a Review w/Comparison Tests of the iBook G4/800 (apps, games, benchmarks, notes on battery life, display, etc.).

" Mike, I haven't seen mention of this issue elsewhere, including on Apple's discussion boards, so I thought I would bring it to your attention.
(FYI - I posted reader reports on similar problems in the Oct. 13th news page here - see Reader report on 10.3.1 update problems on Bootable Firewire400 drive. However not everyone seems to have this problem - see other report below.-Mike)

The recent Panther update (10.3.1) seems to have introduced a new Firewire problem. With 10.3, I could boot my G5 from either my FW400 hard drive or my FW800 hard drive without a problem. After upgrading to 10.3.1, I lost the ability to boot from the drives. The drives still function fine for reading/writing, but the G5 hangs during the boot process anytime I try to boot from one of the drives. (BTW, I am cloning my internal drive to the FW drives using CCC, which seems to work fine, but I can't boot regardless of whether I use the Option Key method or select the drives in the Startup Disk preference panel).

After a call to Apple tech support, I was told that they are aware of the issue and the solution they recommend is to downgrade my installation to 10.3 (i.e., uninstall 10.3.1). Of course, this means that I would need to run 10.3 on my internal drive as well, since the whole purpose for my FW drive is to back up it up to the internal drive.
Steve "

This may or may not be related to specific FW400 bridges/firmware (see report below), but I asked what brand of bridge was in the FW400 case Steve had. (oxford 911 I assume - although often ASP shows the "revision" as blank for some of these.)
It also may not help, but I'm assuming 10.3.x owners are using the latest CCC version (there was an update to CCC the day that panther was released/shipping - noted in the previous Interview here with CCC author Mike Bombich).
Although there's Oxford911 firmware updates included in the FW800 firmware update downloads from some companies, this may not help (it didn't for one reader as mentioned in the Oct. 13th news page). And at least one reader reported a problem with a FW400 firmware update, and another reader with a FW400 cased CDRW drive also reported problems after the update, since the past firmware may have had settings for the optical drive like delay at boot, etc. - so I almost hesitate to suggest updating FW400 bridge firmware.

Here's a reader report noting he could boot from a FW400/USB2 cased hard drive after the 10.3.1 update. (clip from his report on scanner/sleep issues). I'm not clear if he has 10.3.1 on the Firewire hard drive or just 10.3.0 however.

" I have a combo firewire400/usb 2.0 hard drive that I use to do backups using folder syncronizer x 3.4.1, when I did the 10.3 Install starting fresh from format drive and then did a backup the backup drive would not boot but all the data was there, after 10.3.1 update computer now boots from firewire drive but still will not boot as a usb 2 drive.
Steven M. "

I asked if he had backed up 10.3.1 to the Firewire400 drive.

"Reply to the entry I made in the DriveDatabase about the Seritek1S2 serial ATA card:
Did some more deepsleep testing: it's definitely an issue with the Seritek card. (also sold by Sonnet under their line, but for about $30 more list price than the Firmtek model)
Waking up from deepsleep with an ATA66 boot drive (onboard IDE) worked w/o kernel panic, but the SerialATA drive wasn't accessible after waking up.
Firmtek confirmed this issue (by email), and said that they were working closely with Apple for further analysis.
Dominique"

" Hi there. Given that xlr8yourmac used to post a lot of graphic card related stuff, I though this might interest you...
I wrote a program, DisplayConfigX, which allows using resolutions matching a multiscan monitors abilities. So given a decent tube, you can get 100Hz or more at resolutions up to whatever the monitor can handle. This is NOT just enabling hidden or disabled resolutions and frequencies but instead generating new ones that match the monitors capability.
It works with MacOSX 10.2.x and 10.3.x alike, supports NVIDIA, ATI and probably other graphic cards and of course PowerBooks as well (iBooks are tricky, since you need to get rid of the mirror mode first). (I suspect he means for use with external CRT displays, since the LCD panels don't need higher refresh rates and look best at their native resolution) Costs about 12$, but you can try what resolutions you would get before paying anything.
The web page for DisplayConfigX is:
http://www.3dexpress.de/displayconfigx
Direct software download is at:
http://www.3dexpress.de/displayconfigx/DisplayConfigX.app.sit.hqx Greetz, Harald Schweder "

I can't comment on using this software yet but if any readers try it and see a benefit - let me know. (Include system/graphics card/monitor model and OS version in reports - thanks.)

