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NBDDP_User_Manual.pdf (609.4 KB)
Jul 03, 2007 | MD5 2fd8600fd3bb74c121f022991bdca337 | | User's Manual for original NoteBook DriveDock Plus (NBDDP). | | NBDD_User_Manual.pdf (42.88 KB)
Jul 03, 2007 | MD5 d5c96a70411028fee83e58f66e916375 | | User's Manual for original NoteBook DriveDock (NBDD). | | NBDDv4 Users Manual.pdf (171.11 KB)
May 23, 2007 | MD5 fcb26a0d234d744f79e9a0c5ce3cfbf9 | | User's manual for NoteBook DriveDock v4 (NBDDV4 & NBDD8V4). |
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Q: My old 2.5" Toshiba drive won't mount, although other drives work and I know this drive is good. Is it incompatible with my dock?
A: The NoteBook DriveDock+ and ADA-25 Combo Adapter are compatible with all currently manufactured 2.5" drives. However, a few older model Toshiba drives are not compatible with NBDDP and ADA-25 units manufactured before November 9, 2005. The affected units are NBDDP units with serial numbers ending with "00000" to "00160", and ADA-25 adapters with serial numbers ending with "00000" to "01075". If you own an affected product and are experiencing this problem, contact Tech Support for more information.
Q: There's no AC adapter. How does it receive the power needed to operate?
A: From the FireWire bus. The unit must be attached to a powered FireWire port in order for it to work.
For usage with unpowered FireWire hosts, an optional AC adapter is available for the ComboGB and NoteBook DriveDock.
Q: Why does my dock experience errors or unmount during long file transfers?
A: The environment in which the dock is used can affect its performance. The surface that the dock and drive are set upon may not allow heat to dissipate away from the units. The bottom plate supplied with the product will help to dissipate heat away from the hard drive and dock. If placed on a non-conductive surface, the drive or dock may suffer heat related failures. After cooling, the units usually return to a useable state. Occasionally these heat related failures can be permanent.
Q: My old FireWire 400 DriveDock is having trouble working on my new G5 Mac. Is there a fix for this?
A: The G5 is using FireWire 800 components only. Its two six-pin (400) connectors are routed through the 800 Bus. The G5 does not have true FireWire 400. This has caused problems with some (not all) DriveDocks that pre-date FireWire 800 technology. One solution that has worked for some people is the use of a very short FireWire cable like the 6" or 9" variety. If this doesn't work, you may need to get a FireWire 400 powered hub for the DriveDock to get it to work again with the G5. This problem only affects some DriveDocks built prior to the introduction of Firewire 800; FireWire DriveDocks built since that time are fully compatible. WiebeTech recommends that customers take advantage of FireWire 800 host capabilities by using the WiebeTech ComboDock which has two FireWire 800 ports and a USB2 mini-B port.
Q: Will this bus-powered product work on my computer without an AC adapter?
A: WiebeTech's bus-powered products can operate with most computers that have a powered FireWire host. Not all computers have enough voltage to power up and sustain bus-powered products. In such cases, you will need to use an AC adapter or connect through a powered FireWire hub.
PC laptops often have unpowered or low-powered FireWire ports. Macs have usually had sufficient bus power in the past (with the exception of some iBooks). Intel-based Macs, however, have significantly less FireWire bus power than previous models. This is especially true of the 17" MacBook Pro.
Note: some of products are bus-powerable only through the outer FireWire port. Others are bus-powerable through either FireWire port.
Q: Can I daisy-chain other FireWire devices to this bus-powered product?
A: You'll probably need to power the unit with an AC adapter if you want to daisy-chain other devices to it.
It is possible to daisy-chain two bus-powered devices without external power if the FireWire host offers sufficient bus power, but this is the exception rather than the rule. If the provided power is right on the line of what is required, the chain might break during a file transfer, possibly resulting in data loss. Therefore, WiebeTech recommends that bus-powered units NOT be used in a daisy chain with other bus-powered devices. If additional bus-powered devices need to be used, then we recommend using AC adapters or connecting them to a powered FireWire hub.
Q: Can I use this bus-powered product with a laptop?
A: It depends on the laptop computer. If it has a 4-pin "iLink" FireWire port, common on Windows laptops, you'll need to use the AC adapter to operate the device. 4-pin iLink ports are not powered. Likewise if you're plugging into an unpowered PCMCIA cardbus host.
Some computers have powered ports, but do not offer enough power to power all devices and drives. Higher capacity drives, for example, usually require more power than lower capacity drives. Mac PowerBooks usually have plenty of bus power, while iBooks often do not. The 17" MacBook Pro offers very little FireWire bus power, and will not power most devices.
