Bus powered USB switch with a printer

I think I know the answer to my question, but I'd like to get a few other opinions.
Here's the question: Will the Airport Extreme supply power to a USB switch?
Here's what I want to do: We have a Canon all-in-one printer in our office. When it's connected to the AE, we happily print wirelessly. However, when we need to scan, we have to unplug the printer from the AE and plug it into our Macbooks. Inevitably, the printer doesn't get reconnected to the AE (cough, DH), and so I get irked. To keep a blissful household, I'd like to connect the printer to a 2-port USB switch. One port will then be connected to the AE and the other port will have a dangling USB cable for use when we need to scan. My issue is that I can't seem to find a simple USB switch that also has an AC adapter. Everything I see online is bus powered and from what I can gather, the AE does not provide power to the USB port. Is this in fact true?

Thanks DaddyPaycheck - I looked on amazon, newegg, and tiger direct with no luck, but hadn't checked OWC. Whatya know, I found exactly what I was looking for.
Kensington ShareCentral 2
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Kensington/33900/
I ended up buying it on Amazon for the same price with free shipping. It's good for two USB devices, even though I only need to share one printer, but the single USB switch was actually more expensive.

Similar Messages

How many bus-powered usb external drives per hub?

I'd like to have two bus-powered USB hard drives (to be used as backups with Time Machine) connected to one powered USB hub. Would that work, or would a powered hub be likely to support only one bus-powered external hard disk? (In that case I could get a self-powered hard drive for my second backup drive.)
Thank you.

Works for me, I just connected both my WD Passport and Seagate GoFlex to my Belkin Hub.
Hub: Belkin
Product ID: 0x2507
Vendor ID: 0x0424 (SMSC)
Version: 0.00
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Location ID: 0x26200000 / 2
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 2
FreeAgent GoFlex:
Product ID: 0x5021
Vendor ID: 0x0bc2 (Seagate LLC)
Version: 1.48
Serial Number: NA03N18Y
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Seagate
Location ID: 0x26270000 / 4
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 100
Capacity: 320.07 GB (320,072,932,864 bytes)
Removable Media: Yes
Detachable Drive: Yes
BSD Name: disk2
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
Passport WD:
Product ID: 0x0704
Vendor ID: 0x1058 (Western Digital Technologies, Inc.)
Version: 1.05
Serial Number: 5758453830384E4A30333634
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Western Digital
Location ID: 0x26250000 / 3
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 2
Capacity: 160.04 GB (160,041,885,696 bytes)
Removable Media: Yes
Detachable Drive: Yes
BSD Name: disk1
Partition Map Type: MBR (Master Boot Record)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
Likewise it your needing another External Hard Drive, I would recommend spending a little more for a more rugged Desktop drive to use for storage or backup.
Go with an OWC Mercury Elite Pro or a LaCie Little Big Disk and stay away from those cheap-o WD MyBooks.

Why won't my 2011 MBP boot from bus-powered USB devices?

In the past, I have often made use of OS X's ability to boot from an external USB device. Before installing major OS updates, or new productivity software, I usually clone my system drive onto an external USB drive using Superduper or CarbonCopyCloner. Once the clone is complete, I can then boot from the external drive (by holding Option at startup, and choosing the cloned image from the boot disk menu). This has been incedibly useful in the past when I've had hard disk problems, or when I've upgraded to a new Mac.
My issue is with my new 2011 model 17" MBP. I am only able to boot from an external USB drive if the drive isn't bus-powered. If I try to boot from an OS X image located on a bus-powered USB flash drive or pocket hard drive, the drive seems to power down upon choosing it from the boot menu and I'm greeted by a blank gray screen. I've also tested this technique using a bus-powered DVD drive containing the Snow Leopard retail DVD (and a Windows 7 install DVD for what it's worth) and the problem remains. The optical drive will spin up upon startup, but power down as soon as I choose to boot from the DVD.
This issue only seems to affect my 2011 MBP. I've had no issues getting the same technique to work on my old 2007 MBP or a 2008 model MacBook.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Fair enough. I'll give that a try as a last resort.
I used my wife's MacBook Pro, Target Disk Mode and a Firewire 800 cable to install Snow Leopard on my MacBook Pro as I don't have an internal optical drive any more--just the standard HD and the SSD.
I did use the retail disc, and I'm wondering if the issue might be that since my machine is fairly new, I might have had to use the stock install disk--which I seem to have lost. I have the Applications DVD, but not the OS disc.
To that end, do you know of a way to get a replacement disc? I bought my machine at the store, I wonder if they'd be willing to copy one for me...

