I've run out of space on my Dell Precision M50 laptop so a few weeks ago I purchased an external 2.5" USB2 drive case (A$22) to use with a spare 20 GB drive I had lying around.

I soon discovered that my Dell was only USB1.1. The difference in speed with using the drive on my home PC (which does have USB2) and the laptop is painfully obvious.

My network guy showed me a new firewire/usb combo external drive case that was only A$44. So I snapped one up.

However, it didn't work in firewire mode. I kept getting time out issues. I knew that's what it was because when copying large files the drive kept "powering down" for a minute or so before resuming the copy. I'd get about 100 MB chunks of data copied for every burst of activity before the next time out.

Even worse Windows Explorer would completely lock up during a scandisk (started from the Tools tab).

I did the normal search for new drivers/firmware. The Microsoft site said that Windows Firewire support was up-to-date. Looking up the device name in Device Manager gave me "Dotop 1394 USB COMBO IEEE 1394 SBP2 Device". The company site, http://www.dotop.com.tw, doesn't even list the device so no drivers/firmware there.

I searched Google, but it returned very few pages and nothing relevant.

My Event Viewer had the following two numerously repeated events:

Details

Product:

Windows Operating System

ID:

25

Source:

sbp2port

Version:

5.2

Symbolic Name:

IO_ERR_BAD_FIRMWARE

Message:

The driver has detected a device with old or out-of-date firmware. The device will not be used.

Explanation

The driver received incorrect configuration data.

Possible causes include:

• A faulty device.
• An old device that does not conform to the Serial Bus Protocol 2 (SBP-2) device specifications.

User Action

To resolve the problem, try to reset the device by turning it on and off. If this action does not resolve the problem, the device is probably not supported.

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Details

Product:

Windows Operating System

ID:

9

Source:

sbp2port

Version:

5.2

Symbolic Name:

IO_ERR_TIMEOUT

Message:

The device, %1, did not respond within the timeout period.

Explanation

The device did not respond within the ten-second time-out period.

The device probably could not handle the amount of data read from or written to it. Some devices time out when you attempt to read or write more than 128KB in one request.

User Action

If the device not responding is a disk drive, limit the maximum transfer size on the device.

To limit the maximum transfer size on a device

1. Using Regedit, navigate to the following registry value:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\SBP2
   A list of manufacturers and models is displayed.
2. Double-click the folder for the device.
   You can determine the manufacturer, model identification number, and Logical Unit Number (LUN) by running the Disk Management tool or Device Management tool and then viewing the properties of the disk in question.
3. Double-click the folder for the NodeID for your device.
4. Right-click the Device Parameters folder, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
5. In the right pane, type LegacyFlags, and then press ENTER.
6. Double-click LegacyFlags and then type 1 in the Value data box.

Caution: This bit flag key should only be set to 1.

The SBP2Port device driver must be unloaded and then loaded again. To unload and then load the driver, unplug the device. Wait 30 seconds, and then plug the device back in. Alternatively, you can restart the computer.

If this problem is not caused by a disk device timing out, contact the device manufacturer for a firmware upgrade.

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I applied the registry "hack", but no good. I'm still down for the count (pardon the time out pun.)

If anyone knows the answer I'd love to hear it.