ADS Technologies API-800 Pyro Drive Kit

List Price: $189.95

Features:

• Add multi-gig storage to your PC or Mac
• Instantly enhance almost any IDE hard drive, ATA-100 drive, DVD drive, or CD drive
• Transfer rates up to 400 MB/sec
• Link up to 63 storage devices to your computer
• Supports Windows 98 SE, Me, 2000, or Mac

Accessories:
Adaptec USB 2.0/1394 Combo Card PCI 3-Port USB 2.0 & 2-Port Firewire MAC/PC (1923200)	Personal Storage Carrying Case

Customer Reviews:

Not good for video capture [Posted on 2002-06-25]
This drive kit would fail when I captured my video from my DV camcorder. I used this drive kit to convert my ATA-100 hard drive to external IEEE 1394 drive for video capture and editing under Windows XP. The installation is easy and Windows XP can detect it without any problem. But when I tried to capture the data from my DV camcorder, this drive would stop DV from sending data. Moreover, the data captured in the drive was damaged. I checked up the web site and found the other users have the similar problem. Help yourself to find the other better storage solution.

it works [Posted on 2003-11-27]
Unlike many other computer products I've bought, I had no hassles setting up and installing this Firewire drive kit. I simply purchased a good (brand name) hard drive, put it in the enclosure, hooked the cable up to my laptop and followed the short, paragraph size instructions on how to initialize the drive (WinXP eases things a lot). It worked flawlessly right from the start (...how many DIY computer projects can you say that about?).

I think part of the reason this enclosure recieved lukewarm reviews is that some people expect too much from Firewire. As far as simple storage goes, I think it's fine, but trying to play/edit video and multitracked audio files in realtime is going to be much more limited than on an internal hard drive.

Buyer beware!!! [Posted on 2004-04-20]
As I am writing, my 120GB WD hard drive mounted in my ADS firewire drive is clicking away. I am on my second replacement. The controller boards on these units are faulty.

I'm a computer system integrator, and I have never seen a name brand peripheral, fail as this one does. Search the internet, and you find many similar experiences.

ADS has been known for making excellent and affordable firewire cards, however there external firewire drives are another beast all together. Buyer beware!!!

No real complaints here (a 1394b variant is advertised) [Posted on 2004-06-07]
I have a couple of these, and they've basically been fine (one's power supply blew out, but they sent me a new one pronto - good warranty service). The new version, api814, which supports ata133/1394b, sure looks sweet.

AppleStore "Genius" raved [Posted on 2007-01-14]
I used this enclosure to house my imac's hard drive for a while while it was in the repair shop at the AppleStore. The tech there saw this enclosure when they swaped my drive and said, "Wow, that's a nice one." He seemed to say it had a nice internal wiring and options like the audio out (if you used it for a CD-ROM drive etc... Has functions superbly for me.

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