Need help with 1 tb mass storage device with linux

[mlists]

On Tue, Apr 28, 2009 at 12:14:58AM -0400, Alex Beamish wrote:
> Dave,
> 
> This is a long shot, but it could be that you need a special USB cable
> for this drive. It has two USB connections that go to a single
> mini-USB connector -- this provides more power that a standard USB
> cable.
> 
> I had to order mine through Tiger Direct for my wife's 250G passport.
> We plugged it in and suddenly the drive worked. Would have never
> believed it if I hadn't seen it.
> 
> Don't have a link for you right now, but it's essentially a Y cable.
> Hope this helps.
> 

I realize this doesn't apply to the original post, but I thought that I
would correct this.

The USB2 spec says that you can only supply 500mW of power over each usb
port. Most 2.5" drives around ~80GB+ require at least 1W of power to do
the initial spin-up.

Lots of USB ports will provide 'over current' above and beyond the spec
if the device tries to draw it, but some will not. I believe that most
newer USB ports in laptops/desktop will do this.

It's also notable that sometimes the USB cables themselves fail when it
comes to supplying large amounts of power over them. I have an LG
external CD/DVD burner that is supposed to be able to run on the power
over the USB cable, but I was never able to get to work (at all) until I
ended up using this one specific USB cable I have, which allows it to
work flawlessly. (IIRC, even the USB cable that came with it wouldn't
work)

* note to OP - the kernel still saw the device even though it wasn't
working with the other cables.

* note to others - I did most of my research on this when I was looking
at getting an external 100GB drive back when that was the largest 2.5"
drive on the market (summer of '05)

Back on topic, I have a 1TB Western Digital "Essentials MyBook" (or
something like that) which works fine when connected to my Ubuntu
desktop. (The whole thing is WD, not just the the internal 3.5" drive)

If you're trying to buy a drive and case separately to save money, you
might as well look at the prices of all-in-one external drives at places
in Buffalo, NY. (prices in the states are a lot cheaper on these things,
and for some reason the larger capacity drives seem to hit the States
first before Canada)
-- 
Brandon Sandrowicz
--
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