Bus powered USB drive

I have an early 2011 MBP and would like to put a large USB drive on it that's bus powered. My recollection from earlier times was that USB drives required two ports, one for the data and one for the power. Is that still the case, or can current USB 2.0 drives carry data and power the drive on the same port?
Thanks very much.
All the best,
Tom

Tom,
Current drives either get all their power from one usb port or if they require more current then the usb provides, they have their own power supply that plugs into the wall.
Regards,
Captfred

Can I Use Bus-Powered USB Drive

Hi.
I have a La Cie ("All Terrain") USB hard drive that I normally connect directly to my G5 Quad's USB ports. It draws its power off the bus.
However, I'd like to use it with my Airport Extreme as a network-shared drive. Does anyone know with certainty whether the AE can supply the necessary power to the USB drive, or will I have to get a separate Transformer/Adapter for this USB drive. Also, am I taking any chances on harming the AE if I give it a try?

I have a WD Passport 250GB USB powered drive that works fine. I use it to stream video to my iMac. I also have a WD MyBook 1TB w/ external power that works fine for storage but is too slow for streaming.

Early 2011 17" MBP -- USB 3.0 portable, reliable, bus-powered option?

Hi everyone,
I have the above mentioned MacBook Pro, and have been scouring the Internet for quite a while trying to find a solid USB 3.0 solution.
Ideally what I'm looking for is accesibility for portable, bus powered USB 3.0, 7200 RPM hard drives.
I know there are limitations in what expresscard/34 can deliver in power, and have been really trying to figure out solutions, as my drive isn't getting sufficient power from my current card, especially if both usb 3.0 ports are occupied (even if the other is just a camera SD card, the HDD will just 'click').
I've looked at different adapters, and Sonnet seems to make a pretty decent one that has two ports, and can be powered by a wall adapter is purchased from a third-party like OWC. This, however, would still leave me in a situation where I would always be reliant upon electricity, detracting a lot from the portability factor. It is also limited to pretty much only storage devices, and doesn't support USB 3.0 hubs
CalDigit makes an adapter as well that seems to be well received, but it cannot be externally powered from what I can tell… so I assume it would not provide enough power to the drives?
One option I have thought of is to get a USB 3.0 y-adapter, and plug the extra "power" USB plug into the adjacent USB 2.0 port.
Would this work, and likely provide enough power? Or would the speed be throttled down to 2.0 speeds?
Another option seems to be the CalDigit Thunderbolt hub, which, while expensive… seems to provide a great deal of value. However, that would really limit my portability and effectively limit my USB 3.0 usage to home, or wherever I drag the box around with me to.
Do any of these seem like they might work, or are there any other options I am not thinking of?
It seems like the only way I will have true USB 3.0 functionality is either the CalDigit Thunderbolt hub, or parting with this particular mac (which I'd hate to do). The other thing I would possibly like to expand to is a Blackmagic Intensity module ... which come in USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt ... with the USB 3.0 a bit cheaper (and not requiring a cable...) -- I would never be able to use that with the Expresscard/34 adapters, it seems.
I apologize for this being long, but am hoping I am giving enough information for my question to receive some feedback.
Thank you!
John

