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LaCie Bigger Disk Extreme
User's Manual
5.2. Available Storage Capacity
A gigabyte (GB) means 1,000,000,000 bytes. In order to utilize a hard disk drive, it has to be formatted first. Formatting a
disk consists of the following: the operating system erases all of the bookkeeping information on the disk, tests the disk to
make sure that all of the sectors are reliable, marks bad sectors (i.e., those that are scratched) and creates internal address
tables that it later uses to locate information. Once formatted, the actual available storage capacity varies, depending on
operating environment, and is generally about 10% less than the non-formatted capacity.
5.3. Optimizing Data Transfers
Data transfers are the flow of data that accomplishes a task, usually related to
moving data from storage to computer RAM, or between storage devices. With
external drives, such as the LaCie Bigger Disk, the data is transferred from the
drive to the computer via the FireWire interface. The data is fed from the drive
through the FireWire port on the drive, and passes to the computer through the
FireWire host-bus adapter interface.
Computer manufacturer's implementation of the FireWire host-bus adapter
interfaces vary widely. For computers running Windows 2000 and later, the
FireWire interface, which is referred to as either IEEE 1394 or iLink on PCs*, is
less common as a native host-bus adapter. Nearly all recent Apple computers
have native FireWire interface ports.
The FireWire interfaces specify certain requirements, filed under the OHCI
(Open Host Controller Interface) standards. All LaCie drives comply to OHCI
standards and have been rigorously tested on computers that have host bus
adapters that also comply to OHCI standards. Unfortunately, not all
manufacturers respect these guidelines, and anomalies may arise with computers
that have host bus adapters that do not conform to OHCI standards.
For the best performance, connect your LaCie Bigger Disk directly to a native FireWire port on your computer, and avoid
daisy-chaining*. During data transfers, it's best to wait before launching other applications that will be using the same port.
If you do not have a native FireWire port, LaCie offers FireWire host bust adapter cards, also known as PCI or PC/PCMCIA
cards, that have been tested and comply with LaCie drives. Please contact your reseller or
information.
5. Tech Tips
page 40
For more
*Tech Note:
information on the FireWire
interfaces, please see:
6.FireWire Questions & Answers
Please see
Tech Note:
3.3 Connecting Multiple Devices
for more information.
Another important
Tech Note:
factor in file transfer speeds is
how the drive has been
formatted. For more information
in choosing the correct file
system fomat, please see section
5.1 File System
Formats.
LaCie Customer Support
for more
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