• Mac OS X 10.3: Using an HP Photosmart Printer
• Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro 2: Compressor - Distortion in Text Overlay on Power Mac G5
• Final Cut Pro 4: High Quality Option Doesn't Appear in RT Pop-Up Menu
• Final Cut Pro 4: Exporting to Compressor if a Clip Uses an Unavailable Codec
• Final Cut Pro 4: Unexpectedly Quits If Arial Font Is Missing
• Final Cut Pro 4 and DVD Studio Pro 2: Compressor - Help Is Not Available If English Is Not the Primary Language
• QuickTime VR Authoring Studio: How to Install With Final Cut Pro or DVD Studio Pro 2
• iPod (with Dock Connector): Operational Sounds May be Recorded by Microphone
  
  Software Downloads:
• Final Cut Pro 4.1 for Mac OS X (DE, EN, FR, JA)
• Security Update 2003-11-19 for Jaguar 10.2.8 (Z) (was via SU)
• Security Update 2003-11-19 for Panther (Z) (was via SU)

• Giga Designs G4/1.4GHz in (Quicksilver) G4/AGP (rated 10)
• Sonnet G4/500 in B&W G3 (rated 10)
  (My reviews of G4 and G3 upgrades w/apps/game tests, install info, etc. are linked here. OC/CPU module articles are on the Systems page.)

(Warning - Overclocking may not be reliable and could lead to hardware failure or corrupted data.) You can find the full reports by searching the database selecting the indicated Mac model and upgrade card brand/type. If you've upgraded the CPU on your Mac, please post an entry in the database. Search the database for entries from most every upgradable Mac model *before* you buy. (Searchable by mac model/upgrade brand). For detailed reviews with performance tests and install tips, see the CPU Upgrades page.)

DVD+R/RW + DVD-R/RW Drives:
• Firewire TDK DVDRW-0404N in G4/AGP (OS 9.2)
  (no itunes/db burn support)
• IDE Liteon LDW-411S in G4/AGP (OS X 10.3)
  (no itunes/db burn support)
• IDE Pioneer DVR-106D in Dual G4 DDR (OS X)
• IDE Pioneer DVR-106D in B&W G3 (OS X 10.3)
• IDE Pioneer DVR-106D in B&W G3 (OS X)
  (native support in 10.2.8 and up)
• IDE Pioneer DVR-106D in Dual G4 (OS X 10.3)
  (Illustrated CD drive install guide here covers G4 towers up to the Digital Audio Model, Beige G3 MT and B&W G3 Macs)
  
  Hard Drives:
• IDE Maxtor DiamondMaxPlus 106GB in Beige G3 using IDE PCI card (OS X)
  (Beige G3 MT illustrated HD upgrade guide here)
• IDE Seagate Barracuda ST380023A in B&W G3 (OS X 10.3)
  (Illustrated guide to adding a 2nd HD here in B&W G3 rev2 and G4 towers up to the QuickSilver models.
  IDE articles page RAID section has an illustrated guide for adding 2 more drives in the side bays.)

You can find full owner reports (latest shown first) by searching the database by drive/brand/interface/mac models (the latest reports are shown first in searches). For guides to installing CD/CDRW/DVD drives or Hard drives in many mac models, see the IDE Articles page. The Firewire articles page also has guides on case kits, installing drives, etc.
If you've added a IDE, SCSI, Firewire or USB hard drive, CDRW, tape drive, etc. make sure you add a report to the database. (If you post an updated entry - make sure you use the same name, etc. as you did before so I can find your past entry. Thanks.)
(Incomplete entries are deleted. Do not post questions in the database, it's for drive reports not questions on what drive to buy - for that try searching the database for reports from owners of your mac model on the drive type/brand/interface, etc. you're interested in.)

• 1 year ago today
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