Members techristian Posted October 4, 2011 Members Share Posted October 4, 2011 I don't need any more headaches with the Seagate ST320005N4A1AS-RK . This is a 2TB sata drive with up to 3 gb/sec data rate. It has a jumper to drop the speed down to 1.5 gb/sec (for older motherboards). I have tried using it in both configurations but even when it manages to boot I wait for more that 20 minutes !!!! The motherboard is a few years old and I have another newer motherboard, but I'm getting tired of swapping all of these parts around. Anyway, does anyone here have one of these and what motherboard do you have it plugged into ?? Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted October 4, 2011 CMS Author Share Posted October 4, 2011 Aren't legacy computers wonderful? And don't computers become "legacy" way too fast? This is a new one on me, actually, and there may be another problem, like you got a bum drive, but many times I've seen the industry put the cart before the horse and then leave the horse behind hoping you'll buy a new horse. After hearing from a few people that they were having trouble finding a new laptop computer with an expansion card slot, I looked at what was on display at Best Buy when I was in there last week and didn't see any. Today I was in Micro Center, where they have a much wider selection of brands and models, and after not seeing one, I asked a salesman if he had a laptop that had an ExpressCard slot. He thought maybe there was one but couldn't find it. He told me "You don't need that any more with USB 3." Like my Firewire audio interfaces are going to sprout USB 3 ports by themselves? About your disk drive . . . why don't you take it back and get another one? Maybe it's just a dud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members techristian Posted October 4, 2011 Author Members Share Posted October 4, 2011 Funny that you mention Microcenter. I bought it at Microcenter in Michigan near Detroit. I strongly suspect that my motherboard is TOO OLD (I bought it a few years ago (from Microcenter) but it was already 2 year old tech at that time. I have read many bad reviews on this drive. I have to admit that it was very tempting at $59 but what is my hair, nerves and health worth ? Yes I will swap it around and figure it out, and yes the nice man tried to sell me an extended warranty !! Yes , I will bring it back as a last resort. (It is 25 miles away in Oakland county) Oh and I forgot to mention that Windows XP only saw the drive with the Seagate disk manager, can copy a partition, but can't seem to access the data directly? Only with Linux can I actually read/write to the drive. So all of that speed means DIDDLY. Because I will only be able to use it as an archival medium. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted October 4, 2011 CMS Author Share Posted October 4, 2011 Funny that you mention Microcenter. I bought it at Microcenter in Michigan near Detroit. Yeah, they have a bin full of those drives at my local Micro Center too. I would never consider using a drive that large. Too many eggs in one basket. I know you don't HAVE to fill it up, but people do, eventually. I strongly suspect that my motherboard is TOO OLD (I bought it a few years ago (from Microcenter) but it was already 2 year old tech at that time. I suspect that your motherboard's BIOS doesn't properly support the drive. I had that problem with a 486 when I tried to install a 30 GB drive in it until I updated the BIOS. You might check the motherboard manufacturer's web site to see if there's a BIOS update for it. I have read many bad reviews on this drive. I have to admit that it was very tempting at $59 but what is my hair, nerves and health worth ? Are those reviews from people who you trust as being able to tell the difference between a bad drive and a bad installation? Was their story that they exchanged the drive for another of the same type and the replacement worked? Or just that, like you, they couldn't get it installed? Yes , I will bring it back as a last resort. (It is 25 miles away in Oakland county) Well, my local Micro Center is only about 12 miles away, but I bring things back all the time. They buy a lot of closeouts so a lot of what they sell (like your motherboard, it seems) is on the training edge of technology. Windows XP only saw the drive with the Seagate disk manager, can copy a partition, but can't seem to access the data directly? Maybe it's a Windows XP problem. I'm sure there's a limit to the maximum partition size and you may have hit it. I only run XP here, and the largest drive I have is about 500 GB. Try using the Seagate Free Agent disk manager to partition it as two 1 TB drives. Will that work for you, or do you have files greater than 1 TB that need to be contiguous? If you're going to take it back anyway, Micro Center doesn't care if you're already partitioned it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members techristian Posted October 5, 2011 Author Members Share Posted October 5, 2011 This whole experience may end up being a GOOD THING ! Mike , I'm downloading the new Bios, Manual and Drivers. As I'm browsing through it I am learning a few important things that I overlooked in the past. 1) This MB has HDMI output. I have been plugged into VGA up until now but I have a HDMI 1080 display.!!!!!!..This may make my video editing easier....YOU THINK? 2) Here is the critical one. This has a built in ESata port for external sata drives. Yes I have one but never realized this and installed the ESata card that came with the drive instead. Sometimes the USB/ESata hybrid drive would show up....and sometimes it wouldn't. Perhaps SATA is getting confused. I will remove the card and plug the external into the MB supplied port.Unbelievable what you can learn after READING !!! (the pdf is cleaner and easier to read than the original supplied manual) To think that I have been using this for 3-4 years like this !! BTW this is the GF8200A ECS MB THANKS MIKE ! Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author MikeRivers Posted October 5, 2011 CMS Author Share Posted October 5, 2011 I'm downloading the new Bios, Manual and Drivers. As I'm browsing through it I am learning a few important things that I overlooked in the past. 1) This MB has HDMI output. I have been plugged into VGA up until now but I have a HDMI 1080 display.!!!!!!..This may make my video editing easier....YOU THINK? I check for new BIOS and driver updates now and then, but since all of my computers but the netbook are more than 4 years old, there isn't much different any more. And the netbook was inexpensive and has been replaced by another model after six months anyway. I should check to see if there's an update that affects the USB port. Maybe I can get these Focusrite Scarlett interfaces to work right with it. I have a monitor in the studio that has an HDMI input but no HDMI video output to try it with. I'm told that the picture does look better. I thought that the video card, which has a rectangular (not D-sub) connector that came with a breakout cable to two VGAs might have HDMI or DVI with the proper adapter cable, but it doesn't. This has a built in ESata port for external sata drives. Yes I have one but never realized this and installed the ESata card that came with the drive instead. I got an external drive case that came with an eSATA port on a bracket, not another SATA port itself, just an "extension" to an internal SATA port, but I didn't have a spare internal port so I never used it. My older computers (before SATA) had two IDE ports each of which would support two drives. Two hard drives and two optical drives have been the standard configuration around here for quite some time. But unless I'm missing something, each SATA port supports only one drive and the two computers I have which have SATA have only two ports. Unbelievable what you can learn after READING !!! Reading is FUNdamental. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members techristian Posted October 5, 2011 Author Members Share Posted October 5, 2011 I had the computer opened up yesterday , to get model numbers and inspect /correct potential mistakes. Apparently , while installing the new hard drive, the power came unplugged from an old 3.5 inch floppy (a: drive) I plugged it back in and everything booted up quickly TWICE IN A ROW !! So....I put everything back together and....the nonsense began again? There are so many wires in there and believe it or not, it can get very crowded even in a FULL SIZE circa 1995 Gateway tower case. I gave it a slap and it booted, so I will probably replace the floppy or the power connector for the floppy. As to why Windows won't access the drive correctly..... I did a complete partition copy using the Seagate disk manager software. If the original was visible in Windows, I assumed that the copy would also be visible, but I guess that isn't the case here. Perhaps this was only a FILE COPY and not a NIBBLE COPY. Yesterday, I noticed that there was also a MOUNT command......only for blank drives. So at this point, I can assume that the procedure is 1) mount/format and then 2) copy. That way Windows can see it......but Linux has no problem seeing the files. I also updated the bios and drivers. Thanks Mike for your response. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members techristian Posted October 20, 2011 Author Members Share Posted October 20, 2011 Just an update. The hard drive is working fine after mount/format and then copy. Luckily I had plenty of space for juggling the data. I'm running with the jumper at 1.5 gbps , but I have discovered that 3 of my SATA ports will support 3 gbps. I'm not going to play with it anymore though. It is plenty fast enough for now. I HAVE WORK TO DO ! Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ernest Buckley Posted October 21, 2011 Members Share Posted October 21, 2011 Tech, All kidding aside, considering all the video work you do, why have you not considered an Apple? Just curious.EB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members techristian Posted October 21, 2011 Author Members Share Posted October 21, 2011 Tech,All kidding aside, considering all the video work you do, why have you not considered an Apple?Just curious.EB Apple has always seemed like an expensive beast to feed. Generally , to me, it has seemed like the software and hardware are more expensive. They aren't designed for customization. With an XP system if I want a bigger drive, I get a bigger drive. Although ,as you have guessed, with video, this may all change for me. I may bite the bullet and buy a SERIOUS video editor such as Adobe Production Suite. Considering that is $700-$1000+ , an Apple , ready to do decent video editing, right out of the box may have an advantage. I also wasn't a big fan of Logic. I worked with it for 6 months (in 2001), and could never quite figure out the PATCHING system. Apple getting involved with that????.......not my way of operating. As I have said before. There is nothing wrong with Apple. It is just DIFFERENT. An analogy might be this. I learned to program using a CLI (command line interface) or console as some have said. I have a difficult time trying to wrap my head around Visual Programming...nothing wrong with it. It is just DIFFERENT. I was able to get some work done using Ableton LIVE a few months ago, so there may be hope for me yet. (Ableton LIVE was a big scary mystery to me for almost 5 years.) dAN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ernest Buckley Posted October 21, 2011 Members Share Posted October 21, 2011 Well, LOGIC is still difficult from the users I know. DP integrates audio/visual nicely from what I have heard, that may be your best best on the Apple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members techristian Posted October 21, 2011 Author Members Share Posted October 21, 2011 DP ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ernest Buckley Posted October 21, 2011 Members Share Posted October 21, 2011 DP ? Digital Performer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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