I can't argue with your experience, obviously, but the Zynet Polar external enclosure (FireWire x 2, USB 2.0) that I bought only 3 mo. ago has a Prolific PL-3507 bridge chip, and is not bootable into OS 9.2.2 or 10.3.9 or 10.4.10.
None of my three LaCie d2 drives, spanning 2000-2005 in purchase years, fails to boot a Mac in OS 9 or OS X. How's that for variable mileage? Indeed, of Prolific's five current Storage Device Controllers (sic), only in the case of the flash drive controller/bridge PL-2528 does the notion of booting from an external get a mention, whereas USB Bulk-Only Mass Storage gets many mentions.
After the first disappointment, the Prolific chip's incapacity has mattered little, because I gutted the enclosure and use it in the open now for quick initializations of multiple drives via FireWire, which proceed smoothly. Taking a LaCie apart for the purpose was much less to my taste, on the grounds both of purchase price and ease of take-apart/reassemble.
de
None of my three LaCie d2 drives, spanning 2000-2005 in purchase years, fails to boot a Mac in OS 9 or OS X. How's that for variable mileage? Indeed, of Prolific's five current Storage Device Controllers (sic), only in the case of the flash drive controller/bridge PL-2528 does the notion of booting from an external get a mention, whereas USB Bulk-Only Mass Storage gets many mentions.
After the first disappointment, the Prolific chip's incapacity has mattered little, because I gutted the enclosure and use it in the open now for quick initializations of multiple drives via FireWire, which proceed smoothly. Taking a LaCie apart for the purpose was much less to my taste, on the grounds both of purchase price and ease of take-apart/reassemble.
de