Cannot use Western Digital HDD with Pismo?

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Level 1

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Cannot use Western Digital HDD with Pismo?

Good evening,
I am trying to use a Western Digital Passport 250GB external HDD USB with my Pismo, but it mounts the HDD, but says it is unreadable and then forwards me to the Disk Utility. It seems the HDD but I can't partition it or anything. So, I partitioned it on my G4 iMac, on which it works perfectly, and then removed it and tried to use it on the Pismo; again, no luck! Is this a fool's errand or am I doing something wrong? Please advise as I need more than the 20GB internal HDD.

Powerbook G3 Pismo, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Jul 17, 2009 7:28 PM

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Answer 1

jpl

Level 7

28,285 points

Jul 17, 2009 11:22 PM in response to spcmiller

spcmiller,

Welcome to the Discussions.

If your USB HD is bus-powered, odds are the Pismo is not supplying sufficient bus power (a known issue) while the G4 iMac does. Western Digital offered a 'Y' USB cable that would get power from both built-in USB ports but I don't know if they still supply it; I would check with WD. An alternative is to use a powered USB hub.

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Answer 2

spcmiller Author

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Jul 18, 2009 9:07 AM in response to jpl

So, per your instructions, I went out and purchased a powered USB hub to power the HDD; the same problem remains. When I try to partition the Drive or format it, it comes up with "input/output error" and I know it's not the ports themselves, because I've already tested them and they are fine. I'm truly at a loss.

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Answer 3

jpl

Level 7

28,285 points

Jul 18, 2009 10:20 AM in response to spcmiller

spcmiller,

I am sorry the suggestion did not work but underpowered USB ports on Mac portables is an issue with external USB HDs. You have something else going on which I cannot answer.

I would suggest posting in the Powerbook G4 (15-inch Titanium):

http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=129

The Titanium also has USB 1.1 ports, has issues with USB HDs, and the forum has more activity than the Older Powerbook Computers. Also, if you wish, perform a search in the Titanium forum for 'USB western digital' for many posts. I saw none that matched your experience. When you post, I would explain that you have a Pismo and were sent to this forum for the reasons I mentioned; you can even link to this thread if you wish.

Sorry I could not solve your issue.

Message was edited by: jpl

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Answer 4

Aug 28, 2009 4:04 PM in response to spcmiller

Just switched to an external FireWire HDD...works like a charm! Thanks to all who offered info!

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