[yvesinconnu]

there seems to be a problem with the device adressing within openfirmware, not necessarly affiliated to the ppc mac rom (...and thereby it probably could be solved without removing chips from the mainboard...):
1. the device will only be recognized in the open firmware device tree, when it is powered on 5-8 sec. before the computer
2. when the drive is embedded to the device tree, it does have a some kind of strange logical firewire substructure:
dev /fw/node
ls
/node
/spb-2@c000
/device@1
/spb-2@c000
/disk@0
so, why are there two different substructures with identical names? how is open firmware able to handle that? if you're trying to open the subnode sbp-2@c000, it only contains /device@1, no /disk0. i wasn't able to switch to the 2nd sbp-2, which manages the disk. both subnodes have a unique hexcode definition, but it doesn't seem to be possible to tell openfirmware to dev ff09ab12 i.e.

[Milhouse]

I like the drives appearance (matches alum iMac) and automatic sleep/shutdown features. I did have some problems with FireWire connectivity. The drive works fine with USB. I'd suggest connecting via USB first, installing the Feb firmware and WD Drive Manager before trying to connect with firewire. When the firewire-connected My Book Studio didn't boot, I've had success with the following: unplug computer power cord from wall for about 5 minutes, resetting PRAM by restarting with OptionCmd P + R for 3 starting sounds, and finally I turn on the drive about 5 seconds before starting the computer. Not sure if this is fault of the firewire interface or my book or both. But when it's working, it works okay. If I had more usb ports, I'd be happy using them since this drive is for Time Machine and SuperDuper! backups.

I may try removing the WD Drive Manager if it fixes the mounting problem.

[yvesinconnu]

@ Milhouse: Have you been able to boot from the WD Disk on a PPC-Machine that way, or do you use an Intel-Mac?

yours yves

[Milhouse]

20 in Intel iMac aluminum. I'm experimenting with uninstalling the WD Manager to see if that eliminates the problem with the drive not showing up mounted after a natural sleep.

[budstein]

I bought the 500gb Studio Edition about a month before the leopard OS came out with the expectation of using it for the backup with the Time Machine. Waited to hook up after leopard was installed and Bingo, didn't have nary a problem.


I do notice some noise when it's backing up but after that 1st initial backup it doesn't run much on all ensuing backups


bud

[musetta]

To make this compatible with Leopard 10.5 go to support.wdc.com and search the knowledge base for article #1716.
This was included on tiny slip of paper inside the box. :-)

[budstein]

Thank You. I was aware of the problem but wasn't having problems with the backups with it so figured I'd use it without the available lights for fuel guage.

Also am glad you sent this since the firmware update wasn't posted yet when I posted. Was just happy it was doing what I bough it for. Again, a big Thanks for the heads-up, will you accept an IOU? j/k

[dammarin]

The table at the end of the review states that the drive has 7200 rotational speed.
This might be incorrect, because:
1. WD has only one 1TB drive, the WD10EACS. Thus, it seems reasonable to assume that this is the drive installed in the 1TB My Book Studio. WD, however, does not disclose the rotational speed of the drive.
2. Since I hear hearsay that the 1TB drive from WD is a 5400 model, I did some searching and came up with this page:
http://www.silentpcr...e804-page1.html
It seems to confirm that the drive is a 5400 rpm model.
Thus, I believe the 7200 figure is incorrect, as the drive seems to have 5400 rotational speed.

[RobinAllenson]

Hi

How did you uninstall the Drive Manager software? I can't find it in Applications.

Thanks for the informative post. I am having very similar issues -- sleep and powerdown issues by the drive plus it not being recognised by the FW800 port on my MacBook Pro. It wakes promptly with USB and FW400 (which goes into the same port on the My Book). I reckon the fact that I have not uninstalled the Drive Manager is the key issue. How did you do this?

Thanks for the help.

Cheers
Robin

[Milhouse]

To uninstall the WD Drive Manager, just mount the WDDriveManager.dmg, and run the WD Drive Manager Installer. It should give you the option of uninstalling it, if it is already installed.

BTW, I have occasionally had trouble with the FW800 not mounting. The solution seems to be unplugging the WD drive from the power supply, unplugging the iMac from power for a few minutes, then plug the Mac back in. I startup by first plugging power back into the WD drive, waiting about 5 seconds, then power up the iMac by pressing the power button. This usually seems to work.

[VeggieVolvo]

Would it be possible to write a script to save a small file or just "tickle" the WD MyBook drive in order to keep it from going into sleep mode?

Thanks

kjcase

[dougoftheabaci]

In System Preferences, under the Energy Saver pane you deselect "Put hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" and it should stop your drive from going to sleep all the time. Personally, I wish it wouldn't wake up randomly and bring my computer out of sleep mode but whatever, I've given up expecting good things of WD and it's externals when on a Mac at this point.

[pcharles]

Mat:

The update helped a little, but I am still having problems with the drive shutting down rather than sleeping, or simply crashing. It seems I get a slightly different problem with each interface.

With USB the drive is fine until it goes into sleep mode where the blue lights pulse slowly. Then it can only be awoke by rebooting the computer and hard resetting the unit.

With FW the drive had a habit of just turning off rather than sleeping, which resulted in the drive unmounting and being unavailable until you manually swtich it on again. This is a problem when you are traveling and need to access something on the drive.

Since updating the button manager the drive still crashes when sleeping with USB, but with FW it does seem to sleep now, but then periodically it still shuts down. I cannot figure out what is causing this to happen.

This is the first time I have ever had problems with WD drives, but it could turn out to be an expensive one if the drive will not stay connected.

[martin1981]

There is no fan in this model, WD only puts fans in the 2-drive units.