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USB Accessories Disabled

C

ClaraEne

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 15, 2020
8
1
Hello,
I have a MacBook Air Retina 2019. I was using the hub and it was all working fine, until now. It does not recognise any of my 3 hard disks, but it does recognise a small pendrive. I now (before I didnt get any message at all) get a message that says: USB Accessories Disabled" Unplug the accessory using too much power to re-enable USB devices. The hard disk has the blinking light on, but it does not appear on my mac and I cannot access it. Is there a solution for this?

Thanks!!!
 
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It appears your USB hub is not providing enough power. For that many hard disks you should purchase a powered hub (AC Mains) not one that uses USB power from your MacBook Air. Be very careful about overloading the USB ports in that machine as it can damage the ports which would then require a new logic board.
 
The thing is it used to work with my hard disks, it just stopped now. And i tried to open one of my hard disks in another laptop (not mac) and it wont recognise it either. Could i have broken it with the hub?

Also, i say in yhe specifications for USB for my mac that it syas Extra operating current (mA) says 0. Is that normal?

Maaany thanks
 
No that doesn't sound normal. Since your MBA is a 2019 model, it still should be covered by Apple Care. If there is an Apple Store nearby, make a genius bar appointment and have them check it out for you. In any event, you should not use a USB hub that relies on power from your MBA. As far as your hard disk not being recognized by another laptop, I wouldn't worry about that since it's likely that the other laptop (probably Windows) does not understand Mac formatting.
 
I recently moved to a quite isolated area, in a different country to the one where I bought my mac, so I dont really have access to an Apple Store :/ but I will try to buy a new USB hub that does not rely on power from my mac. Is there a special name for those?
I just hope I did not ruin the hard disk or that logic board thing.

Thanks for your help!
 
Thank you! I will try to get one of those.
I tried my hard disk in several computers now, including other macs, and none recognise my hard disk. Could my hub have broken it??
 
I don't think your hub could have broken your hard drive but stranger things have happened. It could just be a coincidental failure of the drive. Try opening your Disk Utility app (Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility.app) while the drive is attached to your Mac. If Disk Utility sees the drive, it may be okay.
 
I'm in the same predicament-using a 2015 MacBook Pro with a powered Arctic Z2 monitor arm with a 4 port USB 3.
I have a usb hard drive, shuttle controller and iPads hooked into it at different times.
This message just starting appearing about a month ago.
I get the message even when I have nothing plugged into the hub!
Is it the hub at fault or one of the two USB ports on the MacBook Pro? Also is there a preference as to which port the hub should be plugged into from the MacBook Pro?
 
Strangely, I've just encountered this on my 2018 MBA. I have it plugged into a Caldigit TS3+ dock, and every time I now plug in a WD My Passport Wireless Pro, I'm presented with the error. This used to work.... Wondering if it has anything to do with a Catalina update.....
 
By any chance is your drive formatted as exFat? I know in Mojave there was an issue where exFat drives that didn't eject properly wouldn't mount again unless a scan was performed.
 
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