Technical Information
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LaCie Big Disk
5. Technical Information
5.1 User Advice When Using FireWire
The following technical information relates to your LaCie Big Disk and gives some practical advice:
Power Autoswitching
Your LaCie Big Disk comes with an autoswitching power supply. This means that if the drive is connected to a FireWire
connector on your computer, when you turn on the computer, the LaCie drive will turn on automatically. Likewise, when you
turn off your computer, your LaCie drive will turn off automatically.
Important Note:
The Power Autoswitching feature is not supported by non-powered FireWire buses (i.e. iLink
ports or certain add-on IEEE 1394 host-adapters). You will need to use the on/off button on the front of the
LaCie Big Disk to turn the drive on or off.
Power Save
The LaCie Big Disk manages power consumption. If the system’s power save feature supports it, the drive will spin down
during the power save mode. After the system comes out of power save, the drive will take a few seconds to spin up to full
power before it can be accessed.
Data Transfers
During data transfers, it’s best to wait before launching other applications on same FireWire port. Anomalies may arise with
computers that have FireWire controllers that do not conform to OHCI (Open Host Controller Interface) standards. Your
product has been tested and checked on computers with Intel or Apple FireWire platforms. In any other configurations, we
cannot ensure 100% correct operation. Due to this, you may encounter hanging problems. If this happens, proceed
as follows:
1) Make sure that the FireWire cable is connected tightly and securely on both ends of the cable, from the drive to the
computer. If you are using a FireWire cable other than the one supplied with your LaCie Big Disk Hard Drive, check that it
is FireWire (IEEE 1394) certified. The cable that is provided with your LaCie drive is FireWire (IEEE 1394) certified.
Warning!
Do not connect FireWire cables so that they form a ring of devices. There is no need for terminators
on FireWire devices, so the unused FireWire connectors should be left empty.
2) Check that the power supply and ground connection are seated properly.
3) Disconnect your computer’s FireWire cable. Wait 30 seconds. Reconnect.
