Customer Reviews

Ratoc Systems FR1SX FireWire to Ultra SCSI Converter (IEEE1394)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Ratoc FR1SX Firewire to Ultra SCSI converter works straight out of the box with my old Nikon Coolscan film scanner.
I am using Mac OS X and Vuescan, (Hamrick) scanner software.

I bought the Ratoc Firewire/SCSI Converter to use with 2 different scanners (one at a time - no SCSI daisychain) both of which had SCSI one connectors via an adaptor. They were an Agfa T1200 flatbed and a Nikon LS-1000 slide scanner. Both worked immediately on my Mac G5 system running OS X 10.4.10. No Ratoc drivers needed although I was using VueScan to communicate with them. It is important to adopt SCSI rules, ie switch on scanners and let them get to standby mode before connecting or booting the computer.

The answer to a maiden's prayer, it does what it says on the tin.

Never got the FR1SX to work under Mac OS X with Retrospect and a VXA-1 tape drive. It would begin to work but after a while Retrospect would throw an error and the backup failed.

Otherwise this unit seems well built and well designed for its purpose.

Intel Imac running OS X 10.4.11 trying to connect to Canon FS4000US film scanner. No luck.

Even though I could connect to it (the adapter) after some fiddling I could never get the scanner to show up as a SCSI device.

Called Ratoc and they said the Canon FS4000US was "unsupported".

You may want to check Ratoc's website to see if the hardware is supported before you buy (they have a pretty detailed list by manufacturer).

Seems like a good product but didn't work for my equipment combination. Returned for a refund.

I authored a six disc DVD set on a Mac Pro with OS X using DVD Studio Pro. I used the FR1SX converter to transfer my files to DLT IV tapes on a Quantum DLT7000 machine. The converter worked immediately after I hooked it up with no problems whatsoever and the replicated DVDs that were made from the DLTs had no issues.

The only problem I ran into was trying to locate a cable or adapter that would allow me to hook everything up. Make sure you find out exactly what cable or adapter you need and place an order for one if you purchase one of these converters.

worked on three scsi scanners (epson perfection 1200s, polaroid sprintscan 4000, agfa arcus II) with vuescan on a g5 running OS 10.4.1.1. don't forget to set scsi device number on scanner.

While in terms of plug and play this unit worked beautifully, the choice to use 50 pin male SCSI for a connector was not good. I suspect it was made for older printers that use this particular connector. You will need a 50 pin to 68 pin ultra wide adapter and female to female 50pin to pin flipper to connect this to a hard drive. It did work very nicely and the driver were completely unnecessary. Upon boot in both Mac OS 9 and OS X 10.4.X and above it mounted drives immediately and very easy to use. Drives without proper termination power will not work without the power adapter for FR1SX and that power adapter pin size is NOT standard and can only be bought from Ratoc at a whopping $35 + shipping.

Honestly it should come with the adapter as part of the package at $112, not sold separately. Lame is the only word to describe that situation.

Ratoc Systems FR1SX FireWire to Ultra SCSI Converter (IEEE1394)

I purchased this converter to use with my SCSI ORB drive on Mac OS 10.4.11. When I inserted a cartridge, the ORB icon mounted on the desktop. Next, I tried copying files to the ORB. I expected to get at least 1,024-2,048 KB/s transfer rate. Instead I averaged (for four tests) only 82 KB/s. This low rate makes the ORB essentially unusable for large files and Retrospect back-ups.

Depending on the particular device you have, the FR1SX may do a good job. But I wouldn't recommend it for the ORB on Mac OS X.

I am using this to connect a Macbook Pro to a Nikon LS-2000 scanner, firewire port to SCSI. It works perfectly. Make sure to set the LS-2000 scanner to SCSI 0 (zero) because the Ratoc is automatically set for 7 with a Mac. More info about connecting at fixya.com

Got an old 1GB Jazz drive to work on my MacBook Pro with OS 10.5.7. YOU MUST read ALL documentation though, AND go to their website and read some more. Pretty much you have to run their software first, reboot, then 'disable' their utility program. Very odd. Didn't need a HD 50 pin terminator for the Jazz drive cause it's built in the drive. Seemed to work, good luck!