Fantom Drives MDE4000 Instruction Manual

06-27-2008 MDCSIM Rev E
The material in this document is for information only and is subject to change without notice. While reasonable efforts have been made in the
preparation of this document to assure its accuracy, Fantom Drives and Fantom Drives assume no liability resulting from errors or omissions in
this document, or from the use of the information contained herein.
Fantom Drives reserves the right to make changes in the product design without reservation and without notification to its users.
Fantom Drives, The Fantom Drives Logo, Fantom Drives and the Fantom Drives logo are registered trademarks of Fantom Drives Technology.
Macintosh, and the MacOS Logo are trademarks of Apple Computer Inc. Microsoft Windows, the Windows Logo, and Windows Vista are
registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Kensington and the Kensington Security Slot are trademarks of Kensington Computer Products
Group (KTG.) All other names and logos are property of their respective owners.
Copyright © 1999, 2008 Fantom Drives Technology. All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of Fantom Drives, 19260 Van Ness Ave., Torrance CA 90501.
WARNING - TO REDUCE THE RISK OF FIRE OR ELECTRIC SHOCK,
DO NOT EXPOSE THIS APPLIANCE TO RAIN OR MOISTURE.
CAUTION - TO REDUCE THE RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK, DO NOT
REMOVE COVER (OR BACK). NO USER-SERVICEABLE PARTS
INSIDE. REFER SERVICING TO QUALIFIED SERVICE PERSONNEL.
FCC Compliance Statements
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC rules. These
limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in residential installation. This equipment generates, uses, and
can radiate frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, there is no guarantee that interference will not
occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to correct
the interference by one or more of the following measures:
• Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna
• Increase the distance between the equipment and receiver
• Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected
• Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help
Fantom Drives
19260 Van Ness Avenue
Torrance, CA 90501
Sales: 310-320-7272
Support: http://www.FantomDrives.com/help
www.FantomDrives.com
QuickStart
Installation Guide
Windows & Mac
Thank you for choosing Fantom Drives! Your Fantom Drives G-Force
Megadisk has been built to the highest standard of quality and workmanship,
is compatible with all USB or eSATA capable Apple Macintosh computers
running MacOS 10.3 (or greater) and PC-Compatible computers running
Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003, and Windows Vista.
We at Fantom Drives take great pride in bringing personal satisfaction
to each of our customers; When used according to the instructions in
this guide, your Fantom Drives G-Force Megadisk will provide years of
trouble-free operation.
MEGADISK

Contents
Introduction ............................................................ 3
Parts & Accessories List.......................................... 4
System Requirements ............................................. 5
Precautions............................................................. 5
Fantom Drives External Hard Drive at a Glance.......... 6
Connecting the Drive to Your Computer..................... 7
Setting the RAID operating mode.............................. 8
BIG (Span) .............................................................. 9
DUAL (JBOD) ........................................................... 9
FAST (RAID 0)........................................................ 10
SAFE (RAID 1) ....................................................... 10
SAFE33/50 ......................................................... 11
Formatting Your Fantom Drives External Hard Drive . 12
Formatting the Drive in Mac OS X ............................ 12
Formatting the Drive in Windows ............................. 13
How to safely dismount and turn off your
Fantom Drives External Hard Drive ......................... 14
Troubleshooting /
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) ........................ 15
One Year Limited Warranty .................................. 18
Contact Information.............................................. BC
any part of any Product serviced hereunder. Be sure to remove all
features, parts, options, alterations, and attachments not under
warranty prior to returning the Product to Fantom Drives. Fantom
Drives is not liable for any loss or damage to these items.
This limited warranty does not cover: (1) any consumables (such as
batteries) supplied with this product; cosmetic damages; damage or
loss to any software programs, data or removable storage media;
or damage due to the Product such as but not limited to excessive
heat or humidity, or modifications of this Product; (2) improper
installation, operation, testing or maintenance of this Product;
(3) power failure or connection to improper voltage supply; or;
(4) attempted repair by any party other than Fantom Drives. This
Warranty does not apply when the malfunction results from the use
of this Product in conjunction with accessories, products or ancillary
or peripheral equipment, or where it is determined by Fantom
Drives that there is no fault with this Product itself.
This Limited Warranty is invalid if the factory applied serial number
has been altered or removed from the Product.
Repair or replacement as provided under this warranty is the
exclusive remedy of the consumer. Fantom Drives shall not be
liable for any incidental or consequential damages for breach of
any express or implied warranty, breach of contract, negligence,
strict liability or any other legal theory related to this product.
Such damage include, but are not limited to, loss of profits, loss
of data, loss of use of the product or any associated equipment,
down time and purchaser’s time. Except to the extend prohibited
by applicable law, any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness
for a particular purpose on this product is limited in duration of this
warranty.
Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or
consequential damages, or allow limitations on how long on implied
warranty lasts, so the above limitation or exclusions may not apply
to you. This warranty gives you specific rights; you may have other
rights which vary from state to state.
19

