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Displaylink usb-C hub device with HDD keeps on disconnecting

I believe that my HDD external device on the USB port of the External USB-C displaylink hub is not powering the harddrive (an USB 3.0 flash drives even). I am wondering if I can simply upgrade to a higher watt charger for the Macbook Air (30w) and that would power the hub via PD and charge up the macbook air M1. The only other alternative I can think of is buying another powered USB 3.0 hub to power my HDD and flash drives, but that seems like too much gear to walk around with.

Posted on Apr 11, 2022 6:19 AM

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Posted on Apr 11, 2022 12:42 PM

You should be able to use a compatible hub on battery power. All the better if it's self powered tho as too many may strain your battery, especially if it's weak.


Whether or not you carry around all your external gear is a personal choice. Personally, I treat my Laptops as laptops and leave the external gadgetry on the desk at home. I do carry a very small portable SSD for data security if my mobile task requires it.


I leave all the backing up and such for when the Mac sits on my desk.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 11, 2022 12:42 PM in response to PaulAirs

You should be able to use a compatible hub on battery power. All the better if it's self powered tho as too many may strain your battery, especially if it's weak.


Whether or not you carry around all your external gear is a personal choice. Personally, I treat my Laptops as laptops and leave the external gadgetry on the desk at home. I do carry a very small portable SSD for data security if my mobile task requires it.


I leave all the backing up and such for when the Mac sits on my desk.

Apr 11, 2022 2:26 PM in response to ku4hx

I need the USB-C with the displaylink to drive dual external monitors at work, as well as a external HDD to do unix style grep and filename searches, which I want to offload from the internal HDD because of the constant writes and reads of these text files isn't going to be friendly to the wear and tear on the drive... at home I use a desktop and so essentially the external drive is how I walk around with my data from desktop to remote with the laptop.

Displaylink usb-C hub device with HDD keeps on disconnecting

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