320 drive power cable question.

[Aaron Champion]

I just bought two used 320 drives but they did not come with a power cable. I hear that you can burn them out quick if you dont power them when you transfer data. What is a safe power cable to use on the drive? I dont want to plug it in with the wrong output voltage and fry the drive. Thoughts?

Thanks everyone!

 

[D Fuller]

You're correct, it is easy to burn out the firewore ports on the drives if they are bus powered. I din't remember the voltage specs for the power supply; I'm sure someone will answer that question shortly, but if you do make the attempt without a power supply, be sure they are the ONLY THING on that firewire bus. DO NOT daisy chain them with anything else that is getting bus power. That is the surest way to burn out the firewire ports in both the computer and the Red drive.

NOTE: two firewire ports on the computer can share the same bus, so be sure you know the layout specs of your computer's ports.

 

[Aaron Champion]

Thanks for the heads up. Hope I get the voltage soon. Thanks!

 

[D Fuller]

It's 12 volts, 1.5 Amps or better, center pin positive.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?38433-Can-you-look-at-your-RED-Drive-AC-power-supply

(Quick Google search found it.)

 

[Aaron Champion]

Thanks David, tried google and didnt see it. Thanks for the help!

 

[ericyoung]

Make sure it's a Regulated power supply too.

 

[ericyoung]

Also note that only one Red Drive can be connected to a computer at once. If you plug in a second Red Drive, it'll kick one of them off with an improper disconnection error - not good if backing up at the time!

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

While Mr. Young (and others) are correct that the best way to power the RED drives is to use an external power supply, in three feature films, we never once had a single hiccup in downloading our data, and we never once used an external power supply. We always just powered it off the Firewire bus. Like I said, we've never had a single issue, and for our next feature, we'll undoubtedly do the exact same thing again!

Stephen