18 3
Introduction
Welcome, and thank you for purchasing GForce Megadisk
eSATA+USB High Capacity Hard Disk from Fantom Drives.
In photos and illustrations in this guide, The following alert
symbols are used in this guide:
This signifies impor-
tant information for
ALL users.
This signifies impor-
tant information for
USB 2.0 users.
This signifies impor-
tant information for
eSATA users.
The GForce Megadisk Hard Disk can only sustain one
connection type at any given time; the drive will appear as
an eSATA device when connected via eSATA, and as a USB
device if the USB cable is connected.
USB 2.0 compatibility with USB 1.x
USB 2.0 ports are backward compatible with USB 1.x.
However, if you connect the Drive to a USB 1.x port, it will
operate at USB 1.x speeds.
One Year
Limited Warranty
Fantom Drives warrants this product (the “Product”) against defects
in material or workmanship as follows:
1. LABOR: For a period of one (1) year from the original date of
purchase from Fantom Drives or its authorized relseller, Fantom
Drives will repair defective Product (or, at its option, replace with a
new or recertified product) at no charge. After this 1 year period,
you must pay for all labor charges.
2. PARTS: For a period of one (1) year from the original date of
purchase from Fantom Drives or its authorized reseller, Fantom
Drives will supply, at no charge, new or rebuilt replacement parts
in exchange for defective parts of this Product. Any replacement
parts will be warranted for the remainder of the original warranty
period or ninety (90) days from installation by Fantom Drives. All
exchanged parts replaced under this warranty will become the
property of Fantom Drives.
This warranty only covers the hardware components packaged with
the Product. This warranty does not cover any software contained
in, or included with, the Product; any such software is provided “AS
IS”. Please refer to any documentation included with the software
for your rights and obligations with respect to the software.
This warranty extends only to you, the original purchaser. It is not
transferable to any one who subsequently purchases the Product
from you.
Proof of purchase in the form of a bill of sale (which is evidence
that the Product is within the warranty period) must be presented
to obtain warranty service.
To obtain warranty service you must take the Product, or deliver
the Product freight prepaid, in either it’s original packaging, or in
a package that provides the Product with a degree of protection
equivalent to that of the original packaging, to Fantom Drives.
Please contact Fantom Drives at the number listed on the reverse
side for further information.
Fantom Drives is not responsible for any damage to, or loss of,
any programs, data, or other information stored on any media or

4 17
Parts &
Accessories List
The package should contain the following items:
• Fantom Drives G-Force Megadisk Hard Disk
• USB cable
• eSATA cable
• Disk Stand
• AC Adapter and Power Cord
• Quick Start Installation Guide
If you are missing any items listed above, please fill out the
customer support form at:
http://www.FantomDrives.com/help
Please retain a copy of your receipt. You will need it if
warranty repair service is required in the future.
Q: I do not see my Drive listed in the My Computer window,
but it does appear in the Device Manager list.
A: Right-click on My Computer. Select Manage in the pop-up
menu. In the Computer Management window, select Storage,
then select Disk Management. In the Disk Management
window, you should see a list of available storage devices.
Look for the Disk that has a capacity closest to your Fantom
Drives External Hard Drive. Right-click on the right-hand box;
in the pop-up menu select Delete Partition. Once you do this,
it will say “Online" & "Unallocated”. Right-click on the box
and select Create New Partition in the pop-up menu. When
the Partition Wizard appears, select Primary Partition and
click on Next. You will see a default value for the Drive; click
Next. You will then see a drive letter (you can change this
drive letter if you wish); click Next. You will then be asked to
format the Drive.
Q: After I connected the Drive to my PC, I got the following
alert message: HI-SPEED USB Device Plugged into non-HI-
SPEED USB Hub.” What does this mean?
A: Windows 2000 and XP users will get this alert message
if you plugged the Drive into a USB port that only supports
USB 1.1. This is fine, except your Drive will operate USB 1.1
speeds.
If an issue cannot resolved by using our FAQ, please
contact Technical Support via the Fantom Drives support
site at http://www.FantomDrives.com/help

