The big external enclosures thread

I have a question on burst rate. I'm connected via Firewire and when I do random tests to see how well its doing, the mb/s will fluctuate. The numbers will vary from 14mb/s to 21mb/s at any given time. Is this common or should I be concerned about this?

Crea78,
Just update me....You have the "What" external case with "what" version case firmware?
Your BenQ is flashed to what firmware?
Your motherboard 1394 host controller is?

dishinit,

External Enclosure: StorTecc USB2/Firewire case [http://www.dealsonic.com/stpmblsmbaco2.html]
Chipset: Prolific PL-3507 chipset updated to 9/7/2004 version
BenQ firmware: B7T9
1394 host controller: VIA OHCI Compliant IEEE

Crea78, Thanks for the update.
You need to crossflash to the 47L9 firmware. This will give you 23MB/s on firewire. I get very good Disc Quality scores with this firmware. In fact after having a bad writing experience with some Ritek R03's & B7T9, I have I flashed my other BenQ internal back to B7P9 and am getting 95's to 97's on this media!
Just be aware that the latest CD Speed will not scan at 16X on 47L9 firmware.
Crossflash in safe mode, no disk in drive and use USB2 to flash the drive. Then reboot drive & system, confirm new BenQ firmware and check your burst rate. Should be steady 23-24MB/s.
Keep me posted.

dishinit,

you mentioned on rpc1.org that there is another Prolific firmware available.....2004.10.06.174. Do you know where it can be found and if it works well on the Plumax case?

Thx for the info dishinit. I'm gonna keep the B7T9 firmware for a little while. Getting ready to put a new HDD in my laptop and will reflash the drive after that.

Well so far I can't say good things about my bytecc USB 2.0 ALI chipset enclosure. I have put two different hard drives ( old 2 gig,3 gig WD). My computer recognizes the enclosure as a mass USB device, but not the drive inside. hd lights flash, drives spin up, get the green light on the front. Does the jumper on the drive have to be set somewhere specific on an external enclosure? there is no mention of it in the instructions.
AMD 1700
MSI KT266A
WinXP sp1
Maybe I'll try my NEC 3500 tonight, for the hell of it.

Crea78,
Forgot to say that you will get 23MB/s with 47L9 over 1394, not USB2. Just use USB2 to flash.

jpunte,
Set drive to Master in enclosure.

There is another Prolific firmware available. Even more recent.
This version has solved all my delayed write problems with my PL-3507 case and large hard drives. Have sucessfully transferred 91.5 GB in one shot file copy.....twice! Have done file compare with CD Check, copied files back to Org HD, ripped to, encoded to & burned from, all with no errors. Have burned from Firewire to Firewire, no errors. Have run several Bustrace stress tests, no errors. I think it works, in fact I know it works. For me this makes the Pl-3507 combo "c" chipped case (I don't have a "B" chipped case to test) the best available for both Hard Disk & DVD burner compatability using Firewire. It is also Rock solid at USB2.

Code65536 will soon be supplying host link to this firmware.
It will also be available on Ghostdunks site linked via rpc1.org, when???
Soon.

I'll attach some png files as teasers;

Thx for the info dishinit. Can't wait to get this new firmware and see what it can do for burst rates compared to the 9/7/2004 version. One question, will we still need ROMwriter 2.04 to upgrade to the newest version or will the new ROMwriter be able to do this as well?

You can use ROM UpDater 2.21 included with Code's post.
As far as burst rates are concerned????
It actually dropped burst rates on my HD (that is the SYS Soft test shot) by 1Mb/s from earlier firmware version. On the other hand, I could not use previous firmwares with my Hard Drive, due to constant delayed write problems.
I have this new firmware only installed on my PL-3507 case with my Hard drive. My external BenQ is on an earlier version of the PL-3507 firmware. I have been too busy, and was checking for potential problems with the new V185 firmware, before I flashed that case up.

I guess I'll wait and see how well this new version does with the BenQ once ppl start testing it out.

Thanks dishinit for the info on the new firmware. I just placed an order for a BenQ 1620 and the Plumax case (PM-525C2-PPB). I would bet that it is the "c" chipset, since it sounds like you have the same case, but I won't be sure until this weekend.

Thanks for all your hard work on the Prolific PL-3507. I agree will all you testing results on HD usage. It worked great for me - no more delayed write failures.

But my primary use is for DVD External Usage. So I have been testing V185 on DVD drives. Some of my findings are:

(A) I have NOT found any decrease is burst transfer rate.
(B) I have found that the "Eject" and "Load" functions of Nero InCD take at least 5 time longer to complete (Could be a MS Hot Fix - See Below).
(C) I have no problem burning at 16X on EW162I Firmware.

