At a Glance
Expert's Rating
Pros
- Once mounted, it works
Cons
- Drivers may conflict with other extensions
- Must switch on drive first
- Orb technology is unreliable
Our Verdict
Fantom Drive’s FireWire Orb 2.2GB removable drive is functional, but it’s not faultless. The Radialogic drivers conflicted with some common extensions, causing our G3/450 to crash on start-up. Also, the drive is particular about boot order–it mounts only when you first switch on the drive and then boot the Mac. If you boot the Mac first, you must unplug the FireWire connection, turn off the drive, wait 15 seconds, reconnect the FireWire cable, and turn on the drive.
Internet newsgroups are peppered with posts about failed Orb drives. Although it’s not Fantom’s fault–Castlewood Systems makes the Orb mechanism–this removable-media technology is anything but bulletproof.
Page 120 September 2000 www.macworld.com