16 5
System Requirements
System Requirements for Mac
• Power Macintosh
• Mac OS X 10.2 or newer
• An available eSATA Port or
• Available USB 1.1 or 2.0 port
System Requirement for PC
• Pentium-based PC with 233 MHz or faster CPU
• Windows 2000SP4, XPSP2, 2003, or Vista
• An available eSATA Port or
• An available USB 1.1 or 2.0 port
Precautions
Please follow the precautions described below to avoid
damage to your Megadisk and void the warranty.
• DO NOT open the case. Doing so will void the warranty.
• DO NOT use a third-party AC adapter or power cord. Doing
so may damage the Drive and void the warranty.
• DO NOT bump, jar or drop the Drive as this may damage
it or result in loss of data.
• DO NOT disconnect any cables while the Drive is powered
on without first properly dismounting the device via your
operating system; doing so can result in data loss and
possible damage.
• DO NOT set any liquids or beverages on the Drive as they
may damage the internal electronics.
• Fantom Drives highly recommends that you regularly back-
up the files stored on your Fantom Drives External Hard Drive.
Fantom Drives is not responsible for any data loss, nor will
Fantom Drives perform any recovery on lost data or files.
FAQs for PC Users:
Q: My computer does not recognize the Drive.
A: Make sure all of your connections are secure. If you
have an add-on card, make sure it is working properly and/
or update the driver. Also, make sure you have all the latest
updates for your Windows operating system.
Q: Can you make the External Hard Drive bootable?
A: This depends on your computer’s BIOS (Basic Input/
Output System). The BIOS contains code required to control
a number of miscellaneous functions. Please check with your
computer manufacturer for BIOS updates to determine if
your computer’s BIOS supports this feature.
Q: Does the Drive work with Norton Ghost?
A: Yes. Norton Ghost 2003 or newer support USB drives.
Fantom Drives does not provide any additional drivers.
Q: Where are the drivers required?
A: Windows 2000, XP, 2003, and Vista already include all
the necessary drivers! No additional drivers are necessary.
Q: Do you have “DOS Driver” for the Drive?
A: No.
Q: When I leave my computer idle for a while, my Drive
won’t work properly.
A: The most likely cause is that your computer is going
into sleep mode. The immediate solution is to shut down your
computer and turn off the Drive, and then restart your computer.
Once your computer is completely booted up, turn on the Drive.
You should see the drive in the Windows Explorer. To prevent
this problem from recurring, open the “Power Settings/Energy
Saver” and set it to never go into sleep mode.
Q: Is the Drive compatible with Windows NT 4.0?
A: No.

6 15
Troubleshooting
FAQs for Mac Users:
Q: Why is my Drive asking me to format it? It was already
formatted and it contains data.
A1: Run a disk repair utility on the drive.
A2: Perform permission repair on your system drive. Open
the disk utility (located in /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.
app.) Select your system drive (usually the first disk listed)
and click "Repair Disk Permissions" in the "First Aid" Tab.
A3: Restart your computer. As soon as the bootup chime
sounds, press and hold down the option-command-p-r key
combination to reset the PRAM. Release the keys when
the chime sounds a second time. Please refer to your Mac
manual for more information on these procedures
Q: My computer does not recognize the Drive.
A: First, check to make sure that all of your connections are
secure, and that the power switch is in the "ON" position.
Then check if your External Hard Drive is listed in the Apple
System Profiler. If the problem persists, verify that the USB/
eSATA port used is functioning.
Q: I'm trying to copy files to/from FAT32 volumes or
network shares, and it keeps failing.
A: FAT32, HFS+, and other file system formats allow different
standards of filename length or use of special characters.
Rename the offending file(s) and try the operation again.
Q: I have a FAT32 disk, and when I try to copy a large file I
get an error saying there is not enough room on the drive--
I have lots of free space!
A: FAT32 only allows files up to 4GB in size. To copy larger files,
please reformat the volume using MacOS Extended Format.
Fantom Drives GForce
Megadisk Hard Disk
at a Glance
Power Indicator
Light (Blue)
AC adapter port
Vent (Do not block)
USB 2.0 port
eSATA port
Operating Mode
Switch
USB Activity
Light (Yellow)
Security Lock Slot
Commit Button
eSATA Activity
Light (Green)
Power Switch