As a (likely) final update to this thread, after talking to CalDigit one last time, this product is no longer being produced by them, and one of the only vendors left for it seems to be OWC.
The card does not come with the USB "ac adapter"-type cable to add the extra needed power for bus-powered storage devices, and is not available through them, either. The CalDigit tech support rep recommended a regular USB 3.0 y-cable.
When I inquired about driver updates, the gentleman said it will likely continue to be covered for approximately 2 more OS system updates (typically 1.5 years each, so 3 years, according to him). He said that, as I have read, that it is indeed possible that the driver is more unstable under Mavericks.
At this point it seems there is no sure-shot solution based on expresscard/34. This is a huge pitfall, as everything else with my older macbook pro is wonderful (and upgradeable).
Anyway, just wanted to give that final update, as it varies significantly from what I was hoping for in my last post. I suppose I could "try" it, but OWC has a 15% restocking fee, along with having to pay return shipping...both of which I confirmed I would have to pay with OWC. I am not willing to do that, as that comes out to almost $20 just to return the product if it doesn't work correctly. Shame, as I would like to give it a fair try, at least, but they don't seem to be willing to budge, and after getting burned on bad products from the past (from other sites with restocking fees), I am no longer willing to go along with those business practices.
Good luck, everyone.

USB Bus powered externals?

Hello,
I have a PowerBook G4 hi-res.. Has anyone had any success in hooking up an external bus powered USB/Firewire based external drive without under power issues? I was told that even the Macbook and Macbook Pros still suffer from under powered USB ports, but surely since the PowerBook I have has 2 USB 2.0 high powered ports, surely this is the same as on the macbook and macbook pros?
Which hard drives through firewire/USB bus power work well with the PowerBooks which have 2.0 USB ports? Now that I can boot off a USB on my PowerBook G4 with ease, I wanted to take advantage of such a drive as I am in the process of determining if its better to not replace the internal hard drive which is only 100GB and to just get a 1TB or 500GB external hard drive(internal enclosure would be SATA-II).
Thanks.
And no, I am aware that the PowerBook won't take SATA, but since the sata drive would be in the external enclosure, the only thing hooking up to the powerbook would be USB or firewire.

Look, I am not dismissing firewire at all... I just like the option of USB and using that OF boot code it does indeed work.. Its good that both options are available.. using the Y-cable adapter for both USB ports is fine... for my purposes.. but I am well aware that firewire is the way to go for ALL macs, INTEL AND PowerPC..
But sometimes you need another option in rare circumstances.. Plus, a friend of mine has a PowerPC mac and I am showing him next week that USB can indeed be bootable, provided one types in: boot ud:3,\\:tbxi or boot ud,\\:tbxi(if this is the only external device).
Sorry to ramble on about this.. I am just defending the proof that PowerPC macs can indeed boot from USB 2.0 drives.. whether PPC G4,G5 - I haven't tested it on a G3 though.

Do i need a powered usb hub to connect my external hard drive and printer to my airport extreeme

I tried a usb hub from Belkin that is not powered. Is this why I cannot get my hard drive to work on my Airport Extreme?

I am assuming that you are using the newer "square" version of the AirPort Extreme, not the older "round" version.
The USB port on the AirPort Extreme is under powered. I have had to use a powered USB hub with any type of hard drive that I've ever used on the Extreme, even if the drive had its own power supply.
You might want to also check to make sure that the drive is formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or MS-DOS FAT32. The normal Windows format of NTFS will not work at the AirPort Extreme.

Editing with Bus-powered External Drive

Hello,
I have a MBP and usually edit using a bus-powered USB drive. It works fine, but I'm wondering if I would get a performance increase if I use a bus-powered Firewire drive. I know Firewire is faster, but if the drive is a 2.5-inch 5400 RPM that's powered by the Firewire port, does it matter?
Thanks.

Yes, FireWire is indeed faster than USB. FW400 is about 40% faster and FW800 about 70% faster for typical throughput. This will be true regardless of hard drive (assuming the same hard drive in any case.)

Possible USB port damage using non-powered USB hub?

Referring to the recent discussion on ruining firewire ports with damaged peripherals, a related question concerning the possibility of damage to the USB port:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7948387#7948387
I have an old iPod Shuffle, USB only, and a camera card reader, both of which which get pulled and connected "on the fly" to a bus powered USB hub which is attached to one of the USB ports on the iMac. Am I risking similar damage to the iMac USB port, itself, if something goes bad on the Shuffle or the card reader? Should I be using a POWERED USB hub to avoid direct damage to the iMac USB hub? (And, assuming it will have to be USB 2.0, will it be backwards compatible to USB 1.1?)

