" Just got a LaCie USB/Firewire PocketDrive as a replacement for my Jaz 1GB drives to use as a portable bus-powered firewire backup on a TAM (and emergency disc on the G4). $380 from SmallDog. Comes with Silverlining Pro (haven't tried it yet), short & long firewire and USB cables. The cables are dark grey and heavier than featured on their site - too fat to use the groove in the rubber bumper on the drive for cable storage.

Decided it safer to get the slower Orange Micro Firewire/USB PCI board, rather than experimenting with the TI-based boards (since it's proven to work on a TAM). The OrangeLink also comes with Premier 5.1LE, clear Firewire-to camera & USB cables.

Firewire works fine with VST 2.2 (the VST will update any El gato drivers it seems) and Firewire 2.4 (Orange drivers need removing) with MacOS 8.6 (to keep memory requirements down on the TAM). USB is also OK - copying the contents of a 340MB Microdrive in my Casio 3000 (with the Orange USB extensions). Unfortunately, the Casio USB support is flakey on any Mac - a fault of only their Mac drivers. It's prone to hanging the system (also on the G4) after giving 'Microdrive needing repair' errors (it doesn't) I've tried every combination of plugging & powering the camera, but most often needs a restart with the Casio connected. Better to get a Firewire card reader.

For a laugh, there's also an ATTO bench for the Microdrive attached!

The case is a simple design enclosed by a single sheet of metal folded around the top, bottom, and front edge of the drive & bridge. An extra aluminium plate acts as a heat sink. The sandwich is held together by a grey translucent 'rubber' bumper, and strips of double sided. The bumper is a great idea - keeping the drive from sliding around. Attached are photos of the PocketDrive opened up. It looks easy enough to swap the 6GB IBM drive (looks less than 10mm thick) if needed later. I was surprised with the test results - good on the G4, slower writes on the Orange board, next to uselessly slow on USB.

Regards
Peter Hardie
coDESIGN"

The following graph shows test results with IBM's Compactflash sized 340MB Microdrive:

Related Links:

• For more info on the Pocketdrive see http://www.lacie.com

• See our Firewire Topics page for more reviews and articles on Firewire controllers, case kits and drives.

• Our past article on IBM's 340MB Microdrive including compatibility.