14 7
How to safely dismount and turn off the
Drive with the computer running
Mac Users
Drag the icon for the External Hard Drive to the Trash. The
Drive will dismount and you can then safely turn if off. You
may then unplug the power cord and data cable if you want
to disconnect the drive.
PC Users
1. Locate the System Tray. The System Tray includes the
time display in the bottom right, and icons to the left of the
time. One of the icons will be an icon with a green, diagonal
arrow on it.
2. Left-click on this icon. You will receive the alert message
“Safely Remove…” or “Stop…” followed by the drive letter for
the device.
3. Left-click on the appropriate device (with the drive letter
matching the one used by the External Hard Drive). After a
few seconds, Windows will give you a message that it is safe
to remove the device.
4. Click OK. The Drive will dismount and you can then safely
turn if off. You may then unplug the power cord and data
cable if you want to disconnect the drive.
How to turn off and disconnect the
Drive with the computer turned off
(PC and Mac)
When you shut down your computer the Drive dismounts
automatically. With the computer turned off, simply turn off
the Drive. You may then unplug the power cord and data
cable if you want to disconnect the drive.
Connecting the drive
to your computer
1. Plug the AC adapter cord into the power port on the
back of the Drive. The plug should not require much effort
to insert. If the plug will not go in, do not force it; the plug
is probably upside down. Rotate the plug and try again.
Incorrectly inserting the plug could damage the Drive and
void the warranty.
2. Plug the power cord into the cord socket in the AC
adapter. Plug the other end into a three-prong outlet.
3. Plug in the eSATA or the USB 2.0 data cables.
Connect the USB 2.0 connector of the included USB cable
to a free USB 2.0 port on your computer.
eSATA plugs are shaped so they can only be properly
inserted one way. Be sure to insert the plugs properly or
you may damage the Drive and void the warranty.
4. Press the power switch located on the back of the GForce
Megadisk Hard Disk. Once the Drive is powered up, your
computer should recognize it and the Drive will be ready to
use.
The Megadisk is preconfigured from the factory for FAST
operation (RAID 0.) If you wish to reconfigure it for a
different operation mode, please follow the instructions
on the following page.

Setting the RAID
operation mode
You can configure the Fantom Drives Megadisk eSATA+USB
to use any of the following Storage Policies to map the
physical hard drives to virtual drives, or "volumes", that
are visible to the host computer. The host operating system
treats these volumes as if they were a single physical drive.
This virtualization allows you to overcome restrictions that
are imposed by physical hard drives, such as speed, storage
capacity or data storage reliability. To select a storage policy,
make sure that the unit is powered on, set the rotary switch
on the back of the Megadisk with a small flathead screwdriver
to the desired storage policy, and press the recessed "Mode
Change Commit" button with a pin or paperclip to create
the new virtual volume(s). Refer to page 6, "Fantom Drives
GForce Megadisk Hard Disk at a Glance" for the locations of
the storage policy mode switch and commit button.
FAST (RAID 0)
SAFE (RAID 1)
SAFE33
SAFE50
Commit Button
(Reserved)
JBOD
BIG (Span)
Please exercise care before pressing the "Commit" button.
Creating new virtual volumes will destroy any existing data
that existed on the previous volume!
8 13
Formatting the Drive in
Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista
1. Open the disk management console. A list of the attached
drives and their respective volumes will appear. Select the
Fantom Drives GForce Megadisk Disk.
The Disk Management Console can be found under
\Windows\System32\diskmgmt.msc on your system
drive. For an illustrated guide, please see http://www.
fantomdrives.com/support/faqs
2. Right-click on the drive letter and select Format in the pop-
up menu. The Format dialog box will appear.
3. Under Capacity, verify the Drive capacity. It should be close
to the stated capacity of your Drive in gigabytes.
4. In the File System pop-up menu, select NTFS. The default
formatting option is Full format. A Full format will take about
30-90 minutes. A Quick format will take just a few minutes,
but will do less verifying of the Drive than a Full format. Click
Start. Once the format process is complete, your External
Hard Drive is ready to use.
5. In Windows XP, it is possible to optimize the drive for
performance or quick removal. To select your desired mode,
open the device manager (located in \Windows\System32\
devmgmt.msc on your system drive.) right-click the Fantom
external disk in Disk Drives, and select properties. Select the
Policies Tab near the top left of the window, and click your
desired optimization level. press OK when finished, and you
may close the disk management applet.

12 9
Formatting your GForce
Megadisk Hard Disk
The G-Force Megadisk comes preformatted with the FAT32
file system, which will mount on most modern operating
systems. FAT32 has some limitations, and we recommend
you reformat the volume to a file system format more
compatible with your particular computer and operating
system environment.
Formatting a hard drive erases all data contained on the
drive. Make sure to create a copy of the files you wish to
keep before reformatting.
Formatting the Drive in Mac OS X
1. Launch the Disk Utility application (located in /Applications/
Utilities folder.)
2. You should see the Megadisk volume listed in the left sub-
window. Click on the drive to highlight it. Information about
the Drive will appear in the Information sub-window.
3. Click on the Erase tab. In the Erase sub-window you will
see a Volume Format pop-up menu and a Name field.
4. In the Volume Format pop-up, select the format type
(MacOS Extended is recommended.)
Although it is possible to format a hard drive on Mac OS X
using the DOS file system, we do not recommend this, as
an artificial capacity limit may be imposed on the drive.
5. Click Erase. You should see an alert pop up with the
message: “Erasing a disk will destroy all information on all
of the volumes of the disk…” Click Erase. Once initializing
is complete, you should see the drive listed in the left sub-
window of the Disk Utility screen. Quit Disk Utility. You should
now see the Drive icon on the Desktop.
BIG (Span)
The BIG storage policy
concatenates the two
physical hard drives as
a single large volume,
resulting in a seamless
expansion. Hard drive A
and B are concatenated
into a single virtual volume
in the Figure below with
a storage capacity that is equal to the sum of each of the
physical hard drives A and B:
DUAL (JBOD)
The DUAL or JBOD (Just
a Bunch of Disks) storage
policy enables each hard
drive to be seen separately.
JBOD should only be used
with a port multiplier
enabled SATA host controller such as the MicroNet
SATAPCIX4 eSATA-PCIX host bus adapter, or the MicroNet
SATAPCIE2 eSATA-PCI Express host bus adapter. If used
with a non PM-aware eSATA host bus adapter, only a single
drive is presented (drive 0). No such limitation exists if
using a USB host connection.

10 11
FAST (RAID 0)
The FAST storage policy, also
called striping or RAID 0,
presents the best data speed
by using both disks in parallel.
Hard drive data segments
are written to different
disks simultaneously which
increases performance, but
at an increased fault sensitivity
(two drive's worth of data may
be lost at a single disk fault.)
The FAST storage policy creates a single virtual volume that
is striped across both hard drives, with a storage capacity
that is equal to the sum of both hard disk drives.
SAFE (RAID 1)
The SAFE storage policy
stores all data in duplicate on
each drives to protect against
data loss due to drive failure.
One drive mirrors the other
at all times, which means
every write operation goes to
both drives. SAFE provides
the highest level of data fault
tolerance, but halves the amount of storage capacity because
all data must be stored twice. The resulting storage capacity
of the virtual SAFE volume will be equivalent to the size of
one hard drive. If one drive fails, the SAFE volume is still
usable, but it is in a vulnerable state because its mirrored
hard drive is inaccessible. When the offline drive is replaced,
the Megadisk will begins a rebuild process immediately to
restore data redundancy.
Although the volume remains available during the rebuild
process, the volume is susceptible to data loss through
damage to the remaining drive until redundancy is restored
at the end of the rebuild and verification process.
Host access takes precedence over the rebuild process. If
you continue to use the SAFE volume during the rebuild, the
rebuild process will take a longer time to complete, and the
host data transfer performance will also be affected.
SAFE33 and SAFE50
The SAFE33 and SAFE50 storage
policies create two virtual volumes;
one SAFE volume and one BIG volume.
RAID33 creates a SAFE partition
on 33% of the available space, and
SAFE50 creates a safe partition on
50% of the available spare. The BIG
partition utilizes the remaining capacity. These policies
should be used when you need the high reliability for some
of your data (with the added overhead of mirroring) but
maximum space for the remainder of your data, reducing the
cost of additional hard drives in operations where non-critical
data could be lost without severe consequences. SAFE33
and SAFE50 use a SAFE volume that is mirrored across two
hard drives to protect your critical data in the event a hard
drive failure. If one drive fails the SAFE volume is retrievable
although the BIG volume is not. When you replace the failed
drive, the SAFE volume is automatically rebuilt on to the
replacement drive.
SAFE33 and SAFE50 should only be used with a port
multiplier enabled SATA host controller such as the
MicroNet SATAPCIX4 eSATA-PCIX host bus adapter, or the
MicroNet SATAPCIE2 eSATA-PCI Express host bus adapter.
If used with a non PM-aware eSATA host bus adapter, only a
single drive is presented (drive 0). No such limitation exists
if using a USB host connection.