@gonty - i'm pretty sure you can get into the LaCie's to swap out the HD's later if you feel the need (Someone feel free to correct me).
Although with 2 80gig laptops to backup, and your photos, I think that'll be a few years off, and then we'll all be welathy enough to buy drobo's

I wouldn't buy into Samsung either. I'd buy Western Digital, Seagate, Hitachi or Toshiba - in that order of preference.

As an update of the Taurus RAID, it has now been completely discontinued and replaced with the Taurus RAID II - which looks the same as the Taurus RAID, though now sports a RAID Selector Switch (a dial with the choices of RAID 0, RAID 1, JBOD and Non-RAID); there is a silicone rubber ring inside the enclosure to prevent vibration; and the Cooling Fan is now a "Smart Fan" which automatically regulates fan speed according to the internal temperature.

The original Taurus RAID - as seen here, under the SATA Xpress Dual Bay Triple - is no more.

cheers,

cw

Digging this thread up again, if you're still following Merganser, I'd be interested to know what the "interesting moments" were.

Also, how easy was it to set up? Does it automatically format the drives for use on the network?

To be honest I'm not completely sure how this works, my understanding is that the format of this sort of thing is not NTFS, FAT32 or whatever the mac one is, but something altogether different.

Thanks

Hey Guys,

I've been trying to backup my data to an external hdd... I've got an Coolermaster X-Craft FW/USB Enclosure and Seagate HD...

I keep getting Error Code -26 when trying to copy things over...

Do you think this is due to the case I am using? After much research, I don't think this particular case uses the Oxford Chipset...

Would an Oxford Chipset Enclosure solve my problems or is it potentially something else? The errors are getting rather frustrating!

Cheers...

Don't know anything about the X-Craft enclosures.

Error -26 says: DrvrInstall couldn't find driver in resources - and I'm not sure I know what that means either, though it's most certainly an Input / Output error - but looks like it requires a driver that it cannot find - though there should be no reason why it needs a driver - yet it's quite possible that the X-Craft has a Preference file sitting in the User's Library, which may be corrupt.

Does it produce error -26 with both USB and FireWire?

Have you tried creating a Test Account, switching over to the Test Account, and see if the error is still there?

Clockwork,

Thanks for your reply... Tried with the USB Cable and same error unfortunately...

and have you tried creating a Test Account, switching over to the Test Account, and see if the error is still there?

Apple Menu -> System Preferences... -> Accounts -> Click lock to make changes -> [+] -> New Account set to: Administrator -> Name set to: Test -> Short Name set to: test -> no password -> Create Account -> OK -> Keep Automatic Login -> Login Options -> tick: Enable fast user switching -> OK -> Quit System Preferences -> click on top right User Name and scroll down to Account Name: Test.

Same -26 error in Test Account ?

CW, same error.... =(

Connect with FireWire - > open Disk Utility -> highlight X-Craft -> Verify Disk.

hey schmick, how are you connecting the external unit? firewire or USB?
does the external drive have a power source? is this connected as well?
if all are yes, is the external drive showing up on your desktop after a reboot?

sometimes the obvious isn't plain for all too see.

Just got a couple of Western Digital My Book Pro Edition II HDDs. Each 1TB.

These drives are preconfigured for HFS+, as per the claim on the WD website.

One purchased O/S in a dodgy shopping mall given over to computer stuff and the other bought in Oz as per near lowest price ranking of Compare prices - Australia - Price Comparison - Comparison Shopping. Prices about the same (so I was obviously ripped off a little in SE Asia, sob).

Anyways. One hooked up through an AEBS 802.11n with AEBS password access (i.e not per account) on my home network. Keychained for auto access and AEBS Disk Utility setup for auto discover/connect. RAID 1 configed - so only 500GB. Library drive for pics and music.

Second one direct connected to my main iMac via USB 2.0 (I presume it really is faster than Firewire 400 for frequent READ use but PLEASE correct me if I am wrong). RAID 0 so the full 1TB. For film editing.

Basically I'm reporting that both work well. Kind of.

The included WD config. software shows the serial numbers which is good for insurance records. Also allows reconfiguring of the RAID status. Default is RAID 0 so had to select RAID 1 for one of them. Took a short time to setup the RAID 1 disk.

