Help with firewire 800 external daisy chaining

hi
help please,really appreciate it /
editing with final cut pro
i am on a big job which keeps growing so far we have 4 lacie terrabyte hard drives all daisy chained and we are constantly adding another to transfer files,
i am now having reliability problems ,where the computer wont see them,some work others dont,
i go through array of disconnecting rearanging them ,off/on etc, eventually i get them working, but its very stressful
can anyone suggest the way i should do it or point me in the right direction,
should i get some firewire 800 hub ? or is there a limit to how many you can use?
(the boss says a server will be coming)
cheers
simon

Hi startchopin-
As DaddyPaycheck said, a hub is the best way to go. Not only are there reliability problems, as you're experiencing, daisy chaining hard drives also increases the chance of data recording/directing errors.
A good hub, (only three ports, seems to be the max) but reliable, is the Belkin, available from the Mac specialists at OWC:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/BELKIN/F5U624APL/
You can find comparison pricing here:
http://shopper.cnet.com/hubs/belkin-hub-3-ports/4014-3335_9-30823689.html?tag=pd tl-list
Might I also suggest, that since you are running the drives hard, with lots of data transfer, etc., preventive maintenance with a solid drive utility, such as Disk Warrior, would help to decrease stress levels, and maintain drive and data integrity:
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
G4 AGP(450)Sawtooth, 2ghz PowerLogix, 1.62gb SDRAM, 120gb+160gb HDD   Mac OS X (10.4.8)   ATI Radeon 9800, Pioneer DVR-109, LaCie 160gb, 23" Cinema Display, Ratoc USB2.0

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