Updated: 2003.12.01

Q: What drives can I install in a MediaBank MT-R? Do you provide any recommendation?
A: MediaBank is compatible with all drives that comply with the ATA/3 to ATA/5 specifications. Transfer rates can reach over 35 MB/sec if you use 7200 rpm drives. Performance accross brands and models should roughly be identical when used in MediaBank.
ATA/6 hard drives are not compatible with MediaBank, this includes hard drives larger than 128 GB (formatted).
Units with a serial number ending with 'X' are compatible with Maxtor drives larger than 128 GB (IBM 180 GB, WD 200 GB, etc... are NOT compatible).


Q: How many drives can I install in a MediaBank MT-R? Can I install a single drive or do I need to install two drives?
A: You can install one or two drives. The unit will run just fine with a single drive.


Q: Do I need to reformat my drives when I install them into MediaBank?
A: Usually, this will not be necessary. If your drive has been initialised/formatted on a standard ATA bus, it will work without any modification in a MediaBank case.


Q: Do I need to run MediaBank MT-R in Raid 0 or 1 mode or can I use the drives separately?
A: Raid functionality is done via software, so you can run two drives separately as if you had two hard drive cases.


Q: Can I install a CD-R+W or DVD drive in MediaBank?
A: No. The front plate cannot be removed and CD-RW drives will not fit into MediaBank


Q: What tool/utility should I use to format drives installed in MediaBank?
A: Under Mac OS X, we recommend using Apple's Disk Utility. Under Mac OS 9, you can use the Erase command in the Finder, this will however not allow to partition the drive. If you use only OS 9, a third party disk driver, like Anubis from Charismac will allow you to partition your drive.
Under Windows, you can use the built-in drive management tool to format/partition your drive.


Q: Can I share files between a Mac and PC with MediaBank?
A: If you wish to share files between a Mac and a PC, you can format your hard drive with the FAT32 file format. Note that Windows 2000 and XP will allow you to setup a FAT32 partition to up to 32 GB. This is a Windows limitation and is not related to MediaBank. It is recommend to format the drive with OS X and then share it with the Windows PC, if you wish to break the 32 GB limit.


Q: Can I use Apple's disk utility to create a Raid 0 or 1 with MediaBank MT-R?
A: Yes. This setup will however not be accessible under Mac OS 9.x and Disk Utility offers only limited options when configuring your Raid setup.


Q: Is Raid Supported under Windows 98SE, Me, 2000 or XP?
A: No.


Q: Can I boot on a Raid 0 or 1 volume created with the Charismac or Disk Utility software?
A: No, software Raid is not bootable.


Q: I am getting errors under Mac OS 9 when I copy files to MediaBank. What can I do to fix this?
A: The most common cause is down to conflicting FireWire hard disk drivers (extensions). Make sure that you use only *one* set of drivers.