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The following FAQ's will often answer most technical questions/problems: General and Operating Systems Questions: What are USB and FireWire? USB stands for Universal Serial Bus and is a simple and high-speed system for connecting peripheral devices to a computer. Virtually all computers today are equipped with USB ports and this allows a user to connect up to 127 separate devices to their computer by using a USB hub. The original version of USB, 1.1, provided a maximum data transfer speed between the host computer and the connected device of up to 12 Mbps. The latest USB, version 2.0, provides a data transfer speed of up to 480 Mbps and is backwards compatible with version 1.1. FireWire was developed by Apple Computer and, like USB, is a simple and high-speed system for connecting peripheral devices to a computer. All recent model Apple computers are equipped with FireWire ports, allowing the user to daisy-chain up to 63 separate devices to their computer. FireWire provides a data transfer speed of up to 400 Mbps. FireWire is also known as IEEE 1394 and i.LINK. Summary: USB 2.0 and FireWire are very similar systems in terms of data transfer speeds and usability. Both systems provide power for the peripheral devices though their respective ports and they are Hot-Swappable/Pluggable and Plug-N-Play. Most computers sold today are equipped with both USB and FireWire ports, giving you total connection flexibility with the Fortress drive! Can I unplug the drive while the host computer is running? NO!! Using a PC: To avoid losing any data you MUST first select the Unplug/Eject icon on the task bar, select (highlight) the drive and click the ‘Stop’ button. You may now unplug the drive. Using a Macintosh: To avoid losing any data you MUST first drag and drop the drive into the ‘Trash’. You may now unplug the drive. Will the Fortress disk drive function with computers using the Windows 95 Operating System? No. The Windows 95 operating system has very little support for USB devices and consequently no software driver for the Fortress disk drive is available. Why is the available storage capacity shown as less than the stated total capacity of the Fortress drive, i.e. 40, 60, 80, 100, or 120 GB? All Fortress drives are formatted to be user-ready. The formatted capacity of your hard-disk drive may seem smaller than what you ordered because the operating system reports drive capacity assuming that 1 megabyte (MB) equals 1,048,576 bytes while drive manufacturers consider 1 MB to equal 1,000,000 bytes. Formatted capacity refers to the amount of space on the drive that is actually available to the user for data storage. Formatted capacity can be calculated by multiplying the number of read/write heads by the number of cylinders, sectors, and sector size. Which USB and IEEE 1394/FireWire add-in cards/adapters are recommended? We only recommend using PCI cards manufactured by Adaptec: www.adaptec.com USB Questions: Will the Fortress disk drive function using the Microsoft Windows OS native USB software drivers? Yes, the drive is Plug-N-Play. Click here to download the Fortress USB device driver, but please note: This driver is only for use with early 2003 production Fortress drives when using the Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system. Is my computer USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 enabled? The majority of recently manufactured computers are USB 2.0 enabled. Computers made prior to September 2002 are probably USB 1.1 enabled. Contact the manufacturer if you're unsure. You can upgrade to USB 2.0 by installing an appropriate PCI add-in/adapter card. Will the Fortress disk drive function with a USB 1.1 equipped host computer? Yes. The USB 2.0 disk drive is backwards compatible with USB 1.1 but data transfer speeds using USB 1.1 will be significantly slower. Can I connect the Fortress disk drive to a USB hub? Yes, but it must be a "powered" hub*. If the hub is non-powered there will be insufficient power to operate the drive. In this instance you can supply the extra powered required in one of two ways:
*Some "powered" hubs do not meet the USB electrical specification. In this instance you can supply the necessary power to the drive as described above. How can I verify that my USB port has enough power* to operate the Fortress drive? Using Windows 98/Me OS: Right-click the My Computer icon. Select Properties. Select the Device Manager tab. In the Device Manager, click the + sign next to Universal Serial Bus Controllers. Right-click the USB Root Hub and select Properties. Select the Power tab and then select the Power Properties button. This will tell you how much power is available and how much power is being given to each device. The port must have a minimum of 500 milliamps of power available to operate the Fortress drive. Using Windows 2000/XP OS: Right-click the My Computer icon and select Manage (Note: In Windows XP it may be necessary to click Start to access My Computer). Under the category System Tools, select the Device Manager. Click the + sign next to Universal Serial Bus Controllers. Right-click the USB Root Hub and select Properties. Select the Power tab. This will tell you how much power is available and how much power is being given to each device. The port must have a minimum of 500 milliamps of power available to operate the Fortress drive. *Some USB ports may show they have enough power available but their output voltage is low and insufficient to operate the Fortress drive. To overcome this limitation you can supply power to the disk drive in one of two ways:
Why is the data transfer rate slow? Make sure you are using the cable that came with your drive. To achieve USB 2.0 data transfer speeds you must use a certified USB 2.0 cable. Back to Top IEEE 1394/FireWire Questions: Can I use the drive’s FireWire connection interface with Windows 98? No. FireWire is only supported by Windows 98SE (second edition), Windows 2000, Windows ME and Windows XP. Can I use the drive’s FireWire connection interface with Windows NT? No. FireWire is only supported by Windows 98SE (second edition), Windows 2000, Windows ME and Windows XP. Why doesn’t the drive power-up when connected to my FireWire port? Computers (usually older models) with a 4 pin FireWire connection do not provide power through the port. The standard FireWire port uses 6 pins and does supply power through the port (Note: a 4 pin FireWire connector is visibly smaller than a 6 pin connector). If your computer has a 4 pin connection you can supply power to the disk drive in one of two ways:
Click here to download FWB Backup Toolkit™ for Macintosh OSX (1.8MB .dmg file)
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Fortress - External Hard Drive Warranty: Fortress Corp. and its distributors/retailers are NOT liable for any loss/corruption of data through the use of the Fortress product. Fortress Corp. and its distributors/retailers are NOT liable for any monetary losses/expenses due to the loss/corruption of data. We suggest users make back-up copies of all data on a separate device to ensure no losses are incurred in the event of data loss/corruption. The Fortress External Hard Disk Drive is warranted against defects in materials, workmanship and operation as follows:
All warranties are void under the following conditions:
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