I recently put the 40 GB hard drive that was in my A20m into a USB
enclosure and connected it without any problem to my desktop; i.e. the
drive worked fine and XP recognized it immediately.

However, when I moved the drive to the USB port on my A20m, the drive
clicked continuously, and XP refused to recognize it ,even though the
New Hardware Wizard installed the correct drivers. When I put it back
on the deaktop it worked perfectly again

Can anbody tell me what the problem may be getting the drive to work
on my laptops USB port.

Thanks

 (Robert Green) wrote in
 news:egg0v2p37llqtgkqrgd2ujb2bj4014qbup@4ax.com: 

> Can anbody tell me what the problem may be getting the drive to
> work on my laptops USB port.

The USB port in your laptop can't supply enough current to make the
drive work. 

Many USB drive enclosures have provision for external power, either
from a dedicated power supply or from a second USB port. 

I have that problem with one drive I use with my R51 Thinkpad. Oddly,
it will work without extra power with WinXP, but not with openSUSE
Linux. When I use the special cable to take power from the second USB
port, it works fine on both OSes. 

-- 
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN | bert@iphouse.com

Ahhh! Thanks a lot Bert. I was thinking that might be the case, but I
wasn't sure. Is there any other way to get the power I'd need to run
that thing on my Thinkpad, or am i out of luck?


On 08 Mar 2007 17:48:33 GMT, Bert Hyman <bert@iphouse.com> wrote:

> (Robert Green) wrote in
> news:egg0v2p37llqtgkqrgd2ujb2bj4014qbup@4ax.com: 
>
>> Can anbody tell me what the problem may be getting the drive to
>> work on my laptops USB port.
>
>The USB port in your laptop can't supply enough current to make the
>drive work. 
>
>Many USB drive enclosures have provision for external power, either
>from a dedicated power supply or from a second USB port. 
>
>I have that problem with one drive I use with my R51 Thinkpad. Oddly,
>it will work without extra power with WinXP, but not with openSUSE
>Linux. When I use the special cable to take power from the second USB
>port, it works fine on both OSes. 

 (Robert Green) wrote in
 news:nnp0v2tdokngqtnlcv8eim63rupb77sj3h@4ax.com: 

> Ahhh! Thanks a lot Bert. I was thinking that might be the case, but
> I wasn't sure. Is there any other way to get the power I'd need to
> run that thing on my Thinkpad, or am i out of luck?

Any way other than what? 

Somehow or another, you have to get sufficient power into the box to
spin the drive and move the heads. If the drive enclosure you're
using doesn't allow for external power, you can always buy another
that does; they're pretty cheap. 

As I said, the enclosure I'm currently using has two connectors, one
for USB and one for power. It also came with two USB cables, one is a
"real" data cable and the other has a USB connector on one end
and a power plug which matches the socket on the enclosure. I simply
plug both cables into the two USB connectors on my Thinkpad and I'm
OK. 

 
> On 08 Mar 2007 17:48:33 GMT, Bert Hyman <bert@iphouse.com> wrote:
> 
>> (Robert Green) wrote in
>> news:egg0v2p37llqtgkqrgd2ujb2bj4014qbup@4ax.com: 
>>
>>> Can anbody tell me what the problem may be getting the drive to
>>> work on my laptops USB port.
>>
>>The USB port in your laptop can't supply enough current to make the
>>drive work. 
>>
>>Many USB drive enclosures have provision for external power, either
>>from a dedicated power supply or from a second USB port. 
>>
>>I have that problem with one drive I use with my R51 Thinkpad.
>>Oddly, it will work without extra power with WinXP, but not with
>>openSUSE Linux. When I use the special cable to take power from the
>>second USB port, it works fine on both OSes. 


-- 
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN | bert@iphouse.com

Thanks Bert. My enclosuure also has a USB port for getting additional
power, but the problem is that my thinkpad only has one USB port.

Hey, iif I put my laptop near my desktop, could I use one of those USB
ports for Xtra power? Sounds like it, but i just want to be sure.

Thanks 


On 08 Mar 2007 20:56:48 GMT, Bert Hyman <bert@iphouse.com> wrote:

> (Robert Green) wrote in
> news:nnp0v2tdokngqtnlcv8eim63rupb77sj3h@4ax.com: 
>
>> Ahhh! Thanks a lot Bert. I was thinking that might be the case, but
>> I wasn't sure. Is there any other way to get the power I'd need to
>> run that thing on my Thinkpad, or am i out of luck?
>
>Any way other than what? 
>
>Somehow or another, you have to get sufficient power into the box to
>spin the drive and move the heads. If the drive enclosure you're
>using doesn't allow for external power, you can always buy another
>that does; they're pretty cheap. 
>
>As I said, the enclosure I'm currently using has two connectors, one
>for USB and one for power. It also came with two USB cables, one is a
>"real" data cable and the other has a USB connector on one end
>and a power plug which matches the socket on the enclosure. I simply
>plug both cables into the two USB connectors on my Thinkpad and I'm
>OK. 
>
> 
>> On 08 Mar 2007 17:48:33 GMT, Bert Hyman <bert@iphouse.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> (Robert Green) wrote in
>>> news:egg0v2p37llqtgkqrgd2ujb2bj4014qbup@4ax.com: 
>>>
>>>> Can anbody tell me what the problem may be getting the drive to
>>>> work on my laptops USB port.
>>>
>>>The USB port in your laptop can't supply enough current to make the
>>>drive work. 
>>>
>>>Many USB drive enclosures have provision for external power, either
>>>from a dedicated power supply or from a second USB port. 
>>>
>>>I have that problem with one drive I use with my R51 Thinkpad.
>>>Oddly, it will work without extra power with WinXP, but not with
>>>openSUSE Linux. When I use the special cable to take power from the
>>>second USB port, it works fine on both OSes. 

In news:9v21v2hhrnq875kaijsr54r00ijdvt65mq@4ax.com Robert Green <>
wrote: 

> Thanks Bert. My enclosuure also has a USB port for getting additional
> power, but the problem is that my thinkpad only has one USB port.

Oh; I didn't realize that.
 
> Hey, iif I put my laptop near my desktop, could I use one of those USB
> ports for Xtra power? Sounds like it, but i just want to be sure.

I'd guess it would work, but if you don't want to be tied to your
desktop for power, I've seen AC "wall warts" with USB sockets that
supply 5 Volts for just this sort of application. 


-- 
Bert Hyman	St. Paul, MN	bert@iphouse.com

Robert Green wrote:
> Thanks Bert. My enclosuure also has a USB port for getting additional
> power, but the problem is that my thinkpad only has one USB port.

You can get a USB cable for your external drive that also has a power 
connector for the mouseport on your Thinkpad.

Check your local CompUSA, BB, etc.
-- 
James

Visit the Thinkpad Forums
http://forum.thinkpads.com 

Not enough power use a USB powered hub or if the encloure has two USB 
conectors connect both if Laptop has two USB
<Robert Green> wrote in message 
news:egg0v2p37llqtgkqrgd2ujb2bj4014qbup@4ax.com...
>I recently put the 40 GB hard drive that was in my A20m into a USB
> enclosure and connected it without any problem to my desktop; i.e. the
> drive worked fine and XP recognized it immediately.
>
> However, when I moved the drive to the USB port on my A20m, the drive
> clicked continuously, and XP refused to recognize it ,even though the
> New Hardware Wizard installed the correct drivers. When I put it back
> on the deaktop it worked perfectly again
>
> Can anbody tell me what the problem may be getting the drive to work
> on my laptops USB port.
>
> Thanks