If the laptop has sufficiently powered FireWire ports, then you'll be able to operate the device on bus power. This usually works best when the laptop is on AC power. If you're running the laptop on battery, unmount the unit when battery power starts running low. Data may be lost or corrupted if the host cuts off power to the unit while the disk is being accessed. The unit's drive may not remount after the laptop has gone to Sleep or Stand By mode. You may get a message that the FireWire device is no longer present when the laptop wakes up. If the laptop does go to Sleep or into Stand By, turn the unit off using the power switch. When the laptop wakes up or if AC power is applied to the laptop, try remounting the drive.
Q: Why won’t my bus powered device spin up the hard drive?
A: Try the following troubleshooting steps:
1. Confirm that the FireWire host provides sufficient bus power. Some computers may not provide enough bus power to spin up high power drives. This is true of some iBooks, iMacs, and most Intel Macs (especially the 17” MacBook Pro). Some Windows computers provide no bus power at all. This is true of any computer that uses a miniature 4-pin FireWire connector. Most Windows laptops use this type of FireWire port. For more information, you may be interested in reading a white paper written by WiebeTech’s CEO, which deals with this topic. You can download the paper here: www.wiebetech.com/pressreleases/buspower.pdf
2. Make sure you have the power switch in the correct position. The bus-powered SATADock (SDK-BP), Forensic ComboDock (FCD-BP), and Super DriveDock+ (SDP) all have a 3-position power switch. One “ON” position is for usage with AC power, and another “ON” position is for usage with bus power.
3. Make sure you are plugging into the FireWire port closest to the side of the enclosure. Many bus-powered devices can only bus power through the outermost FireWire port. This is true of the UltraGB+ (UPL), Forensic ComboDock (FCD-BP), and Super DriveDock+ (SDP).
4. Try using the device with AC power. Make sure the power switch in the correct position for AC power usage. If the device works on AC power, but not on bus power, the host may not be providing sufficient power to spin the drive. Try a different computer and different drive if possible. If the problem occurs on multiple computers with multiple drives, there might be a problem with the device.
5. If you are daisy-chaining the device into another FireWire product, try connecting directly to the host instead. Some devices do not pass bus power downstream.
6. If your product came with a SpinBoost (power dongle), try using it to provide extra power at spin up. Products that shipped with a SpinBoost include Super DriveDock (SDD), Super DriveDock+ (SDP), and Forensic ComboDock w/Bus Powering (FCD-BP). To use it, plug it into the power port on the dock. Attach the FireWire cable. With the dock’s power switched off, let it sit for 60 seconds to charge. When it is charged, switch on the dock’s power. The SpinBoost will provide additional power to the drive to help it spin up.
Q: Will Mac Recovery software allow me to retrieve the data from my corrupted drive?
A: Here is a great way to find out if Mac Recovery will work in your situation. You can try before you buy. The trial will only recover 1 file, but you will know if it works that way.
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/download.php?prodID=1
Q: Why are my daisy-chained FireWire 400 drives having trouble working with my G5?
A: The G5 has a limitation of the Firewire 800 Bus that prevents it from working with more than two Firewire 400 drives at once. We discovered that if we connect the Quad BayDock with all four bays daisy-chained together, two drives will disappear from the desktop under heavy use. We find this to be a problem with FireWire 800 (1394b) in general and not just the G5.
Q: Why is there no light on my bus-powered device when I connect to FireWire?
A: The most common reason is that you have connected the product to a non-powered FireWire port. All Apple computers have powered FireWire ports but not all PCs and only a very small number of PC laptops do. Several solutions are available:
1. Use the AC adapter that came with your unit. Note: 2.5" enclosures (e.g. ComboGB) do not ship with an AC adapter, but it is available as an additional purchase (PWR-2).
2. You can use a FireWire PCMCIA cardbus card (CDB-8) powered by a +12V adapter (PWR-4).
3. A USB power cable (Cable-32) is another option for notebook drive enclosures if the USB port has enough voltage to support the enclosure and drive being used.
Q: Why doesn't the power LED light when I connect the USB cable?
A: USB does not usually provide enough bus power to operate hard drives. WiebeTech bus powered units are intended for usage with powered FireWire hosts. You will need to use an AC adapter with the product when connecting via USB.
Note: the ComboGB includes a USB power cable which usually allows the unit to operate on USB bus power. See the user manual for details.
Q: Why won't the computer let me eject or unmount my drive?
A: There may be a software application running in the background with an active link to the drive. Sometimes, you may see a message such as "The disk is in use and could not be ejected. Try quitting applications and try again."
It could be a background application like Sherlock or the Finder. This is not a defect or issue caused by the WiebeTech device. Try invoking the Force Quit feature in OS X to see what software may be running. For Windows XP, the equivalent command is CTRL-ALT-DEL.
Drives connected to the computer via eSATA cannot be ejected in Windows the way FireWire drives can. However, freeware utilities are available on the internet that provide a similar function.
Q: Why am I having trouble using my FW400 device on a FW800 host?
