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WD Passport 320 GB & Lacie 160 GB on Macbook pro
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Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
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Hi all,
Looking around the internet, before indulging myself to a 2'5" external hard drive, I couldn't find any information if the Macbook Pro USB ports could provide enough juice to make the drives spin. There was a lot of speculation and it was reported that the Powerbook 15" could not spin up a 250 GB WD Passport drive.
So I took the risk, bought myself a 160GB 2.5" lacie and a 320 GB WD Passport.
Initially:
1. Tried the Lacie, with the Firewire 400 port. It worked wonderfully, with the only problem of the cable being too easy to pull out from the Macbook Pro firewire 400 port, which had happened a couple of times while I was watching a movie off it in my bed...
2. Tried the Lacie with the USB connection. I attached it to the port on the left of the computer and it did not work. The drive could not spin up, with the computer either plugged in or not. Then I tried the port on the right, the one next to the Firewire port and it worked wonderfully. I didn't see any speed differences, the maximum throughput that I've seen was around 30mb/sec from both Firewire and USB connections.
3. Tried the WD Passport 320 GB on both USB ports and it worked like a charm. Speed is practically equal, with aroung 28-29mb/sec max throughput.
Hope the above help you in any purchasing decisions ;-) It would have saved me tons of time and provide peace of mind when purchasing an expensive external drive like the WD Passport...
Macbook Pro 15", C2D 2.16 GHz, 2 GB Ram, 120 GB 5400 internal drive, ATI graphics.
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Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Mar 2005
Status:
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Interesting...
I found that the 120 GB WD Passport Drive didn't work via USB on my 17" powerbook at all. (Granted - it's an older computer). I didn't try the USB on the left side, but the right side just gave me some clicking noises from the drive.
I ended up plugging a powered USB hub into the Powerbook, and then plugging the drive into the hub. This worked, and was fine with me because I was just making a one-time file transfer.
I had trouble with this drive when it was plugged into the docking station of my Dell computer at work, too. (Windows would pop up a message about a power surge on the USB port, and that it had been disabled.) I have to plug it directly into a side USB port on the Dell machine (even if it is docked) or I get unreliable operation and frequent "clicks" from the drive that sound like the drive heads parking.
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"Mac Daddy" - 15" MBP, 2.2 GHz Core i7, 8GB, 750GB HDD
"Mommy Mac" - 13" Macbook, 2.4GHz C2D, 2GB, 160GB
"Baby Mac" - 15" PB, 1.5GHz, 1.5GB, 80GB
64GB iPod Touch (4th gen)
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Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Status:
Offline
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I got the clicking sound when I plugged in the Lacie on the left USB port...  On the right, everything was fine... The WD Passport took longer to boot on the left side too, so I'm assuming that the left USB port has less power than the right on a macbook pro.
Tried them on my sister's 20" iMac (new revision) and both work fine on any USB port. Lacie works equally well on the firewire port.
(Last edited by jogi; Jan 3, 2008 at 08:00 PM.
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jan 2008
Status:
Offline
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I just bought a WD Passport 320 GB for my MacBook Pro, I tried connecting the drive with the usb cable that came with it, but nothing, I was searching the web, what could be the problem, so i read in the official web page of WD that I needed another cable, the one that uses the two usb ports in my computer to give enough power to the drive, I bought it (it is not the original from wd, but it's the usb power booster announced on their website) and nothing, keeps without recognizing the drive. Even with a pc, if you connect it in two ports says that the drive installation suffered a problem, please if you can help me, it would be very appreciated. Thank you.
MacBook Pro 15", C2D @ 2.4 Ghz, 2 GB Ram, 160GB 5400 rpm internal hard drive, nVidia Graphics.
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Moderator  Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cambridge, UK
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If it doesn't even work on a (desktop) pc properly, then return it for a different one. We buy tons of the 120GB versions in at my work, they work flawlessly on desktops and work on most laptops.
Does the drive spin up or make a clicking sound?
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jan 2008
Status:
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The disk yes it does spin, and you can barely hear a clicking sound, the light turns on, but the system just won' recognize it. I've tried in an HP brand new laptop, and on a Compaq Desktop PC with vista and still with the same result.
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Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Status:
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try it on the right usb port. works fine for me with no additional cables.
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Santa Cruz Mountains, CA
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I just wanted to say 'thanks' for your posts on this topic. I just bought a WD 160G hard drive and was confused when it didn't work with my iBook G3 (yes it's old but I love it). The hd did the lighting up and clicking act, but no recognition. If these aren't working with your new flashy Macs then I won't get anywhere with mine. I'm going to try another option - my boyfriend had to take apart his laptop and put his hard drive in an external enclosure - and that one powers up and works fine with my iBook. So I think I'll just make my own external drive. I have a question, though - the hard drive in the enclosure is 75G...if I get a bigger one, will it require more power from the USB port?
Thanks!
Sasha
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