Glyph PortaGig 800 and SSD - Manual (Page 4)

About FireWire
FireWire is an implementation of the IEEE 1394 serial bus standard. It not only supports automatic configuration (“plug and play”)
and hot-swapping of devices, it’s fast, and best of all it’s reliable for audio/video as well as for computer peripherals. FireWire
supports peripherals in a tree-like structure, and it allows peer-to-peer device communication—e.g. between a scanner and a
printer—to take place, without using system memory or the CPU. With FireWire you can hook up to 63 devices to the same bus,
with cable lengths of up to 4.5 meters (14 feet) including internal cabling, allowed between devices. Its cable is convenient and
can also carry power. This allows low-consumption devices to operate without a separate power cord, by using power supplied by
other devices on the bus.
About FireWire 800
• FireWire 800 supports speeds up to 800 Mb/sec, twice as fast as FireWire 400.
• If your computer does not have built-in FireWire 800, you’ll need a PCI card to achieve a true FireWire 800 connection.
• Most 800 ports are Bi-Lingual, which means they speak both FireWire 400 and FireWire 800.
• If you connect a 400 device to an 800 device, you will be running at 400 speed maximum.
• FireWire is forward-compatible and back-compatible, but the bus always runs at the speed of the slowest link.
• Beta cables are used to connect 800 devices to 800 devices.
• Bi-Lingual cables are available to connect 400 devices to 800 devices.
• Bi-Lingual cables have a 9-pin Bi-Lingual connector at one end and a 4-pin or 6-pin FireWire 400 connector at the other end
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Do I need any drivers to use the PortaGig 800?
No drivers are required for FireWire on Mac or Windows. No drivers are required for USB on Mac OS or Windows XP/2000/Vista. A
driver is required for USB on Windows 98/SE, and is available for download from www.glyphtech.com. Look under in the support/
downloads section of the web site.
Q: My Windows computer doesn’t show the drive in My Computer. What’s up?
The default format on the PortaGig 800 is for the Macintosh, and Windows doesn’t recognize it. Once you have connected the
PortaGig 800 to your Windows PC, you have to re-initialize it for use with Windows. For Windows XP/2000/Vista, that’s going to
be NTFS format; for Win98/SE, that will be FAT32 format (Windows XP and 2000 can also read FAT32). Detailed instructions for re-
initializing your drive are on the Glyph web site, or you may choose to follow the quick Windows formatting directions in the next
section.
Q: My Macintosh OS X computer shows the drive on the Desktop but it says I can’t write to it. What’s up?
If you have formatted the PortaGig 800 for Windows (NTFS), Mac OS X will recognize it as an NTFS drive, but can only read from it
and can’t write to it. Once you have connected the PortaGig 800 to your Mac OS X computer, you should re-initialize it for use with
Macintosh. Instructions for re-initializing your drive are on the Glyph web site.
Mac OS 9 Formatting Instructions
Since Glyph GT Key drives come pre-formatted for Macintosh you don’t need to format them on installation. If you decide to refor-
mat or partition your drive at a later date, you can use the Erase Disk command in the Mac OS 9 operating system. This command
will erase all the data on a volume and create a new file system. Erase disk will not allow you to re-partition a FireWire drive or cre-
ate a different volume structure than what was previously there.
Caution: This procedure will destroy any data currently on the drive. Before formatting a drive, save any important data it contains.
1. Select the volume by clicking on it once in the Finder
2. Go to the Special menu and select Erase Disk... The Erase Disk dialog box opens to verify your decision to erase the disk.
3. In the Name field, enter the new name for the disk or leave the name as it is.
4. In the Format drop-down menu, choose an Extended volume and click “Erase”.