Passport rolling again
I have a Western Digital external hard drive and have been frustrated with it on my laptop recently since it’s not been working. This morning I finally got it working again. The issue seems to be with the USB cable I was using - I’m now using a cable that’s about a foot and a half long and it seems a little beefier (this is probably the cable that came with the drive). This was probably sort of predictable - I think the drive (which is powered over the USB cable) probably wasn’t getting the power it needed to run, but it’s still frustrating. I wish computers could get some better diagnostics working explaining why the device wasn’t able to work rather than an infinite loop of “trying to find drivers…oops, no good…trying to find drivers…”
BUT - I have a working drive again. Yay!
chris said,
February 3, 2008 @ 7:23 am
you are 100% right!
I have no problems with the WD passport 80GB (silver metal case), but I have with the 160BG (black plastic case). Its a problem with the power. (the shorter cable you use, the better)
Patrick said,
February 3, 2008 @ 7:37 pm
Cool - it’s too bad that this isn’t a little more clear or a little more robust — I’d hate to think I lost or tossed my USB cable before realizing this mattered! I’m glad to have confirmation about this, though. Cheers!