Granite Digital FireWire 800 Hot-Swap Series User Manual
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Granite Digital • 3101 Whipple Rd. • Union City, Ca. 94587
www.granitedigital.com
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USERS GUIDE
Drivers and OS Issues - System Requirements
Windows Computers
:
FireWire is supported by Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, and XP. The driv-
ers necessary for running FireWire is on the Microsoft Installation CD. Most
of the time these files are automatically installed at installation time, howev-
er, if they were not, access the Microsoft CD and install them separately.
This is especially true with 98SE and ME.
The other item needed to run FireWire devices is a PCI or CARDBUS
FireWire Card. Some computers come equipped with these already but if
purchasing a third party card, we believe the TI (Texas Instruments) based
cards are the most compatible. These cards cost a little more but their
added compatibility is well worth the extra cost. These cards should need
no additional software to run on your PC so the standard Microsoft drivers
will work perfectly.
To achieve the highest performance in FireWire you must understand
that Microsoft has improved on the FireWire implementation as the operat-
ing systems have improved. In other words, FireWire runs faster using a new
computer with XP than it will with an older machine running 98SE. If you
are looking to achieve close to the 40MB/s performance levels, will require a
computer with a fast PCI bus, adequate memory, and a fast processor. Usual
speeds on the older machines are around 14MB/s while speeds can go up
into the high 30MB/s when using a state-of-the-art computer. Additionally,
speed can also be improved by using the fastest drive mechanisms.
Currently, the fastest drives are made by IBM and recently Western Digital
introduced a drive with an 8MB buffer that gives IBM a run for its money.
As time goes by, expect more high performance drives in the 7200rpm and
in the future 10,000rpm models. Higher speeds can also be achieved by
running RAID on multiple drives with multiple FireWire Channels. For more
information on these additional technologies, feel free to call our Sales/Techs
at 510-471-6442...it’s your dime but the information is priceless.