External FW HD failed. How to connect to computer.

[wonder]

I have a LaCie Porsche external 400 FW HD that isn't working. I suspect it's the FW connection so I took it out of the enclosure.

Is there a way to connect it to my iMac again via purchased USB or FW connectors?

The model of the HD is SP1644N.
Photo attached.

[bayswater]

You can get a set of generic cables that connect most types of drives to a USB port. They usually have a power supply as well, and are used at electronic and computer repair shops. They're about $25 and come in handy for things like this. I got mine at a local used Apple seller and repair shop.

Alternative: get a cheap IDE (the pic looks like an IDE) USB enclosure at a similar place. The disadvantage is that it will only work for an IDE drive.

[wonder]

I'll do an online search.

I just found out a buddy had the connectors I can borrow.

Thanks for the info!

[mikehalloran]

If it doesn't work, post again because if the drive spins and works, you can hook it up via USB 2. Those SATA / IDE universal adapters will do the job.

[wonder]

Will do.

When enclosed, the drive turned on but never mounted.
A week or so ago it kept dismounting from my iMac for no reason. That's why I'm suspecting faulty FW connections.

[Prime Mover]

Just grab a SATA/FW enclosure for about $20. That's all the Lacie is, anyway. I never buy external drives anymore, because they're usually a waste of money. Just grab a WD or Seagate drive of your choice and specs, then stick it in a generic enclosure. LaCie makes a big deal about the extended safety of their devices because of the internal fans (which are loud. NEWSASH: internal drives don't have fans and they're trapped inside a smoking hot box. Plus, a lot of companies have been switching to laptop HDs because they can sell them as being small and portable, which is okay for some things I guess, but they're usually only 5200rpm and laptop drives wear out faster.

Just grab an enclosure, it'll come in handy someday for something else too, so it's totally worth it.

Edit: the picture didn't load until after I posted, I see it's an IDE. That being the case: borrow a cable, load the data over, ditch the sucker, and buy a sata drive. Not that there's anything really wrong with IDE, but it just highlights how old that drive is, and I'd be very careful about using HDDs that are that old. I heard some statistic that the average life of a HDD is like 3-5 years. Now, personally, I've had a better record, but if that really is the case, then we should regularly think of changing HDs every few years, just like replacing tires on a car. HDDs are CHEAP, and they double in size every year or so, so just set aside a little to change out every so often. I had a drive fail on me a few years back... the recovery wiped my savings account clean. So don't take chances.

[wonder]

Good points.

To be honest, this drive is at least 6 yrs old.
I use it for archiving.

I've been digging the WD USB drives lately.

But, if there's a CHEAP way to buy storage, I'll do that instead.

[mikehalloran]

If you work on Macs, these are essential in the toolkit. I see this one is usb 3 compatible now. My usb 2 version came in handy just last week.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/U3NVSPATA/

[wonder]

Makes sense since I have 3 drives that aren't working correctly. All LaCie external FW drives.

Might as well pick up cables and try and salvage the content.

[stephentayler]

Check this out - I picked up one of these so I could easily access the old drives I pulled out of the Mac when I upgraded to larger drives. Very handy, and especially fast when connected through eSATA. Useful for archiving.

http://www.dynamode.com/english/pages/p ... tions.html

Cheers

Stephen

[Gravity Jim]

Stephen, that's exactly what I've been thinking about... I ended up with several perfectly good 7200rpm SATA drives just sitting on a shelf when I installed SSD's recently, and it would be nice to use them as triple-safe archives.

[wonder]

Not gonna believe this...but my old MacBook Black just crapped out. I think it's the HD. Go figure.

Will these previously mentioned USB connectors work with this HD pictured below?

It's a seagate model MER2S 655.

[bayswater]

My adaptor works with the drives from my iBook, G4, G5, MacBook, MBP, iMac, and two Minis, so my guess it will work with that drive too.

[Kubi]

What Stephen said!

OWC has the NewerTech Voyager Qs. A music editor friend of mine turned me on to those. Incredible. Plug-and-play! Much easier to store naked SATA drives for backups than all those unwieldy HDs in cases - and no more need to store fifteen hundred different and unique power chords along with them.

[frankf]

What Stephen said!

OWC has the NewerTech Voyager Qs. A music editor friend of mine turned me on to those. Incredible. Plug-and-play! Much easier to store naked SATA drives for backups than all those unwieldy HDs in cases - and no more need to store fifteen hundred different and unique power chords along with them.

+1 on the Voyager Q's. I have 2 of these with eSata as part of my permanent studio setup via an eSata PCIe card in my Mac Pro.


Frank Ferrucci