[timmyH]

i just got a usb 40gig portable external hard drive. It works fine, and i have automatic backups set up every fifteen minutes. However, it seems to have screwed with my usb ports for some reason since i installed the software. Now when i try and print with the hard disk plugged in, the printer registers the computer but stops prints and will not print anything. Also the usb ports themselves sporadically work and then don't work with any external device. Its weird. Can anyone shed any light on this at all?

Also my antenna for wireless internet is buggered, anyone know if i can get this replaced - i can't move more than 5ft away from my hub before i los the signal - its got nothing to do with the airport connection etc.

thanks for the tips
Tim

[wataru]

Automatic backups every 15 minutes!? That's overkill. Try daily, at most. I doubt that has much to do with your problem, though.

Iomega software has always been flaky in my experience. Maybe try ditching that for a little bit and see if things improve. Are you using USB1.1 or 2.0? What brand of printer is it? What model of iBook do you have?

Have you checked to make sure the Airport card is connected to your iBook's internal antenna? Does this problem happen with other base stations, or just yours? How about with other computers?

[timmyH]

dude....if you knew the **** i've had to deal with with my ibook then you would not think that 15mins is overkill. I've had nothing but problem after problem since i purchased my ibook 500 two years ago. It all culminated in one massive blow out where the logic board, hard drive and cd rw/dvd drive all busted at once and all had to be replaced. This went all the way to the top and Steve Jobs. Anyway i nearly lost my business because of the amount of data that was irreversibly lost. So there you go. Anyhow the printer is an epsom 1270 and the hdd is usb 2.0 in a usb1.0 port so effectively usb 1.0.

With regards to the wireless - its not the router as other computers connect to it perfectly, the card and antenna connection is snugly fitted and placed, so the only other possible reason is a dodgy antenna, yet another problem with a computer that i don't think was ever put together correctly in the first place.

Still, the problems with the usb ports persist.

[Mr Ti]

Just on the back up, if it is USB 1 and copying every 15 mins, you can't be backing up much data?

USB 1 in 15 Mins copies what? 800mb? It's slow as hell.

If you really are copying data on usb 1 in less than 15mins the backup is either;

1. Tiny

2. Almost immediately starting over again just at it has finished

Why not just burn to CDRW every hour?

Or get a FW HD?

[timmyH]

i tried to get a firewire version but it got discontinued. The data is about 800mb, its all business related info such as design work in illustrator and photoshop plus accounts, excel, word docs etc. Not a lot in terms of data but priceless in monetary terms.

Anyhow, back to the original question - does anyone know why this may be screwing with my usb ports?

[wataru]

No, but it sure sounds like you might not be finishing each backup in time for the next. Try bumping it back to once every hour and see if that helps.