Problem w/ Firewire Transfer and OSX

R

RinXX

Registered
I am having extremely slow tranfer rates while trying to tranfer data from my desktop mac (g3 400 256ram, 3 harddrives, 1-30g, 1-12g, 1-3g running 10.1.4). I am tryig to transfer data onto a self powered fire case with a 12g 2.5' hd. If I plug the firewire disk into my powerbook g3 500 (10.1.4) the tranfer rates are fast. To compare them the powerbook tranferred 1.8gigs in a little over 2 minutes. The same files on the desk top had an estimated time of 3 hours! I was wondering if anyone could help me figure out what if anything is wrong and how to get the desktop to speed up. The firewire 12g is an IBM travelstar pulled from my powerbook when I upgraded it to a 20g travelstar. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.
-Nick
 
sorry, but it is a bit difficult to figure this one out online. there is obviously a difference between the two computers as the drive is the same one for both. Perhaps the desktop comp. needs some repairs (software or hardware). I would start by performing basic troubleshooting on that machine. I don't know the relative ages of any of your hardware components, but it is possible that the drive's bridge and firmware are more compatible with the laptop.

I have 2 external drives. i can copy to and from each of them from my internal drive. but i can't copy from the 80 to the 40 in osx because of an outdated bridge in the 80. i keep meaning to see what i can do about it, but it hasn't seemed that important yet.
 
If your device is bus pwoered, or going through a FW hub, you might have problems like that.

I'm clutching at straws here because, as Ed Spruiell mentioned, it's difficult to troubleshoot remotely and asynchronously...
 
Thanks for your time and replies gentlemen! I will continue the trouble shooting process!
-Nick
 
i don't know squat about troubleshooting macs.... but i always hear of updating the firmware... maybe this is totally irrelivant, so sorry if it is...
 
I was just thinking the same thing when I saw the previous post. The B+W G3 was (I think) the first Apple to come with FireWire. It wouldn't be surprising if there was something in the firmware (or hardware) which caused this problem.

Can you use other FW devices on this machine with no problem?

You are running 10.1.4 so you had to already receive all the updates needed for OS X. Have you also run the updaters for OS 9?

Just as an experiment, you might try to install an OS onto this drive. Just the beginning part where it updates the drivers on the HD.

You could also try zapping the PRAM, though I doubt it will help.

If it is a problem with old hardware you could install a FW card if it was really important to have this work well on this machine.
 
I think you guys are right about the firmware update. I also believe there is a fire wire update in 9.2.2, but I figured when the latest X version was installed it would have updated these. The G3 b/w was the first to have firewire and it's really weird because my firewire cdrw works like a champ. I am just perplexed as to why the tranfers are so slow. I use my Powerbook mainly though and what I ended up doing was starting up the powerbook in firewire disk mode (holding down the T key @ startup) so I was able to get all of the info tranferred very fast that way. I was also thinking it could be the cheap firewire case I bought off of eBay for $50. Who knows but I really appreciate all of your help. Hope you all have great weekends!
-nick
 
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