My Passport Ultra & Powerbook G4

WD External and Portable SSD External SSD for macOS
1

I have just bought an external HDD; a 1TB My Passport Ultra which has USB 3 connectivity.

I am an experienced Mac user, I have an recent iMac and a 7 year old Powerbook with USB 2 connectivity.

The first thing I did was checked to see if it mounted on the iMac ,which it did.

So I tried connecting to my laptop; it didn’t mount and Disk Utility didn’t see it either.

I then plugged it back into my iMac and used Disk Utility to change the format to Mac OS Extended, Journaled as normal procedure for HDD’s  with Macs.

Then ran it through DiskWarrior to rebuild the directory - good practice for HDD regular maintanance.

Finally I tried connecting it back to my laptop. Again no joy.

My laptop is a Powerbook G4 (Power PC) running OS X 10.5.8.

I’m not sure if the laptop delivers enough power through the USB 2 connection to run the Ultra drive, the blue light looks good though, so some power is being delivered.

The Ultra is supposed to be USB 2 compatable. I’m wondering if it really is???

I don’t really need to upgrade my laptop as it scurrently does all I need it to do.

So Is there any solution, please?

1 Like
2

The Powerbook G4 has a known issue not providing enough power via USB.

You will need a power booster cable.

Try contacting support and they will be able to get one for you.

http://support.wdc.com/contact/index.asp?wdc_lang=en

1 Like
3

Thank you,

I’ve had a good look at that option. I don’t like it much. Looks a fiddle with no guarantees that it will work.

I have to make a quick decision, because I have the option to get a refund.

I’ve decided to return the product and get a WD My Passport  Studio Firewire 800 & USB 2.0 connectivity (For Mac). The Firewire connection should  supply enough power, hopefully.

(I have a Formac  Mini which is Firewire power driven, and works OK on my G4 laptop)

4

Many other users have already tried that option and it does work

Check this article for more information:

WD My Passport drive is not recognized when connected to a Mac Laptop or G4

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1497

1 Like
5

Thanks for that.  I had found and read that peice.

I think Firewire is the right solution for me as Firewire is twice as fast as USB 2.0, my G4 has USB 2.0 and Firewire 800

Even though the Ultra has 3.0, it can only max at USB 2.0 speed connected to my laptop.

Therefore I’m sure Firewire is my best option.

So I’ve returned the Ultra to Amazon for a refund.

Thanks a lot for your advice

Alan

6

Came to suggest the booster cable or firewire, already done.

1 Like
7

thanks

8

Happy Update:

I thought I’d let you know the happy outcome (good news seldom gets published in this type of forum).

I returned the Ultra to Amazon for a refund,  and took delivery of a !TB Pasport Studio for Mac a day or so ago, also, from Amazon UK.    I love Amazon.

It worked straight out of the box,connected via the supplied Firewire 800 cable to my old, trusty Mac G4 Powerbook laptop,  :)

The drive was already pre formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled),  :).

I changed the desk icon to the WD icon (I used the nice icon in the included isoftware).

If anybody wants to know how, please ask.

I  opened my copy of DiskWarrior v4.4 and rebuilt the directory. I use DiskWarrior on all my disks for regular preventative maintanance.

I am now ready to go filming to France next Jan, skiing with my GoPro movie camera. I will dowload & review each days shooting to My Passport HDD, each evening.

I am so pleased with the WD My Passport Studio drive for Mac. The design and build quality is superb.

I don’t use any password protection, don’t see the need. Just something that could go wrong. I like to keep things as simple as possible. KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid - well known saying used in the design & advertising industry).

I don’t use the WD software either, no reflection on that. I’m sure it is excellent.

I use Disk Utility and DiskWarrior for regular preventative maintanance on all my 11 hard disks.

And i use Apple’s Time Machine for regular backup.

Been doing this for years. - I have a well oiled, smooth running system. And do the Safe Boot procedure to rebuild my computers directory regularily.  :)

Thank you WD for such good products, and thank you Amazon, for such good sevice. :slight_smile:

(I hope Amazon see this)

 Sorry admins to post this twice - I posted here first then thought, I need My Passport Studio for Mac in the header, so reposted.  Good news can only be a good thing. Manmy apologies.

9

Glad to know you were able to sort things out.

Edit: Please mark the post as solved as this might help other users.

1 Like
10

I can’t do that, lol.

I had trouble with the name Al_Capone, when I originally registered.

I couldn’t get back in to my account the next day after registering as Al-Capone,  Neither my email or name was recognised.

So I re-registered as Alcapone, and that is OK. No problems.

As a result, i don’t see  any solved button on the Al_Capone thread.

So, could you enter tthe thread as solved for me please, admins. ty.

11

AlCapone wrote:

I can’t do that, lol.

I had trouble with the name Al_Capone, when I originally registered.

 

I couldn’t get back in to my account the next day after registering as Al-Capone,  Neither my email or name was recognised.

 

So I re-registered as Alcapone, and that is OK. No problems.

 

As a result, i don’t see  any solved button on the Al_Capone thread.

 

So, could you enter tthe thread as solved for me please, admins. ty.

 

 

 

Done. :robothappy:

12

Hello,

I have a Powerbook G4 OSX Tiger and need to know if it can handle a 2TB My Passport Studio Firewire 800 HDD?  

If not, what would you recommend?

Thanks :slight_smile: