Can you "chain" USB or Firewire HDs

[RHPConsult]

Was checking on small/simple/inexpensive external HDs today, planning to get rid of the partitions on my OWC 1TB, which have held TM and SuperDuper. Will now have a single drive for each.

CostCo has a 1TB Seagate for about 85 bucks. The price is right.

Three ports:

1. USB 3.0
2. Firewire 800
3. Thunderbolt

It's been awhile since I've even read about externals. My iMac doesn't have Thunderbolt. But, I have my OWC connected to its Firewire port. Do you think I can chain the new drive to the OWC and still get reasonable performance?

I haven't "chained" anything since the long ago, unlamented Days of SCSI.

[RNKIII]

Short answer is - yes.

Provided drives have same/compatible connectors.
The "daisy chain" will run at the speed of the 'slowest' connection used.

I have a 1tb OWC chained to a 750 OWC via fw800. 1tb for TM and 750 gb for SD.  Works very well
Just know what connectors are on your iMac and what are on each of the ext. drives and have the comparable cables on hand when you get ready to set it up.

Good thing to check the length of the warranty on the new ext. drives also. The longer the better.

Bob K.   Rnkiii

[Jack W]

Firewire for sure, not sure about USB.
I prefer firewire to USB any day of the year.
I'm just sorry Apple (and the rest of the world) is dropping firewire.

I have 3 external drives chained w/firewire - 2 1TB Hitachi drives and a Pioneer cd/dvd burner.
The first Hitachi is fw800, the second is fw400 and the cd/dvd is fw400.
Works great.

Jack

[RHPConsult]

Thanks. guys.

I thought that would be the case, but I wanted to check with my betters!

Happy that 2 of them showed-up, especially one (rnkiii) who's been AWOL (from iChat) for so long.

[Highmac]

FWIW I have three Lacie 250GB FW drives daisy-chained but the later addition of a FW D2 Quadra seems to need its own direct connection (or did) to  the late, lamented G5 which, fortunately, had two FW ports.

[chriskleeman]

RHP,

If you haven't already bought that Seagate, DON"T DO IT!!!

Seagate drives have had a much higher failure rate over the last few years. And when I went to buy a backup drive from OWC earlier this year, it came with a Seagate drive instead of the advertised Hitachi. Come to find out, Seagate had dropped their warranty from 3 years to 1 year on their notebook drives at that time, so I was able to get the drive swapped out for a Hitachi, as at that point, the Seagate was obviously not equivalent to the Travelstar drives, so I was able to avoid their disclaimer:

"OWC reserves the right to replace or upgrade to equivalent or better components."

OWC was as surprised as I was to find out about the warranty.

Paddy has always recommended WD Caviar drives, I've had good luck with Hitachi/Travelstar drives.

Just one man's opinion.

CK

[RHPConsult]

I am now, I believe, fully on the "paths of righteousness" w/ two external HDs (1TB ea, for SuperDuper and for TimeMachine).

I figured it was time fully to exploit OSX . . .after all these years.

I can't believe I've been so 0ld-Fashioned (1980's version) w/an extra OS, and my Docs on a separate partitions, though it all seemed like such a cautiously good idea at the time. My MtnLion travails – from which my iMac is completely "rehabilitated" taught me that top techs at AppleCare can use OSX's built-in "mechanisms", so to speak, to resolve the most complex (to me at least) of OS issues.

Bravo, Apple.

[Xairbusdriver]

Assuming you've bought the Hitachi or better drive by now. Might I suggest that a whole terabyte for a SD backup is simply wasteful. Remember, it will only be backing up one copy of whatever you've told it to copy. Even if that's the entire drive's worth of data and files, it will probably never be within 20% of the terabyte available for many, many years. Of course, if you decide to become a video producer, all bets are off!

What I suggest is that you create a small, bootable, Mountain Lion partition of ~200GB. In addition to the OS, you could include any maintenance apps (DiskWarrior, TechTool Pro, Cocktail, OnyX, etc., etc.). You can then easily boot into a much smaller System for some quick repairs of your internal drive.

Of course, the second terabyte drive can easily be totally consumed by Time Machine.

[RHPConsult]

Good suggestion, ABD.

That's what I've had for years on my OS Xtra partition on the iMac's HD – now a thing of the past.

DP

[RHPConsult]

Additional Advice solicited, please.

This is hardly a major issue for Western Civilization, but does anyone have an opinion about the following:

Now that I have a "modern" back-up arrangement (2 ext HDs, one for SuperDuper and the other for Time Machine, exclusively) I'm wondering if it's necessary to keep the SD HD on 24/7, rather than turn it on only when I want a SmartUpdate? What's your usual practice?

No big deal, but just curious.

[RNKIII]

My $.02......

Both my TM and SD externals run 24/7, as TM backs up on its own schedule (or slightly modified).... and I have SD back up on a regular schedule like everyother day at some godawful time in the o'dark 30s and don't wish to remember to turn it on and or off...

Just my convience...

Bob K.   rnkiii

[Xairbusdriver]

The "ON/OFF" switch on that drive is probably the least reliable part in it. Over use it at your own peril. Seriously, most drives will (or can be set to) sleep when not needed. Let the computer do what they do best, the boring stuff; "Is it time to turn on the external drive?" "Did I turn the drive off before I left the house for our vacation?" "What was he question?"

[kimmer]

I get tired of the noise (even though it's minimal), and I keep my backups off unless I need them. I'm a risk taker I guess. LOL

[RHPConsult]

I want to back-up w/SD once a day.

Since I seldom leave the house, it's not difficult to remember to mount/unmount the drive . . . no on/off switch is a good idea.

I was simply interested it what others do.