Computer & Laptop Hardware

[#1]

why does my external hard drive requier 2 usb ports

[#2]

I assume it is a 'portable' hard drive, one of the smaller ones.  These have 2 port cables for power usage.  A single usb port does not provide enough power for a hard drive to run at full speed.  It will usually work with only one plugged in, but it will perform much better with both in.

[#3]

Message Edited by PlugNPlay on 11-11-2009 08:20 PM

[#4]

My apologies, Daisy chaining only works via Firewire.

[#5]

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roparadi wrote:
I assume it is a 'portable' hard drive, one of the smaller ones.  These have 2 port cables for power usage.  A single usb port does not provide enough power for a hard drive to run at full speed.  It will usually work with only one plugged in, but it will perform much better with both in.

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Just to correct some information here, many portable hard drives function just fine using one USB input (I know as I have three like this), however, some portable hard drives require a little more power to function, and these are the ones that need two USB ports for power.  In some cases though, especially with some older laptops/computers, the USB ports do not provide sufficient power for the hard drive on their own.  If using one of these older computers or any computer with low power output USB ports, you'll also need to use two USB ports.  In this case, many manufacturers offer the seperate cable for this.