A: We have found that no more than two FireWire 400 devices should be daisy-chained together and run on a single Firewire 800 Bus (channel). While all devices may appear on the desktop initially, as the load of the data transfer increases, devices will start unmounting and dissappearing from the desktop. This was first discovered when daisy-chaining all four bays of a Quad BayDock 400 to a single port on a Mac G5. The maximum number of bays supported was two. The FireWire 800 Quad BayDock performed just fine with all four bays daisy-chained together (as long as the drives were not combined into a software RAID 0). If a PCI FW800 card was installed in the G5 and two bays were daisy-chained to to the native port and two bays were connected to the PCI card, everything worked as expected.
Q: I just upgraded my Mac OS, and now I'm having trouble with my FireWire device. What can I do?
A: With nearly every OS update Apple releases, some external drives are not recognized after the update. The typical symptom is that the device will not mount but the volume is visible and grayed out in Disk Utility. This means that the device is working properly, but the OS does not recognize the volume as mountable. Sometimes the drive does not show up at all.
The first thing to do is to see if repairing Permissions with Apple's Disk Utility First Aid feature solves the problem. If not, try repairing the disk with First Aid. Another possible solution is to zap the PRAM. This is done with a keyboard command while rebooting. Restart your computer and hold down the Command, Option, P and R keys. Consult the Apple web site for details.
If this does not work, then try pushing the PMMU reset button on the logic board. Consult the Apple web site for locations of the button for your Mac. If the drive still does not show up, shut down, disconnect all peripheral devices, and boot from the Mac OS Installation CD. The later the OS version, the better. Do not reinstall the OS, but when the Installer is loaded up and ready to begin, go to the File menu and use the Disk Utility program. Connect the drive that is having problems, then start the Disk Utility application. If you see the external drive and it is not grayed out, you know the drive is okay. Run Disk First Aid on it anyway. Then run it on your internal boot drive while you are at it. When done, unmount the external drive and UNPLUG it! Then restart the Mac.
When the Mac has restarted and is running on the internal boot drive, reconnect the external drive.
Q: How can I format my drive for Windows?
A: NTFS: Windows 2K and XP will format hard drives in NTFS to their full capacity using the Disk Management utility. This is the native file system for these operating systems.
FAT32: Windows 98SE and ME will format FAT32 to the full capacity of the drive. Windows 2K and XP will not format drives or partitions larger than 32GB in FAT32 format. This is a limitation Microsoft built in to the OS. To format a drive or partition larger than 32GB under these operating systems, a third-party Windows disk formatting utility is required. Mac OS also has the ability to format drives for MS-DOS (FAT32). The Mac OS has no drive size or partition size formatting limitations with hard disk drives manufactured as of this date.
Q: Do I need to install FireWire drivers for this device?
A: You do not need to install any drivers for FireWire usage with Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, Mac OS 9.2 or Mac OS X.
For FireWire usage with Mac OS 8.6 through Mac OS 9.1, your machine may have a compatible FireWire driver already installed. If your drive is recognized by your computer and functions properly, do not install any drivers. If your drive is not recognized by your computer, you will need to install a driver from the CD. Also ensure that the FireWire extension (in the Extension folder) is version 2.2.2 or higher. WiebeTech encourages operating system upgrades so that drivers do not have to be used. This allows access directly from the operating system, instead of through drivers.
Q: Can I access drives formatted NTFS on my Mac?
A: Mac OS 10.3 or higher allows drives formatted in NTFS to mount and be seen as read-only volumes. Data may not be written to the drives, but it may be copied from the drives.
Q: I properly connected my product to the computer according to the instructions in the user manual, but the drive did not appear. Why not?
A: 1. Check the jumper settings of the drive. (This applies to PATA/IDE drives only.) For nearly all single-drive WiebeTech products, the jumpers should be set to Master. Drives configured in other ways may work fine with some WiebeTech products but not with others.
2. The drive may need to be formatted. Note: you cannot format drives connected to a forensic product.
3. With Windows 98SE and ME, even when a drive is already formatted, you still may need to check the "removable drive" in the disk drive settings in order to allow Windows to mount the drive on the desktop. This is apparent when a small icon appears in the task bar, but the drive does not show up on the desktop. The "removable drive" 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.)
4. With Windows 2K and XP, if the drive does not automatically mount to the desktop, 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. (Caution: partitioning the drive will destroy all data.)
5. If using FireWire on a Mac, make sure you are using the latest Apple FireWire extensions. If you are using any other vendor's extensions (drivers) try disabling them and use only the Apple extensions.
6. If you are connecting to a host card, you may need to install drivers for the card. This is especially true if connecting to an eSATA host card. If drivers are needed for a WiebeTech host card, they can be found on the CD accompanying your product.
Q: What's the difference between ATA-5, ATA-6, and ATA-7 drives?
A: Drives with capacities larger than 137GB are ATA-6 or ATA-7. This means that the drive block size is different than the older, smaller capacity drives and ATA-5 hard disk drive controllers cannot read them. Today, even smaller capacity drives are using the ATA-6/7 block size. All current WiebeTech products are ATA-6/7 compatible.
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February 08, 2010
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