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Mac Forum / General / Hardware / November 2006Doesn't detect USB 2.0 hard disk
Hi, My Mac Mini Dual Core Intel doesn't detect a USB 2.0 hard disk. What can I do? It came with a driver for "Mac OS 8.6 and up" and it's supposed to be "Mac compatible" however the driver doesn't seem to run under Rosetta (it won't execute) and the USB hard disk isn't detected. Can I do anything to detect it? I've run USB Probe and checked under the system details under the Apple menu, but it isn't detected. Mike > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > to be "Mac compatible" however the driver doesn't seem to run under Rosetta > (it won't execute) and the USB hard disk isn't detected. Mac OS X doesn't need after-market drivers for any USB storage device that complies with the USB Mass Storage Spec, which _should_ apply to any USB 2 drive. What _does_ show up in System Profiler when the drive is attached and on?  SignatureThe best intentions in the world don't make a flawed argument magically valid. > > Hi, > > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > What _does_ show up in System Profiler when the drive is attached and on? Nothing shows up in the System Profiler. Neither under Hardware->USB nor under Network->Volumes. It works fine on my two Windows XP computers, but neither on the Mac OS X Power PC (G4) nor on the Mac Mini Intel Dual Core. I guess it's USB 2.0 compliant because the XP machines don't need drivers to detect it. So what might be the problem? Mike > > > Hi, > > > [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > Mike Is the drive bus-powered or does it have its own power supply? I've heard of a few bus-powered drives that attempt to pull more power than the spec promises and that might behave as you're seeing. SignatureThe best intentions in the world don't make a flawed argument magically valid. > Is the drive bus-powered or does it have its own power supply? I've > heard of a few bus-powered drives that attempt to pull more power than > the spec promises and that might behave as you're seeing. It's bus powered. Maybe that's the problem? Do you think it'd be fixed if I bought an USB hub which has an external power supply? It's not a *huge* problem, because I can always connect it to some of the XP machines and then share the hard disk over the network. However, it'd be great if it worked the way it's supposed to work. Mike > > Is the drive bus-powered or does it have its own power supply? I've > > heard of a few bus-powered drives that attempt to pull more power than [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Do you think it'd be fixed if I bought an USB hub which has an external > power supply? It _could_ be. But if your drive is in that category that assumes the availability of power beyond what's guaranteed by the spec, getting it to work off bus power from any host/hub is a complete coin toss. G SignatureThe best intentions in the world don't make a flawed argument magically valid. >> Is the drive bus-powered or does it have its own power supply? I've >> heard of a few bus-powered drives that attempt to pull more power [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Do you think it'd be fixed if I bought an USB hub which has an > external power supply? Quite possibly. How are you attaching it now? If it's attached directly to the Mac, then it probably has a design defect - drawing too much power. If you are attaching it to a non-powered hub (including the one in your keyboard), then that's the cause of your problem. Bus-powered devices should never be attached to non-powered hubs, because they draw too much power. -- David > Quite possibly. > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > -- David The device came with a Y cable so it can be used with non powered USB hubs. I don't understand what I should connect the other cable to in order to use the disk with such hubs... do you? Should it sit between the computer and the hub so the disk works as a USB-through-port? That might indicate it does consume too much power. And maybe it's just the odd cable... (I've never seen Y cables for the USB port - sounds a bit odd to say the least). I should try with another one. Mike > The device came with a Y cable so it can be used with non powered USB > hubs. I don't understand what I should connect the other cable to in > order to use the disk with such hubs... do you? Should it sit between > the computer and the hub so the disk works as a USB-through-port? That > might indicate it does consume too much power. The other connector should go to a different USB port - one that can provide power. This is meant for people with older computers, that may only have USB 1.1 ports. PCMCIA card-based USB 2.0 ports (and a few PCI-based ones) often don't provide power, but USB 1.1 is slow. This cable is a workaround - one end goes into the non-powered USB 2.0 port, the other goes into a powered (and presumably slower) USB port. (There are also some drives that literally consume too much power for one USB port. They also use Y cables, in order to draw power from two ports. These drives usually also come with an external power brick for those situations where you don't have two powered ports available.) In either case, a non-powered hub won't work. Use an external power brick with the drive or get a powered hub. -- David << It's bus powered. Maybe that's the problem? >> That could very well be your problem. IMPORTANT QUESTION: what kind of cable are you using to connect the USB drive to the Mac? If it's a "standard" cable, the drive may not be getting enough power to spin up properly and come "up on the bus". I had a similar problem with a small, portable USB2/Firewire drive. If I used a standard connecting cable, it wouldn't power up properly. To spin up and mount, the drive required a special cable that resembled a "Y" connector. One end goes to the USB port on the Mac. The other two ends go to 1. USB port on the drive 2. Power input on the drive Does the drive in question have an external power supply, at all? If not, does it have a small "power input port" on it? If so, is there a "Y-cable" you can use to connect it? - John Hey guys, it was the cable. It was a very odd Y cable, which came with the device (although the device isn't equipped with a power input). Strange but it worked on the Windows machines, with the Y cable, but not on my 2 Macs. Anyway, it works perfect now when I use an ordinary cable. Thanks for the trouble shooting :) Mike > << It's bus powered. Maybe that's the problem? >> > [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > > - John |
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