At 8:45 AM -0800 12/21/2008, Jeffrey Engle wrote: >On Dec 21, 2008, at 8:39 AM, Bruce Johnson wrote: > > On Dec 21, 2008, at 9:23 AM, Jeffrey Engle wrote: > >> Here's the deal.... >>> >>> I have a 160gb hard drive external that I needed to partition then do >>> a secure erase.... not even 15 minutes into the erase, the warning >>> window comes up saying that I disconnected the drive! aAAAH! I > > >> Something caused the drive to drop off the bus. Flaky USB interface in > > the drive? > >Just curious, the drive enclosure has a Y-usb cable for power from the >usb ports on the macbook, if the "power side" was not plugged in, >would that have anything to do with it?
One of the ways companies make their laptops have better battery life is by providing less power over the USB and Firewire type interfaces. heh. Apple is notorious for this. If the drive has such an adapter, that's a clue -- the drive probably requires 90% or more of the "standard" power off that bus, and if your laptop isn't even providing that "standard"... Running it without that being plugged in is just asking for trouble, IMO. BTW, what's the point of partitioning the drive BEFORE doing the secure erase? You want to make sure some part of the drive retains its old data, or is not exercised (depending on your purpose for said erase). - Dan. -- - Psychoceramic Emeritus; South Jersey, USA, Earth --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to g3-5-list-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
