Well, if it's not one thing it's another. After having lots of trouble with Vegas playback freezes from 1394 disks I bought an ADS 1394/USB2.0 enclosure and transfered a disk to it.
It worked great for a while-stalls occured but only once in a blue moon. But this Friday I started getting "Delayed Write" errors, and then read errors, and very soon the drive degraded to spinning paperweight status.
Turned out, as near as I can tell, to be a heat issue on the board side of the drive. Its now in a well ventilated case and working just fine.
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Here's what I've observed of this ADS Dual-Link enclosure.
When running properly this case provides great performance and little or no playback stalling in Vegas.
The case contains the ADS USB2.0/1394 bridge board. User installs a drive, of course.
This case is a little smaller because it doesn't contain a power supply. This allows the case to use a smaller fan because the heat from the PS isn't a factor. With a smaller fan the case is a little quieter which is also nice.
Unfortunately, the fan seems a little too small. You really can't feel any airflow from the fan on your hand.
The power supply is mounted as a wart or blister on the power cord. The cable end that attaches to the enclosure is a 5 pin DIN-like connector which provides 5V and 12V power to the case. It looks as if you have to go to ADS for replacements so don't forget to pack it if you travel-I don't think you can get one of these at Radio Shack.
I have found that the power connector is easy to work loose from the case by mistake as you adjust the case's position on your desk. And since the power connector plugs directly into the bridge board it seems that if you damage the connection you stand a good chance of damaging the board too.
The lead from the power supply to the case is long enough that it shouldn't be hanging in mid-air. But don't just drop it (the PS wart) over the back edge of your desk if it's attached to the case.
The case accepts 3.5" and 5.25" drives. The 3.5" drive mounts through screwholes on it's underside and fits very tightly to the chassis so you can expect little or no airflow across the underside of a disk drive. It may be better to buy a set of 5.25"->3.5" adapter rails and try to mount a disk so that it has more airspace under it.
The case provides a disk activity light but not a power light. If your computer is louder than the case you may not know if the enclosure is on or off. In addition, the rocker switch for the power is on the back edge so it's hard to see if it's on or not. Carry a mirror.
The case itself is rounded on the left and right edge faces and tapers towards the back end. You cannot place this enclosure on edge.
It is very easy to open the case and install a drive-which turned out to be handy since I had to remove the drive after a week.
Overall, I can't recommend the case unless you know you have a cool running drive. In addition, I'd try to mount a disk in such a way as to allow more airflow underneath it. And I'd look for a way to put a strain relief on the power cord-perhaps velcroing the PS wart to the side of the enclosure.
All of this is a shame because ADS has such a good reputation. The bridge board itself seems to be good solid hardware (aside from the board mounted power connector). It may be better to skip this dual-link case for now and just use the older 1394-only ADS enclosure.
However, If you've had trouble with stalled 1394 playback in Vegas and are hoping to hedge your bets with a dual-link case you might want to try your luck with another vendor.
Rob Mack
It worked great for a while-stalls occured but only once in a blue moon. But this Friday I started getting "Delayed Write" errors, and then read errors, and very soon the drive degraded to spinning paperweight status.
Turned out, as near as I can tell, to be a heat issue on the board side of the drive. Its now in a well ventilated case and working just fine.
==================================================
Here's what I've observed of this ADS Dual-Link enclosure.
When running properly this case provides great performance and little or no playback stalling in Vegas.
The case contains the ADS USB2.0/1394 bridge board. User installs a drive, of course.
This case is a little smaller because it doesn't contain a power supply. This allows the case to use a smaller fan because the heat from the PS isn't a factor. With a smaller fan the case is a little quieter which is also nice.
Unfortunately, the fan seems a little too small. You really can't feel any airflow from the fan on your hand.
The power supply is mounted as a wart or blister on the power cord. The cable end that attaches to the enclosure is a 5 pin DIN-like connector which provides 5V and 12V power to the case. It looks as if you have to go to ADS for replacements so don't forget to pack it if you travel-I don't think you can get one of these at Radio Shack.
I have found that the power connector is easy to work loose from the case by mistake as you adjust the case's position on your desk. And since the power connector plugs directly into the bridge board it seems that if you damage the connection you stand a good chance of damaging the board too.
The lead from the power supply to the case is long enough that it shouldn't be hanging in mid-air. But don't just drop it (the PS wart) over the back edge of your desk if it's attached to the case.
The case accepts 3.5" and 5.25" drives. The 3.5" drive mounts through screwholes on it's underside and fits very tightly to the chassis so you can expect little or no airflow across the underside of a disk drive. It may be better to buy a set of 5.25"->3.5" adapter rails and try to mount a disk so that it has more airspace under it.
The case provides a disk activity light but not a power light. If your computer is louder than the case you may not know if the enclosure is on or off. In addition, the rocker switch for the power is on the back edge so it's hard to see if it's on or not. Carry a mirror.
The case itself is rounded on the left and right edge faces and tapers towards the back end. You cannot place this enclosure on edge.
It is very easy to open the case and install a drive-which turned out to be handy since I had to remove the drive after a week.
Overall, I can't recommend the case unless you know you have a cool running drive. In addition, I'd try to mount a disk in such a way as to allow more airflow underneath it. And I'd look for a way to put a strain relief on the power cord-perhaps velcroing the PS wart to the side of the enclosure.
All of this is a shame because ADS has such a good reputation. The bridge board itself seems to be good solid hardware (aside from the board mounted power connector). It may be better to skip this dual-link case for now and just use the older 1394-only ADS enclosure.
However, If you've had trouble with stalled 1394 playback in Vegas and are hoping to hedge your bets with a dual-link case you might want to try your luck with another vendor.
Rob Mack