[iBook] USB powered external drives

[Jean-Paul Thuot]

On 9/24/06, Steve R <mailing.lists.2005 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Quick question about USB powered external drives. I'm seeing some
> external cases being sold without an AC power option. Instead, there
> seems to be what looks like a Y-cable that's USB at all three
> connections. Reading reviews of the products, some folks are
> mentioning they didn't need to use the Y-cable as a regular USB cable
> worked fine.
>
> On the iBook 500 Dual USB, does anyone have any experience with these
> USB powered external drives, and if so, are you having to use the
> Y-cable which I'm assuming would be pulling power from both USB
> jacks. (And isn't the 500 Dual USB one of the iBooks that has already
> split the power between the two jacks?)

Hi Steve,

I had a Dual USB iBook (G3 600) when I bought my USB/Firewire external
hard drive.  In my experience, the iBook's USB ports were underpowered
for what was needed to boot up the drive.  I ended up having to buy a
powered USB hub in order to make it work.  I didn't mind, as the hub
was cheap and it's always handy to have a few more ports at one's
disposal.

I now have G4 Powerbook, and it still needs the external hub to power
the external HD.


>
> Also, can the iBook 500 Dual USB boot from an external USB 1.1 drive
> or would the drive need to be a Firewire drive?

I have never used my drive this way, so I can't answer, sorry.

Jean-Paul