Everything is looking GREAT...

Next Project Firewire 800 (1394b) since MS has just release a HotFix for SP2 restoring the 800MB/s (SP2 changed it to 100MB/s). The HF# is 885222. I have applied the HF and performed the Registry changes. Waiting on the delivery of a 1394b PCMCIA card. These changes might be causing (B) above.

Why don't you get a GSA-4163B to test your PL-3507 case more properly? (Of course, HDDs are far better than ODDs though.) DW1620 barely reaches 16x actually.

Beach-hobo,
Glad to hear the positive results on your HD tests.
"Not" so glad to hear the longer eject/load timings with InCD.
I don't use InCD, so maybe load/eject timings will not be a problem?
Did you install MS Hot Fix before you tested drive with V185?
I have that hotfix saved but have not implemented it yet. Any other aberations from the hotfix?
What external case are you going to use with the 1394b PCMCIA Card?
I thought I read you need a 1394b capable bridgeboard to actually get higher transfer rate.

Kenshin,
I bet you could answer my last question to Beach-hobo.
You know I have been lurking in the LG forum......Almost, but not quite ready to take the plunge on a 4163B. Keep checking prices, which are not too high as it is, yet I seem to be dragging my feet. Not sure, possibly how picky the drive is on media....but the SPEEEEEEEEEEEED! WOW!
I would be glad to hear any convincing arguments from you!

I've been redirected to this thread with this question: Can I connect my Liteon 851 external to the Firewire port on my PC instead of the current USB 2.0 connexion? The drives manual does not mention that it is compatible. If so, do I need a special cable or will anything that appears to fit do? Firewire is fully enabled according to Device Manager.

Many thanks for any answers.

@dishint

One step at a time...

If I remember correctly, the slower eject & load times were noticed after installing V185 but before installing the MS fix.

The MS fix EXE doesn't do the job completely. I still had to go in and modify some of the entries to add or change the "SidSpeed". There were some strange results (like autorun not working) until I made the edits. After fixing all the 1394 Host Controller entries everything is working correctly...

First test will be with the 1394b PCMCIA card to insure that the "B" controller will support "A" type devices. Will try to notice if there is any improvement performance.

Next step, try and find a low cost 1394b case ???? If this is possible...

Hold on time will tell !!!

@Kenshin,

First, thanks for the GREAT review (with pictures) of the LG External in the LG forum.

Well I'm a one-burner-man...

Unlike yourself (Korea), where LG drives are priced lower than a NEC or BenQ, the LG products cost more in the USA. You can purchase a NEC or BenQ a lot cheaper here. In addition, a ReBadge is even cheaper with rebates.

Beside the $$$ and the LG being picky with media I have one other concern. My concern deals with their Tech Support and here's why. "dishinit" posted a LG case (Prolific) update in a different forum. The date was December 2004, but to my suprise, when looking at the update the UpLoader was the new 221 version but the firmware was the old V062. This was the one issued on 4/22/2004 I think. There are many references to LG and LiteOn drives fixes in later ReadMe files from Prolific. So either Tech Support made a mistake or they are far behind in the testing of fixes.

My burst rate went from 22MB/s to 24 MB/s after installing the EW162I firmware. Yes, you are right that the 22MB/s was pushing 16X burns, but now with 24MB/s I have no problems at all !!!

Beach-hobo,
The slower load/eject times you reported were limited to InCD?
But the AutoRun problem was not?
Where did you pick up your 1394B card?

I would be very interested in the edits that you have done to eliminate "strange results"
Perhaps you could PM me with those?
Thanks, dishinit

Hm. Personally, I don't think the "picky" media compatibility is a serious problem on LG DVD writers because most good-quality DVD media burn well at proper speeds. Sometimes it's the fastest among all DVD writers, sometimes, not even the rated speeds are supported. Here's my "test" tables, hardly well-organized and I didn't do all the planned tests and most cells need to be filled with appropriate links, but it's the best I have yet.

single-page

multi-page

Now my GSA-5163D has A100 firmware prepared by TDB. I'm considering to have a GSA-4163B bulk since it now costs just 89,000 Won in Seoul. BenQ DW1620 OEM Nu-tech DDW-163 also costs 89,000 Won. Obviously LG's the cheapest in South Korea. LG's cheaper in the US than in South Korea, but it's just that the US [b]is[/i] the heaven for consumers.

Since dishinit and beach-hobo both have the new Prolific firmware, could someone host this file so the rest of us can get it.

See post #85 it's being setup...