WiebeTech LLC
DuoGB800 User Manual
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Warning: OS X has occasionally shown extremely slow mount and access times
for FireWire drives
which are formatted with DOS format. If this happens to you, you may wish to reformat the drive to HFS+.
Alternatively, contact WiebeTech for technical support.
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Windows 98SE, ME.
Windows will find and load the default driver automatically. Upon first access to the
drive, Windows will ask to format the drive. You may need to check the “removable drive” in the disk drive
settings in order to allow Windows to mount the drive on the desktop in Win98SE and WinME. This
checkbox is found in the device manager. (Right Click on My Computer
Left Click on Properties
Left
Click on Disk Manager
Click on Disk Drives
Click on your new drive
Click on Settings
Check
removable
Close
reboot when instructed.)
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Windows 2000.
A similar process is necessary for win2K, if the drive is unformatted. Right Click on My
Computer
Left Click on Manage
Left Click on Disk Management. The drive should now appear in a list
on the right hand side of the window. If a red bar circle appears, Right Click on it and select write a
signature. Then right click on the “unallocated” box and create a partition.
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WindowsXP.
If the drive is already formatted, it will automatically be available under “My Computer” in XP.
In order to format an unformatted drive under XP, you will need to be logged in as administrator to your
computer. The FireWire drive needs to be powered up and attached to your computer. The task bar will
show the presence of the FireWire drive through a small green arrow remove icon in the lower right hand
portion of your screen. Once these requirements are met, you are ready to format the drive, as follows:
Click START.
Click CONTROL PANEL.
Click PERFORMANCE AND MAINTENANCE.
Click
ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS.
Double Click COMPUTER MANAGEMENT.
Click DISK MANAGEMENT.
If your new disk is uninitialized
, it will appear as red circle bar within the list of disk drives. Right click on
the red circle bar and select INITIALIZE DISK. Initialization just takes a few seconds.
Once your disk
has been initialized, it will appear as “Unallocated” within the drive descriptor list. Right click over the box
that says “Unallocated” and select NEW PARTITION.
Follow the steps which Windows provides for
creating a new partition. Select either FAT32 or NTFS format at the appropriate time. FAT32 is appropriate
for exchange with other Windows computers and with Macs. NTFS is appropriate if you will use the disk
drive only with Win2K and WinXP systems. Select the volume label of your choice. Choose QUICK
FORMAT if you are in a hurry. Allow the drive to finish formatting.
Click COMPUTER MANAGEMENT
closed (red X).
Click ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS closed. Your new drive will now be available for use. It
will appear under MY COMPUTER, under sub heading of HARD DISK DRIVES. It may be accessed like
any other drive.
MACINTOSH DRIVE USE – GAINING HIGHER PERFORMANCE.
If you plan to
use the drive exclusively on a Macintosh, you may wish to reformat it to HFS or HFS+.
PERFORMANCE OF THE DRIVE WILL BE FASTER USING HFS+ instead of DOS format.
WiebeTech strongly recommends reformatting the drive using the “Partition” tab of the disk utility
in OSX.
FIREWIRE BOOTING (MAC).
Many Apple users want to know if FireWire drives are
bootable. The answer is yes on most Macs. But, there are exceptions. In particular, Blue and
White G3 machines and also the certain early G4 machines are not FireWire bootable. Other
machines may require a ROM/BIOS update. Apple’s knowledge base on their website offers
definitive information. Your Apple computer may require such an update; check their website at
www.apple.com/firewire
. In OS X you may have to select the drive through the System
Preferences/Startup Drive. It may not appear just by holding down the Option key when booting
FIREWIRE BOOTING (PC).
Windows XP claims to support this feature. An additional
requirement is that the computer manufacturer (for instance, Dell or Compaq) must provide BIOS
level support for FireWire booting. Please contact WiebeTech if you are able to FireWire boot
your drive on a PC; we’d like to know more.
Many FireWire cables are poorly shielded and as a result are very powerful emitters of Radio Frequency
Interference (RFI).
In the event that you experience Radio Frequency Interference, you may take the
following steps to resolve the problem:
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Use a firewire cable with RFI reducing ferrites on each end.
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Use a power supply with an RFI reducing ferrite approximately 5 inches from the DC plug.
Emission ferrites are available from Radio Shack, with a part number of 273-105.
For technical support please contact [email protected].