darkvibe
15th of June 2006 (Thu), 19:36
3 weeks ago I needed some extra storage. I bought the 40GB smartdisk image bank because I found it locally. I got it home and tried using it. I could not get it to connect to the computer 9 out of 10 times. It kept shutting off. Once I did get it to randomly connect my computer told me that I had a USB 2.0 device plugged into a USB 1.1 hub. Funny since I have a Lexar media reader in the same port running at 2.0 speeds. Updated drivers, no change. I don't think it's my computer causing the problem if another device works fine with the same port and cord. I called tech support and spoke with someone who did not seem to have a clue what the problems were being caused by. We determined that I should return it and try another unit.
Got the new unit home and it connected fine. No shutting off issues this time but it still would not read/write at USB 2 speeds. Took it to a friend's house and it worked fine there. I'm upgrading my computer soon so I can live with it for now and hope it works on the new computer.
I used it for about 2 weeks, x-fering about 20GB of data at USB 1.1 speeds, taking about 3 hours to dump a day of shooting onto my desktop. Today I deleted everything from it and emptied the recycle bin. The unit still reads 20GB free. I called tech support (I might add they are very friendly and helpful) and describe the problem. Apparently it is a bug and they are aware of it and working on a fix. A firmware update may be available but she did not sound certain. She gave me two options. Format it on a Mac (which i do not have access to) or format the drive with a format utility. Windows will not allow a 40GB drive to be formatted in FAT32 and the unit will not work if you format in NTFS. After looking for a free format utility I gave up and packed it back in the box. It's going back for a refund.
Sorry for the long post. I just thought I would share my experience with the product. I'm disappointed that they would ship a product that I feel was not tested throughly enough. Although their tech support was helpful every time I called, I paid $180 for this so i expect it to work. Time to start searching for a different brand.
I urge everyone to avoid this thing at least until they get the bugs worked out.
Got the new unit home and it connected fine. No shutting off issues this time but it still would not read/write at USB 2 speeds. Took it to a friend's house and it worked fine there. I'm upgrading my computer soon so I can live with it for now and hope it works on the new computer.
I used it for about 2 weeks, x-fering about 20GB of data at USB 1.1 speeds, taking about 3 hours to dump a day of shooting onto my desktop. Today I deleted everything from it and emptied the recycle bin. The unit still reads 20GB free. I called tech support (I might add they are very friendly and helpful) and describe the problem. Apparently it is a bug and they are aware of it and working on a fix. A firmware update may be available but she did not sound certain. She gave me two options. Format it on a Mac (which i do not have access to) or format the drive with a format utility. Windows will not allow a 40GB drive to be formatted in FAT32 and the unit will not work if you format in NTFS. After looking for a free format utility I gave up and packed it back in the box. It's going back for a refund.
Sorry for the long post. I just thought I would share my experience with the product. I'm disappointed that they would ship a product that I feel was not tested throughly enough. Although their tech support was helpful every time I called, I paid $180 for this so i expect it to work. Time to start searching for a different brand.
I urge everyone to avoid this thing at least until they get the bugs worked out.