Hard drive clicks on Mac only?

alusdraalusdra
edited May 2008 in Hardware
Hey- long time, no post...

So I have one of those er... quick drives or whatever that doesn't need an external power source, just the USB. It's 60g. It works just fine with my PC (XPpro, sort of crappy, old laptop) but when I plug it into my Mac (Leopard, pretty beastly iMac) it whirs up, clicks and repeats. Won't let me take files off, sometimes it won't let me see it... I'm confused. It's FAT 32 like my other external (500g w/ power supply). They are both Western Digital.

I was going to format it, but my PC only will let me do it in NTSC. If I format it to that, will it let me go back? Or is there something else the matter? Maybe it's because my Mac has USB 2 and the PC is only original? Could it be because the Mac has like 8x the RAM? (4g vs 512)

The clicky makes me twitchy. And it sort of crashed the Mac last time I forced it. Well, I force quit Finder, which probably wasn't the brightest thing, then I panicked and turned the computer off. Apparently the clicking combined with my desktop disappearing sets me into irrational mode.

Am I SoL and can only use this on PC? Such a sexy hard drive to give me such issues...

Oh- incidentally, I think the last time I booted my laptop it error checked it (due to the Mac incident?) which was also traumatizing. It made me flashback to my Me computer. *shudder*

Comments

  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited May 2008
    if the PC runs it but the mac doesn't, it might be a not-enough-power-over-USB thing. Can you get an external power supply for it? Or does it not even have a jack for it?

    Welcome back, btw. :thumbsup:
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited May 2008
    Alusdra, what Prime wrote is right on the mark. Although USB ports are, well, USB ports, there are differences from laptop to laptop on how much power will actually be transmitted through the USB cables. There are special cables made for USB powered external drives. These cables have two USB ends to plug into the laptop and the ordinary single USB end that goes into the external drive. That configuration ensures adequate power to the 2.5" external drive. If you can't find one for a good price at an online vendor, try eBay. There are lots of 2.5" enclosures available on eBay that are bundled with cable I just mentioned. I got one of those kits - a good quality one at that, on eBay for something like $7.50.
  • alusdraalusdra
    edited May 2008
    Huh. Well that's just bizarre. It works fine on the laptop and messes up on the desktop. Maybe if I use one of the ports on the back instead of the ones on the keyboard.... Haha! Sweet- that fixed it. I'm an idiot. :p

    Thanks a lot! I was beginning to despair.
  • BlackHawkBlackHawk Bible music connoisseur There's no place like 127.0.0.1 Icrontian
    edited May 2008
    It should've said it on the drive packaging, but for future reference you need to ask WD for the cable.
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited May 2008
    alusdra wrote:
    Huh. Well that's just bizarre. It works fine on the laptop and messes up on the desktop. Maybe if I use one of the ports on the back instead of the ones on the keyboard.... Haha! Sweet- that fixed it. I'm an idiot. :p

    Thanks a lot! I was beginning to despair.

    For the record. The USB ports on the iMac keyboard are only USB1.1 and not 2.0 and they don't receive enough power to power those type of devices. Another thing to keep in mind is many cheaper USB hubs that say 2.0 are a usb 2.0 connection to the computer but then the hub itself is 1.1. This is almost always the case for any USB hubs that don't require a power supply. Usually if they have their own power supply they are 2.0 all around and can be used to power external drives.
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