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2 USB Ports on MBP

F

freep

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 26, 2008
53
0
UK
Hi,

I have a MBP and I am trying to copy data from a HFS+ formatted external FAT32 hard drive to another external hard drive. The problem is that the second HDD is a portable drive which needs two USB ports rather than using a power supply but the MBP only has 2 USB ports. Is there any easy way of copying files from one drive to the other without having to copy to the MBP first?

Ive thought about using my PC but XP cant read the HFS+ drive and dont really want to have to buy MacDrive as I already bought it for my Bootcamp partition. Ive also thought about buying some kind of Firewire adaptor but cant really see anything suitable. Anyone got any ideas?
 
You could get a powered USB hub. But otherwise, I'd just copy the files to the MBP first. That's the one downside to portable external drives: they take up two USB ports.
 
Have you tried just using 1 port to power it? Also try 2 ports then once it starts up unplug 1 port.

I had a portable that sometimes needed a "jumpstart" with 2 ports but once it got running I could unplug the power port and run just off the other USB
 
Um... a HFS+ formatted FAT32 drive? Make up your mind!

Anyway, you should only need to connect the data cable to your MacBook Pro. The other connector is provided to allow the drive to work with low-power USB ports, but the MBP provides enough power that it's unnecessary.
 
BlueRevolution said:
Um... a HFS+ formatted FAT32 drive? Make up your mind!

Anyway, you should only need to connect the data cable to your MacBook Pro. The other connector is provided to allow the drive to work with low-power USB ports, but the MBP provides enough power that it's unnecessary.
Click to expand...

Oops just reread my post - I meant that one of the HDDs is FAT32 and the other is HFS+ - I was just pointing this out because otherwise I could have used my PC to transfer the files (it as 6 USB ports). Ill try unlugging one of the cables but it seemed a bit unreliable last time when I tried this. If not I'll try a powered USB hub. Thanks for your help.
 
My external came with a two headed cable as well, but I never use it.

Like others have said, try using the external without the second plug. I bet it will still work.
 
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