[trombonium]

I have a problem with a brand new Newer Tech minStack v2 (250 GB) external hard drive. Every time my computer comes out of sleep mode the miniStack is gone. It seems that the system ejects it every time, and in order for it to be recognized I have to power it off and back on. I also get the message, after the computer wakes up, that the device was improperly removed. Is there a setting in the system preferences I'm overlooking? Any help is appreciated! Thanks.
PowerBook G4 (867 Mhz), OS X 10.4.8

[drmbb]

How are you connecting the drive - USB or firewire? And if firewire, do you have the switch on the back set to "auto" or "1394a".
If you are using firewire and have the switch on "auto", try powering everything down, disconnect the drive, set the switch to "1394a" and reconnect and power everything back up.
The ministack should obey the power settings of your machine - both for power on/off and sleep/unsleep. Mine does, but I've only ever used it connected via firewire.

[trombonium]

My miniStack is the v2 model, meaning that it acts as a firewire and USB 2.0 hub. I tried connecting the drive through just firewire, but then I couldn't connect any of my USB peripherals. So technically I have both the USB and firewire connections going, with my setting set to 1394a. Even with just the firewire connected my PowerBook would eject it evertime it came back from sleep mode.

[drmbb]

My 160GB is also a v2 model, but as I said, I've never connected it via USB, nor used it's USB hub/ports.
You could try emailing support at newertech:
http://www.newertech.com/contact

[mdawson]

This problem sounds strange, but first I will clear up some misconceptions that I am seeing here.

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My miniStack is the v2 model, meaning that it acts as a firewire and USB 2.0 hub.

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Both the original miniStack and the miniStack v2 are FireWire/USB external drive enclosures/hubs. It was only recently that NewerTech introduced a USB-only version of the miniStack v2it would not surprise me if part of the target market there is Wintel PC users that more often than not will not have FireWire as a standard feature.

Quote:

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I tried connecting the drive through just firewire, but then I couldn't connect any of my USB peripherals. So technically I have both the USB and firewire connections going, with my setting set to 1394a.

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Not connecting the downstream USB connection to your computer just disables the USB hub in the miniStack, it has little to do with how the miniStack uses the hard drive. The switch on the back determines which interface the miniStack will use for the hard drive. If it is set to 1394a then the miniStacks hard drive will connect to your Mac via FireWire. If you set the switch to Auto the idea is that the miniStack will choose the best means to connect. For Wintel PC users, Auto would be used in order to enable USB 2.0 connection to the hard drive; the same holds true for Mac users with much older Macs (e.g., early iMacs) that do not have FireWire.
If you have the miniStack attached to your Mac via FireWire, setting the switch to Auto can often be problematic. I experienced this when I moved in August and the switch on my miniStack was inadvertently moved to the Auto position; my Mac recognized the FireWire and USB hubs but not the external drive. Thus, unless one has a Mac without FireWire, or does not intend to use the FireWire functionality of the miniStack for some strange reasonin which case they should not attach the FireWire interconnectthe switch should always be set to 1394a. Technically, any Mac user would be connected to the miniStack via both FireWire and USB, but the drive would be seen as a FireWire device and not USB.
As to your original problem, I have an original miniStack attached to my Power Mac G5 and I have never had problems with it not syncing correctly. When my G5 goes to sleep so does the miniStack. On the rare occasion that I power down, the miniStack continues to run for a minute or so while the fan cools the unit down, but then it too powers down until the computer is powered back up. My ex-girlfriend has a miniStack v2 attached to her iBook and she has never had any issues. As we still speak, I would have been informed if any problems has arisen. Lastly, my faculty adviser has a miniStack v2 attached to the Gateway tower in his office. After a little over a month of use, he has not reported any problems.
As drmbb stated, check with NewerTechs tech support. NewerTech seems to have an exclusive relationship with OWC these days and based on my experience with the latter, you should expect top notch assistance.