Firewire external enclosure (oxford 922) is crappy as hell...WTF

[Goosemaster]

Well, I bought a Macallly ACB Firewire800/400/usb2 enclosure for my maxtor 200GB, and the performance is quite dismal.

With firewire, I am getting 9MB/s and with USB 2.0 I am gettting a depressing 19MB/s. For reference my IOGear gets around 35MB/s with USB2 and about 45MB/s on firewire400, even with the write-caching disabled

Basically, I am confused.

I set the HD to master when I put it inside just liek the manual said Still, ther is an extra 1-pin Maxtor Jumper on the HD that I haven't bothered to take off and am unsure of.

The Oxford 922 chipset is supposed to be quite good, as that is what my IOGear has, so you can understand my confusion. Newegg reviews are also quite positive too


I will try another HD tommorow, but does anyone have any advice in the meantime? Write-back caching has no effect.

Thanks

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
Well, I bought a Macallly ACB Firewire800/400/usb2 enclosure for my maxtor 200GB, and the performance is quite dismal.

With firewire, I am getting 9MB/s and with USB 2.0 I am gettting a depressing 19MB/s. For reference my IOGear gets around 35MB/s with USB2 and about 45MB/s on firewire400, even with the write-caching disabled

Basically, I am confused.

I set the HD to master when I put it inside just liek the manual said Still, there is an extra 1-pin Maxtor Jumper on the HD that I haven't bothered to take off and am unsure of.

The Oxford 922 chipset is supposed to be quite good, as that is what my IOGear has, so you can understand my confusion. Newegg reviews are also quite positive too


I will try another HD tommorow, but does anyone have any advice in the meantime? Write-back caching has no effect.

Thanks

There's my bet right there. It might be set to something dumb like "Master with non-ATA slave" which is neutering it to PIO modes. Or something similarily dumb.

How much the enclosure cost ya, BTW?

- M4H

 

[Goosemaster]

$100 No direct contact with the HD either..WTF....:|:|..I might have to return it...kinda defeat the purpose...IT might very well ruin the dry...

 

[Goosemaster]

CARp..it is a permanent jumper:|


Should I try slave mode? CS?

 

[Goosemaster]

I have to go to bed..I tried a variety of jumper setting and they do jack squat>>


Here are the benchmark results..and yes I have tried transfering files..it is slow as all hell


SiSoftware Sandra

Benchmark Results
Drive Index : 8MB/s

Performance Test Status


Total Test Threads : 1
SMT Test : No
Dynamic MP/MT Load Balance : No
Processor Affinity : No
Operating System Disk Cache Used : No
Use Overlapped I/O : Yes
IO Queue Depth : 4 request(s)
Test File Size : 511MB
File Server Optimised : No

Benchmark Breakdown
Buffered Read : 9 MB/s
Sequential Read : 10 MB/s
Random Read : 9 MB/s
Buffered Write : 5 MB/s
Sequential Write : 5 MB/s
Random Write : 5 MB/s
Average Access Time : 12 ms (estimated)

Drive
Drive Type : Hard Disk
Total Size : 190GB
Free Space : 98GB

 

[Goosemaster]

Dammnit..I jsut tried anotehr HD and same problem..damn Enclusre is going back pronto:|

 

[LED]

Are you running XP SP2?...if so that's the problem. I use the Unibrain Drivers and it helped but it still didn't compare with my TI chipset and Firewire800 running with SP1 which equaled ATA speeds

Edit for Link

 

[nortexoid]

Originally posted by: LED
Are you running XP SP2?...if so that's the problem. I use the Unibrain Drivers and it helped but it still didn't compare with my TI chipset and Firewire800 running with SP1 which equaled ATA speeds

Edit for Link

but if his firewire chipset is 1394a it shouldn't matter, should it? also, why the dismal usb speeds?

 

[LED]

nortexoid...I've heard and read reports of SP2 effecting Fire400 as well and if you look at SiSofts reference bench mark for USB Hi-speed, Goosemaster 19MBs aren't all that bad as Firwire connects out perform it. I haven't had my HD's connected via USB Hi-Speed in a while after I found how well Firewire performed. Just have to wait for more info and by all means it could be something else ...All I know is SP2 p'd me off and had to get rid of it on my Main Rig

 

[Goosemaster]

This is the problem...I HAVE Service Pack 2...I AM gettting 40MB/s+ with an IOGear Firewire 1394a External drive I bought, just like the review says

This one I built myself is the one having problems, no to mention that the cooling it uses sucks. It has Firewire 800 ports and it uses an adapter cable for Firewire 800's square hole to the firewire 400's normal plug. It also has a USB plug that works with USB 2.0


I believe they both have the Oxford 922 Chipset..except that one of them sucks...

 

[Goosemaster]

Wwll, I just tried the unibrain drivers and thye sucked donkey balls...to put it lightly... Firewire all but disappeared and there was no way to get it back. I unistalled it and everything works again.

I guess I will return it and get a firewire400 enclosure from a different brand, one with the Oxford brand chipset though....

 

[LED]

Goosemaster...I've found that TI chipset is the best performance esp for Firewire800

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: LED
Goosemaster...I've found that TI chipset is the best performance esp for Firewire800

Even if TI is better, performance of the individual choices should be a non-issue here as it is the driver support for firewire for windows XP in general that is at fault.


I plan to just return it and get a 1394a flavored choice

Thanks though