Guess what? My Maxtor in this 3.5" combo case began bad behaviors. Sometimes I turn on the power button, the HD will run a few minutes then my dell will not recongnize it through the 1394 port.
Besides, I found in the HD property that there was no "Write cache" option. I don't know if this is a problem, but I just could not put up with the random lock-down. So I took out the Maxtor, and took the CDRW out of
my 5.25" external case, unplugged the short cable, replaced with a long HD cabe and mounted the Maxtor in that 5.25" case.
Amazingly, everything is so good. No more power problem, no more lock-down, and there is a "write cache" option in the HD property.
I am happy now. I cannot find that post about the 5.25" 1394 enclosure, but I am sure the HD will be better in this 5.25" case.
(3.5" : Ti Chipset, power brick 12V/1.5A
5.25": Oxford 911 chipset, power 12V/2.0A).