Macally firewire 400 external HD - Duplicated connection id.

I recently bought 3 firewire 400 external HD. My G5 has 2 400 firewire ports. There is not problem connecting disk 1 and 2, in a daisy chain to any of the 2 ports or each disk independently to each port. Same thing is true for disks 2 and 3. But when I tried to have the three disks simultaneously the system automatically disconnect disk 1 and 3. In summary disk 1 and 3 can not be connected simultaneously.
Using disk utility I realized that there is something called connection ID for each disk and disk 1 and 3 both have the same id. Could it be the reason for the problem? Is it assigned by the operating system or fixed in the external HD? if so, how do I change it?

Hi-
As DaddyPaycheck has advised, daisy chaining isn't really a good idea. Reports of drive problems, lost/corrupt data, due to daisy chaining, aren't hard to find, Mac or PC......
There are noted instances of external drive makers housings that will not support over two drives (total) in the chain.
Using disk utility I realized that there is something called connection ID for each disk and disk 1 and 3 both have the same id.
The report of bus location of the external housing controller to the I/O controller of the system is how the BSD (operating system) assigns a name (actually an address). Each device should have a unique ID. This is not something that one can manually assign; you cannot change it.
Could it be the reason for the problem?
The problem you are experiencing could indicate a conflict between the drive housing controllers and/or firmware version. It could be a malfunction of a controller, as well.
I would follow the excellent advice received, and get a FW card or hub before some important data is trashed.
Also, because there is some question in my mind as to the health of the external housing(s), I would definitely inquire with Macally Support regarding the matter.

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Message was edited by: mattathayde

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