Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

suprz's ghost · 08:35 PM

I hope that someone here can help, this is driving me nuts (it's probably something simple to fix)
ANYWAYS......I just bought a brand new external 2.5 hd enclosure and have put in a known working 12gb HD (IBM Travelstar) and i have it in the enclosure correctly and when i plug it into the USB1.1 port of my ibook 300mhz running OSX10.2.1 all i get is a clicking noise from the hd and a blinking red light from the HD enclosure. I know this HD is good, and I had the same experience with a different enclosure. WHAT THE HECK GIVES???? The drive doesnt show up on the desktop, and isnt in disk utility either. The only thing i can think of is that there is no jumper on the hd (master, slave, etc....)
I am plugging it directly into the usb port on the ibook. I also tried it in a self powered usb hub and still the same results.....

(and the USB port is good, i use it for all my other peripherals zip, camera etc....)

rozwado1 · Dec 3, 2004, 10:25 PM

it's something with the jumper settings. Which HD do you have (model #)?

f1000 · Dec 4, 2004, 09:02 AM

Make sure that you plugged the IDE cable in correctly. Some of the cheaper Chinese manufacturers don't key the plug, so that it's possible to insert the cable off-by-one or upside down.

brickcam · Dec 4, 2004, 05:15 PM

I agree with rozwado -- the blinking red light suggests a jumper problem. Find out what your hd manufacturer specifies and set the jumper accordingly (master, slave, etc.).

suprz's ghost · Dec 4, 2004, 06:36 PM

Originally posted by rozwado1:
it's something with the jumper settings. Which HD do you have (model #)?

It's a IBM Deskstar
12GB 2.5 hd
Model#DJSA-220

The funny thing is that on the label for the drive, it shows jumper settings for 'device1" (slave)
and "cable select"
but the drawing for "device0' (master)
doesnt show any jumper block ijust has a black square with a point showing the first pair of pins AFTER the 4 jumper pins shown in the slave and cable select drawings and the black square reads "PIN1"

I hope that makes sense to someone, cause it doesnt to me!
it would seem that you dont need jumpers if it is the "master"

but i dont have any jumpers that fit anyways (radioshack??)

Drakino · Dec 5, 2004, 02:48 PM

Heh, this just came up in the Powerbook area as well, so I'll repost my comment:

From a person I know with a lot of hard drive knowledge:

The basic spec is that many 2.5" drivers draw 5W of power during spin-up. Since they're running off of 5VDC, that means 1Amp. USB2 ports deliver 0.5Amp.. thus..

Some 2.5" enclosures include a funky cable with TWO USB-A connectors, so that it can draw power from two ports instead of one, for a total of 1Amp.

Apple builds USB ports exactly to spec. Problem is, most USB ports on the PC side are above spec, and USB devices have grown accustom to this. Thus, USB enclosures often get away with power off just one plug on the PC, but will need both on a Mac.

I recently bought this enclosure off NewEgg for $30. It has the 2 USB solution for my PC laptop, and 6 pin Firewire for my Powerbook.

suprz's ghost · Dec 6, 2004, 09:01 AM

Originally posted by Drakino:
Heh, this just came up in the Powerbook area as well, so I'll repost my comment:

From a person I know with a lot of hard drive knowledge:

Apple builds USB ports exactly to spec. Problem is, most USB ports on the PC side are above spec, and USB devices have grown accustom to this. Thus, USB enclosures often get away with power off just one plug on the PC, but will need both on a Mac.

I recently bought this enclosure off NewEgg for $30. It has the 2 USB solution for my PC laptop, and 6 pin Firewire for my Powerbook.

this enclosure only came with 1 usb cable and of course the ibook only came with one usb port......
I find it hard to believe this is the case with every enclosure that you can buy. If that was the case there woudl be alot more people having the same problem as myself.

suprz's ghost · Dec 6, 2004, 11:18 AM

I just got off the phone with tech support at Hitachi (they do the deskstar IBM drives) and it was confirmed that there are no jumpers necessary for the drive to work in an external USB enclosure. of course they had no idea why it wont work.......

Drakino · Dec 8, 2004, 05:24 PM

Originally posted by suprz's ghost:
I find it hard to believe this is the case with every enclosure that you can buy. If that was the case there woudl be alot more people having the same problem as myself.

It's a common USB issue. Did it also come with a weird cable that plugs into the power port on the enclosure then a round plug on the other side? This is the other common solution on the PC side, as that round plug can draw power from the old PS/2 keyboard ports.

You seem to have elliminated everything else, not sure what advice anyone here can really give you if you won't accept what has been said. Feel free to try and call the drive enclosure company about this, or e-mail them.

f1000 · Dec 9, 2004, 12:57 PM

Originally posted by suprz's ghost:
I just got off the phone with tech support at Hitachi (they do the deskstar IBM drives) and it was confirmed that there are no jumpers necessary for the drive to work in an external USB enclosure. of course they had no idea why it wont work.......

Can you post the make and model of your USB enclosure? I have a feeling that your enclosure may not be compatible with OS X. I have a Simple DrivePak, for example, that worked fine with OS 9, but is worthless under OS X.

suprz's ghost · Dec 23, 2004, 12:42 PM

http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...827&pfp=SEARCH

This is the one i have. but it is listed on the box as a "compusa" brand. Also i have tried it on another ibook (14" 900mhz ibook running panther) and the drive spins but it does not show on the desktop or in disk utility. and you can hear it spin but no other noise like the heads moving at all.

medmuse · Dec 24, 2004, 08:33 AM

I have the same problem with a Bytecc/Triumph external 2.5 HD USB enclosure. It has an ALi/Cypress chipset which no longer works in X 3.7 and there seems to be no firmware or kext update anywhere (last worked under X 3.5 with a 2.6 kext) BUT it has a Y USB cable that plugs into another port for extra power as well as the HD enclosure port and the computer port. To use under OS 9 I have to use the Y cable (mine also has included DC power plug) to spin it up. That clicking sound is the HD not drawing enough power. I have the same issue plugging it into my USB 1.1 XP laptop.

What you are being told about power draw is absolutely correct. Believe it. There may, indeed, be a new issue with the chipset under OS X 3.7 depending on your firmware/chipset.

MAC365 · Dec 25, 2004, 07:15 PM

To the OP, I also cannot get my old 6gb ibook drive to work in an external USB 1 caddy in any Mac or PC i've tried it with. I know the drive is good but I cannot format it successfully even though it shows up in disk utility but always as over 100gb?? I can almost get it to format in pc format but when I disconnect and try to reconnect I get a message 'this disk is unrecognisable etc'. A newer travelstar 20gb is fine however so the caddy does work. I read somewhere there are issues with some hard drives and some caddies.