Miscellaneous Technical Notes Volume 3
This page contains miscellaneous short technical notes for various products.
- Contents
- Mac OS X 10.3 and FireWire 800 Drive Corruption
- Is There Any Way to Retrieve Data From Damaged PCMCIA Memory Media Cards?
- XP CardBus Drivers Information
- Issues with Certain Host Systems not Providing USB Specification Power
- Installing Windows drivers for Interfirm HS-DMX32/HS-DMX32R/HS-CF32
- Optional Power Supply for External OmniDrives
Mac OS X 10.3 and FireWire 800 Drive Corruption
We are aware of the issues announced by Apple regarding Mac OS X 10.3 and Oxford Semiconductor's OXFW922 bridge based FireWire 800 drives with firmware versions earlier than v1.05. Any Synchrotech UltiFire800 drives sold after 11/01/2003 will have v1.05 firmware pre-installed. Our bridgeboard manufacturer has supplied us with a firmware updater for customers with drives purchased before that date. There is no need to update FireWire 400 drives, this update is designed only for the OXFW922 chipset.
- 922_updater_Mac.sit
- Firmware updater for use with Mac OS X 10.2.8 or later, instructions included with download
Is There Any Way to Retrieve Data From Damaged PCMCIA Memory Media Cards?
Several drive recovery services can attempt to do this. We can't maintain a comprehensive list, but the following companies have been reported by our customers as having helped them. We provide this list as a service to customers looking for some of these items, it does not constitute an endorsement of any of these products, services or vendors.
Sandisk an Lexar include photo recovery software with their highest end cards. These packages might be available in a stand alone form. Contact them for more information.
- Lexar's ImageRescue 2.0
- Sandisk's RescuePRO
An end user suggested this software package for the Macintosh: CardRaider
XP/Vista CardBus Drivers Information
The PCM-CR-PC1IC3 uses the Ricoh R5C485, the PCM-CR-PC2IC3 uses the Ricoh R5C486, the PCM-CR-PC1IF32R uses the Ricoh R5C843, and the PCM-CR-PC1IF32 uses the Texas Instruments PCI1510 drivers supplied with Windows XP/Vista. These drivers are automatically installed by the Windows when it recognizes a PC Card slot at installation, but often not installed if it doesn't. Typically these drivers are not present on a desktop system since most customers add a PCI to PC Card drive reader well after Windows software is installed on a system.
If you have a retail CD-ROM of the Windows XP/Vista installation disk, then this isn't an issue since simply inserting the CD-ROM during the new hardware found routine will allow Windows to find and install the correct drivers. However, many end users purchase computers from large vendors with Windows XP/Vista pre-installed and the CD-ROM they get with their system isn't a full copy of Windows (a restore disk) although they paid in full for Windows. In this case the end users needs to contact their system vendor and tell them that they need the "signed Microsoft Windows XP/Vista drivers for the R5C485, R5C486, R5C843, or PCI1510" depending on which controller their PC Card drive reader uses. The drivers may already be on a system in "C:\\WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\pcmcia.sys", and instructing the installation routine to that file may help.
Issues with Certain Host Systems not Providing USB Specification Power
The USB specification calls for host systems (ie. computers) to provide +5VDC @ 500mA. Peripheral devices are allowed to provide +5VDC at either 500mA or 300mA. USB peripherals often can run under USB bus powered mode, which means they draw their operational electricity off the USB and don't require a separate power adapter of their own. Unfortunately, certain vendors are beginning to sell systems with USB ports that do not provide the required power. USB devices that normally function off of USB bus power will either not operate, or exhibit strange behavior with these systems. This situation is solely the fault and responsibility of the systems manufacturer and not peripheral manufacturers.
A work around to this is to purchase a power adapter for USB devices that can utilize them, or to purchase a powered USB hub that can provide the necessary USB bus power. However, in the case of laptops and portable devices this is problematic as it requires access to a power outlet. In other words, the work around defeats the whole notion of portability.
This issue is of important interest to PCM-CR-U1323G and PCM-CR-U111-530 owners and prospective buyers with certain laptop models. Elan Digital Systems details this issue for a specific laptop in one of their FAQ Entries, and Synchrotech suspects certain other models from the same vendor have the same problem.
Installing Windows drivers for Interfirm HS-DMX32/HS-DMX32R/HS-CF32
- Download HSCF32DRV20.zip from the Synchrotech site http://www.synchrotech.com/support-download/HSCF32DRV20.zip
- After downloading the files from the internet, unzip the package and open the HSCF32DRV20 directory
- Place a media card into the adapter and insert into the PC Card slot
- Windows will go through the 'new hardware found routine,' Choose 'Install from a specific location,' and on the following screen use the 'Browse' button to guide it to the HSCF32DRV20 directory
- Windows will balk with its signed driver extortion 'logo' warning, ignore it by clicking 'Continue Anyway'
- Windows will identify the adapter as an 'Interfirm Technology High Speed CardBus Adapter'
- This will be visible under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers in the 'device manager'
Optional Power Supply for External OmniDrives
The USB specification calls for host systems (ie. computers) to provide +5VDC @ 500mA. Peripheral devices are allowed to provide +5VDC at either 500mA or 300mA. USB peripherals often can run under USB bus powered mode, which means they draw their operational electricity off the USB and don't require a separate power adapter of their own. Unfortunately, certain vendors are beginning to sell systems with USB ports that do not provide the required power. USB devices that normally function off of USB bus power will either not operate, or exhibit strange behavior with these systems. This situation is solely the fault and responsibility of the systems manufacturer and not peripheral manufacturers.
IPI's External OmniDrives will work on USB bus power alone on any host providing +5VDC @ 500mA, even when Linear Flash cards requiring 12V writes and erases are needed. In cases that a host system doesn't provide enough power, an optional power supply, the PCM-CR-U1EPS, is indicated. However an off the shelf 5VDC at ≥ 500mA, standard polarity (inner pin positive, outer ring negative) will work as well. Again, in almost every case, a power supply is not needed with OmniDrives.
