I bought a WD 250gb passport drive. What the package didn't way was that it needed to use TWO usb ports to power the darn thing. I thought, "That's fine...no big deal." Until I remembered that I only had TWO usb ports on my Powerbook G4! If I buy a USB 2.0 hub, can I still get enough juice out of it to power the hard drive and still be able to plug other stuff in like my ipod?
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USB and external HD woes
- Thread starter Super20
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Not unless your USB Hub is powered, if so, then it will work. Also, it is very possible you dont need to plug both plugs into your computer. I use a portable HD sometimes and I just us the plug on the end of the cable.
Consultant
macrumors G5
Return it. WD 2.5" USB drives are horrible.
Get a Firewire one. Works MUCH better.
Powered hub would work, but do you want to carry the hub around?
Get a Firewire one. Works MUCH better.
Powered hub would work, but do you want to carry the hub around?
No I don't want to carry a hub, but I like how small this drive is. Could I bust into it and put it into a small firewire enclosure instead?
PracticalMac
macrumors 68030
Why?
WD and Segate both sell small external FW drives.
if you DO want to drop a drive in an enclosure:
Do NOT get some low cost, no name, FW enclosures, they will give you trouble (poor quality control). wiebetech is a very reputable company.
http://www.wiebetech.com/products/toughtech_mini.php
I can't return the drive because in a rush to make room on my laptops hard drive, the packaging was destroyed whilst removing the ext. hd and was subsequently tossed in the garbage by my wife. Trash day came and gone before I knew what hit me.
sickmacdoc
macrumors 68020
Be aware that WD recently made a change in the design of the drives/cases in the Passport line which may make yours unusable in another case, as pointed on out in this thread. That is a real downer as since the drives are so often on sale they have been a good source of cheap Scorpio drives after which the replaced internal could be put back in the Passport case!🙁
This was an inexpensive drive and I really wanted one that was very small (like this one is). I have a lacie drive that is powered and I wanted to use this one for all of my music. Wish I hadn't destroyed the box. So I'm probably stuck with it in the case it's in....is there a really small powered USB 2.0 hub or do i try and dump it on craigslist?