The RAID 0 HDD is another matter. I played around a bit with it - trying to judge R/W speed. Then decided to reinitialise it so I'd have a clean slate. Used the Apple Disk Utility. Selected HFS+ and RAID 0. Later I fired up the WD utility and it reported "Unknown" rather than "HFS+". Strange, but it still works.

As expected, the HDD connected to the AEBS is occasionally missing in action. I expected this but is very annoying for one non-tech savvy person in my household. My guess is it's a temperature thing as the AEBS utility reports no problems with signal at the time of "untimely" disconnection.

Connected to an AEBS seems to negate some of the auto power down feature. Only bothersome if noise is an issue. Using iMacs exclusively in this room (3) we're not used to computer noise. Does jar a bit.

The HDD direct connect to an iMac experiences no noise issues. If it's flogged, it's noisy - but then we'd surely want the fan to kick in at that stage.

The HDD connected through the AEBS has a tendency to unexpectedly "race" with the fan. Man oh man can they pump out some serious sound when serious. But this full throttling of the fan was at inappropriate times.

When the AEBS Gigabit gets hot it does mean that peripherals connected via its USB port do go missing in action. At least I'm assuming that heat is the problem. But the Airport Disk Utility includes the options for auto discover and to post a menu bar item. So reconnection is just a click away.

Overall, performance wise of the disks, I am happy. Music and video plays with out lag. One of the HDDs is meant for solid video editing using Final Cut Pro but so far no problems speed wise.

Sure a Firewire or USB HDD is not "speced" to be networked. My feeling is the AEBS 802.11n is at fault here.

Seemed to have passed OK...

I assume that SMART Status being Not Supported for an External Drive is normal?

Tried both Firewire and USB... External drive has an external power source and am using this accordingly...

External Drive shows up after a reboot...


Appreciate all the help guys!

Sorry - not enough info available on the Coolermaster X-Craft Enclosure, or error -26, yet error -26 is definitely classed as an Input / Output error, so it's either the X-Craft Enclosure, or the Hard Drive inside it, and either way, the Hard Drive needs to be removed and examined.

If the Hard Drive works hunky-dory inside another enclosure, then it has to be the X-Craft Enclosure at fault. If the Hard Drive creates the same error message in another Enclosure, then it's the Hard Drive which is at fault. No easy way out, unless you have access to another enclosure.

I have found that the U6 SOHO Tank to be particularly useful in finding out if the Hard Drive is at fault.

cw

I suppose the trade-offs with this enclosure are:

1. One appears to purchase the MyBook with the HD of the supplier's choice, already in the enclosure. (Yes - might seem an odd statement, yet I've cracked open a few WD enclosures and found Samsung / Maxtor HDs inside - go figure!)
   It is, to my way of thinking, an excellent option to purchase an Enclosure, and then purchase the Drives separately - as a major rumour on the WD MyBooks, is that Western Digital is not testing their HDs separately before installing them into these new enclosures.
   
   
2. The option of switching the device to No-RAID or JBOD, over RAID 0, gives one ultimate speed, thus no choice in using different HDs together, eg: 500GB WD + 320GB Seagate (in the case of No-RAID, or the security of having two same capacity / same brand HDs acting as one - eg: 500GB WD + 500GB WD = 1TB and the stability that if one HD becomes corrupt, that corruption won't spread to the second HD (in the case of JBOD mode) - which is where one forfeits the speed for reliability.
   
   
3. The casing which is chiefly plastic, would not, to my way of thinking, be conducive to aiding in the dissipation of heat, which is possibly why its fans go berserk when connecting via Airport Extreme Base Station or FireWire and high activity.
   
   
4. That the device hovers somewhere between a 3.5" Desktop Enclosure and a NAS device, yet lacks the networking abilities of a true NAS, thus total networking control hasn't been designed into it, at this stage.

I'm not saying it's no good - (I'm sure it's serving you well) - yet I suspect it's the first test RAID Enclosure for other things that Western Digital have in mind, that are yet to come.

New computer devices seem to evolve that way - or am I imagining it? A manufacturer puts a new model out there, gages how it's received by world-wide feed-back, and then uses this information to create far more stable versions...

I suppose one thing that bothers me about all new devices, not just external enclosures, but over all computer devices, is that the feed-back tends to revolve around how sexy it looks, rather than performance over long periods of use.

Thanks for passing on your experience with the Western Digital My Book Pro Edition, Lilith.

Cheers,

cw

PS: Just out of curiosity, how well does it function over - let's say, several days, using only FireWire 400 ?