2010 Mac Mini Killing Oyen External Drives?

vintagebob · « **on:** 30 Nov 2011, 06:42 am »

I had a 1TB Oyen drive, with all of my music on it, fail with my 2010 Mac Mini. Neither the Mac Mini nor my iMac will recognize the drive now. So I bought a new Oyen SSD to replace it and loaded the music back on from the Oyen drive I use for a back-up for the iMac. I've only had the SSD a short while and now it has failed in the same way. I've had no problems with the Oyen drive I use with my iMac. The drives are connected via FireWire.

Any ideas before I replace the drive again? Could the Mac Mini be the problem? It is only used as a music server.

kenreau · « **Reply #1 on:** 30 Nov 2011, 07:24 am »

May be a loose or faulty FW cable? Might try another FW cable. Also, can you plug the outboard HD's in using a USB cable in lieu of FW?

Kenreau

skunark · « **Reply #2 on:** 30 Nov 2011, 08:24 am »

Try a different brand.

Crimson · « **Reply #3 on:** 30 Nov 2011, 11:16 am »

Quote from: skunark on 30 Nov 2011, 08:24 am

Try a different brand.

+1.

Also, firewire ports are susceptible to short-circuiting on both ends (host and device). Whenever I need to swap/change firewire devices (drives, dacs, ect.), I always power off both the computer and device before disconnecting.

bunnyma357 · « **Reply #4 on:** 30 Nov 2011, 12:17 pm »

I have FW issues with my iMac where sometimes the iMac refuses to see a FW drive (something gets locked up on either the motherboard or the drive controller or both). What works for me is to disconnect the FW drive, remove power from everything (actually unplug and wait a minute to drain capacitors) then reboot and after the Apple logo appears, reconnect the FW devices.

There are different instructions for different Macs, so you might do some googling. There also seem to be a lot of FW issues on different versions of OSX, so you might also do some research into those issues.

From what I understand it is resetting the SMC that refreshes everything and gets it back to working as it should - this may not be what you are experiencing, but it is worth a try.

http://www.tekserve.com/service/mac-faq/cant-start/reset-pmu-smc.php

Jim C

avta · « **Reply #5 on:** 30 Nov 2011, 03:10 pm »

FWIW I've used a Maxtor FW drive with my Mini for 5 yrs with no problems.

ted_b · « **Reply #6 on:** 30 Nov 2011, 03:40 pm »

I've used Oyen mini drives with my late-2009 Mac Mini (and now with an Auraliti PK90USB) and have had no problems whatsover (whether connected via FW, for a USB DAC, or USB for a fw DAC). My current DACs are USB so I use fw from the Oyen, without a hitch. Oyen has a very good reputation. Sounds like a faulty fw cable.

vintagebob · « **Reply #7 on:** 30 Nov 2011, 04:05 pm »

I thought that Oyen had a good reputation as well. The Oyen external drive I am using with my iMac has been great so far.

A faulty cable could make sense. The FW cable was a shielded Monoprice product.

The drive sits on a small cutting board on the floor so it should see no shock. I have not moved it since I originally installed it and it has worked fine for a couple of weeks. I did turn off the Mac Mini for the holidays and discovered the drive issue upon turning everything back on.

I guess I could order a new SSD ($$$) and use the supplied Oyen cable while I get the old drive reviewed by Oyen.

I've got to get everything back up and running before my Salk SoundScapes arrive in a few days.

HAL · « **Reply #8 on:** 30 Nov 2011, 04:09 pm »

Not sure if this applies to MAC, but make sure the MAC is not trying to defragment the SSD. That will shorten it's life greatly. If there is a schedule to defragment drives, makes sure the SSD's are not on it.

Hope this helps.

ted_b · « **Reply #9 on:** 30 Nov 2011, 04:23 pm »

I'm confused. Your Oyen 1TB drive failed to be read, and it is not an SSD drive (SSD's only go to 480Gb and are 3x the price). Why are we now assuming SSD is an issue here?

