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External HDD not being detected

D

dacoolest

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 11, 2011
184
0
I have an external HDD that has two usb connections for power and data. most of the time my macbook pro doesn't detect it and I have to keep unplugging and plugging into different usb ports and then it gets detected after a while. I tried the same HDD with a windows desktop and it worked well.

Is this because HDD not getting enough power ? Are all usb ports the same when it come to power? any ideas to get this working?

Thanks.
 
dacoolest said:
I have an external HDD that has two usb connections for power and data. most of the time my macbook pro doesn't detect it and I have to keep unplugging and plugging into different usb ports and then it gets detected after a while. I tried the same HDD with a windows desktop and it worked well.

Is this because HDD not getting enough power ? Are all usb ports the same when it come to power? any ideas to get this working?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

what mac do you have are all the ports 2.0?

is this a portable or desktop external

does it require 2 usbs to make it work?
 
iisforiphone said:
what mac do you have are all the ports 2.0?

is this a portable or desktop external

does it require 2 usbs to make it work?
Click to expand...


my computer is a macbook pro 17 late 2011. Its a portable hdd. the usb cable is decided into to parts ( has two connectors) and one is marked as power and the other one as I/O. With the desktop I tried, even it worked only when the I/O usb jack is plugged in.

when I plug the power usb connector, I can feel the disk spinning in it. And it goes off as soon as I plug in the I/O connector.

But still works occasionally though.
 
dacoolest said:
my computer is a macbook pro 17 late 2011. Its a portable hdd. the usb cable is decided into to parts ( has two connectors) and one is marked as power and the other one as I/O. With the desktop I tried, even it worked only when the I/O usb jack is plugged in.

when I plug the power usb connector, I can feel the disk spinning in it. And it goes off as soon as I plug in the I/O connector.

But still works occasionally though.
Click to expand...

odd since you mac is new that eliminates any chance your usb is 1.0

is your computer full charged, maybe its something silly like your battery is 2 low to power it on?
 
iisforiphone said:
odd since you mac is new that eliminates any chance your usb is 1.0

is your computer full charged, maybe its something silly like your battery is 2 low to power it on?
Click to expand...

Yes it is fully charged now. I just tried plugging it to my brother's laptop and still the result is same. It seems to be only work well when connected with a desktop :S
 
iisforiphone said:
im no usb expert so this might be way off but if the drive is usb 3.0, would it mean its 100% compatible for 2.0?
Click to expand...

I bought this HDD a long time ago when those portable HDDs were super expensive. Perhaps this requires a more power than newer ones and I should consider buying a new external HDD.
 
Is this with the laptop plugged in or running off battery?

if off battery, only one of the usb ports will give full power, and a drive requiring two full powered ports might well not work.
 
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