help with USB/IDE cable

[djw]

I tried using a IDE to USB cable first with a DVD burner, then with an older Maxtor 30gig hard drive. My lappy recognized each device. However, the DVD burner would not burn - got a "burned fail" message. Then i tried the hard drive to see if a different device would work. I succesfully transferred files from the hard drive to my lappy, but when transferring a bunch of files from lappy to hard drive, the transfer would fail after some time.

seems like the problem is in going from the lappy to the externally connected device?

any thoughts on diagnosing/fixing?

 

[phisrow]

It could be a number of things.

With regards to the DVD burner, USB/IDE adapters, particularly older ones, are known for not playing all that nicely with optical burners. They pretty much always work as readers; but writing may or may not be a go. From all I've read whether or not writing works comes down to an eldrich combination of the adapter and the burner. Some do, some don't. Not much to be done.

The hard drive problem is somewhat more worrisome, as it is less expected. Do you know the drive itself to be ok? How large a transfer causes it to fail? etc.

 

[Zepper]

Be sure you disable delayed writes for whatever is in your external enclosure. And make sure the drive is jumpered the way the cable wants. (Master, Slave, CableSelect). If your burner has a jumper (or some other way) to choose between 33MHz or 66MHz operation, set it to the slower speed.

.bh.