HAL · « **Reply #10 on:** 30 Nov 2011, 04:26 pm »

He stated that the replacement drive that died was an SSD.

vintagebob · « **Reply #11 on:** 30 Nov 2011, 04:58 pm »

I replaced the original Oyen 1TB drive with their largest SSD drive. I usually leave the Mac Mini on all of the time and thought that maybe that would wear down a regular external drive.

I'm assuming that the controller is what is failing since it is common to both drives.

ted_b · « **Reply #12 on:** 30 Nov 2011, 05:01 pm »

Quote from: HAL on 30 Nov 2011, 04:26 pm

He stated that the replacement drive that died was an SSD.

Yes, I guess my point is that "so did the non-SSD drive". Seems like SSD isn't the factor. Sorry I didn't explain.

roscoeiii · « **Reply #13 on:** 30 Nov 2011, 06:05 pm »

Called Oyen tech support yet? That would be my first move.

kenreau · « **Reply #14 on:** 1 Dec 2011, 02:21 am »

Quote from: vintagebob on 30 Nov 2011, 04:58 pm

I replaced the original Oyen 1TB drive with their largest SSD drive. I usually leave the Mac Mini on all of the time and thought that maybe that would wear down a regular external drive.

I'm assuming that the controller is what is failing since it is common to both drives.

I would not rule out the FW cable until you tried another one, or a USB cable route. Fwiw, I just took delivery of a 6 foot GoldX 24K Gold FW cable (recommended in another thread) with 6 pin to 4 pin format (with an 9 pin adapter, you get FW data transfer without power running down along side it). I ended up getting two by mistake. Let me know if you are interested in it. I think I paid $20 shipped. I'm going to return it unless I find someone around here looking to try one.

Kenreau

roscoeiii · « **Reply #15 on:** 1 Dec 2011, 02:29 am »

A good cable no doubt.

I would also suggest that OP look at Oyen forums to see if others have this prob. I would guess better luck there than here (no offense AC)

vintagebob · « **Reply #16 on:** 1 Dec 2011, 08:19 pm »

Oyen felt that this was an odd situation (having two drives fail) and asked me to send back the drives to be upgraded to the latest configuration. We agreed that I should replace the cable as well.

I have serached several other discussion boards for the Mac Mini, etc. and I have found no other similar issues.

Thanks for the help!

jrebman · « **Reply #17 on:** 3 Dec 2011, 02:42 am »

Ted,

The PK-90 has FW?

BTW, I've used my oyen external fw drive on my 2010 mach2 mini with no problems at all -- except I ordered a 1 gb drive and originally got a 500g instead. I shipped it back and they just sent me a 1tb drive with no hassles at all.

I'd also suspecct a bad FW cable, or external power supply if using one of those.

-- Jim

ted_b · « **Reply #18 on:** 3 Dec 2011, 03:43 am »

Quote from: jrebman on 3 Dec 2011, 02:42 am

Ted,

The PK-90 has FW?

BTW, I've used my oyen external fw drive on my 2010 mach2 mini with no problems at all -- except I ordered a 1 gb drive and originally got a 500g instead. I shipped it back and they just sent me a 1tb drive with no hassles at all.

I'd also suspecct a bad FW cable, or external power supply if using one of those.

-- Jim

No, the pk90usb is USB only. I still use the Oyen with it cuz it has a dedicated isolated filtered SOtM USB card for the DAC and simple USB inputs for the hdds, which do not conflict with the dedicated card. I use Oyen fw if connecting it to my Mac mini and the antelope or mytek. Sorry for the confusion.

jrebman · « **Reply #19 on:** 3 Dec 2011, 04:10 am »

Ted,

Thanks, I only ask because I just got a PK-100 and would have felt bad if the usb version had a FW port as the PK-100 doesn't either.

-- Jim