I have had tremendously variable luck with USB bus-powered devices like hard drives and iPods. My general results are that it is usually a power problem more so than chipset compatibility.
Examples: I have a no-name 60 GB drive that will cheerfully power up and work properly on my Dell mini-tower, it will sometimes work on my G5 iMac and almost never on my Powerbook G4. Likewise, my 60 GB iPod will often drop out half-way through a transfer when hooked directly to my G5 iMac or G4 Mini, but cheerfully transfers gigs and gigs of data when hooked to a PC desktop machine. A friend had a 320GB USB external that would just click and never spin on their laptop OR desktop, they were going to throw it away. I hooked it to my PC desktop and it worked just fine. On my G5 iMac it would just click and click also. I went to Frys and bought a USB 2.0 hub, and specifically looked for which one had the beefiest/biggest/highest current capacity power supply. Connecting any of the devices to ANY computer through that makes them work very reliably. The little Y plugs don't always help, because if the power busses inside your computer cannot deliver enough current out the USB ports to run the device, doubling the wire won't necessarily double the power capacity. Therefore I usually conclude whenever I see someone who can't get a USB bus-powered HD to work that lack of power is probably the key. It seems to happen more with laptops (which is where these things are usually the most needed!). Most USB devices run off 5V DC. If I'm looking for an external power supply I usually want one that can deliver at least 2 amps of current at 5 volts. As long as the voltage is right, more amps is good - it means the power supply can DELIVER that much current, it won't force that much current through the device (just like a car battery can deliver 100 amps but won't burn out my 3 amp netbook as long as its all rated for 12 volts). Most HD's don't need 2 amps to run, but may need 1.5 to start up (1.5 amps at 5V is only 7.5 watts). If the HD is never going to leave the desktop, then I get full size drives in powered enclosures which never have these kind of issues. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Books, a group for those using G3 iBooks and PowerBooks (we run a separate list for G4 'Books). The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To leave this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g-books Support for older Macs: http://lowendmac.com/services/