No, my belief is that FireWire devices are more prone to damaging the circuitry behind the port due to connecting and disconnecting on-the-fly (compared to USB). There is supporting documentation on the web, for example.
http://www.wiebetech.com/whitepapers/FireWirePortFailures.php
http://lowendmac.com/misc/03/0421.html
(there are many more)
Mechanical failure (wear and tear) through constant plugging and unplugging is a secondary consideration.
If your FireWire device is constantly connected, this issue does not exist (and there is no wear and tear either). On my Intel iMac, my external FireWire drive is always connected, and I use the direct port on the Mac. If I ever need to disconnect it, I shut down my iMac and then disconnect. The other FireWire port is connect to a hub, and that is where I connect and disconnect FireWire devices on-the-fly (old iPod, small bus-powered drive, and video camera).
If your iPod shuffle is the old +thumb drive+ style with the USB plug, you should be using a self-powered hub. That may be why it is not reliable. Also, that plug on the old shuffle is the most likely part to fail, so it is possible that it is getting worn out. I bought a bunch of used and reportedly broken iPod shuffle (the older white type) on eBay to see if I could fix any of them. I would say, 80% of the time, it was broken due to a faulty USB plug (no data connection). On the rare ones broken for another reason, I used that good USB plug to get another shuffle working. (A few worked after using the iPod Reset Utility, without any other repair. )
But I'm getting off topic with the shuffle talk...

Bus-powered storage

I'm hoping to take a PB G4 Logic system to South Africa to do some remote recording of music in a rural village. Wondering what options might exist for bus and/or battery-powered storage because there's no electricity in the village. Are any of you using a fast, reliable bus-powered external drive with good results? If I record one song per session (then recharge in town), is it an option to consider a USB 2 CompactFlash card for audio recording? Silly idea?
Thank you!

In another post you mentioned 4 tracks, if this is the case I'd just record to the internal and then xfer the files to another device while in town. You'll end up having to buy 14 PB batteries otherwise. If you have a PB other than 12" you should have a few minutes of internal power to swap batteries without outage

Can I copy one bus powered USB2 1T HD to another (also via bus power)?

Hello
OK to copy one bus powered USB 2.0, 1T HD to another, also via bus power, or might there be some power issues to be concerned about?
Using late 2011 MBP, both Lacie 1T drives are usb 3 but step down to usb 2 on my MBP (or one can go in the thunderbolt port)
Thanks

now i cant use my username either? *groan* wrote:
to back up both 1T drives to 2 other 1T drives on site and 2 more off site means buying 4 1T back up drives for $500+,
Why spend so much?
http://www.amazon.com/HGST-Travelstar-2-5-Inch-7200RPM-Mobile/dp/B0097LG9U8/ref= sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395519777&sr=8-1&keywords=1+tb+hgst+hard+drive
Ciao.

2.5" external enclosure (bus powered) any thoughts, experience, suggestions

I'm about to purchase a bigger hard drive for my macbook, I thought I could put the old one in an external enclosure that's bus powered, any experience with that ? I'm thinking about the Bytecc BT-280SATA but couldn't find it here in Quebec, Canada. Also saw the OWC Mercury on the go, but I find the pricetag a tad high at 90 bucks for an enclosure, couldn't find another SATA notebook drive enclosure that's bus powered though, I'd like to hear suggestion.
Would also appreciate a suggestion of where to purchase one of these enclosures in Canada.
Thanks, Francis.

You are rightm the price is a little high, but there are not a ton of choices when it comes to a SATA/FW enclosure.
TransINTL.com has one, but it is even more at $99.

USB warnings with G5, 30in display, and printer

I recently switched from using dual monitors (Apple & Sony 17) to an Apple 30 with my G5. (Also have 3 external HD.) Now when I try to plug in my Epson 2200 printer I get warnings that USB ports are overloaded and my mouse inactivates. Have tried a powered USB hub but I don't think the computer is recognizing it as there is no icon on screen. I recently set up my computer in Germany and have step down converters on everything. This system with the dual monitors worked perfectly when I lived here a year ago. Does the 30in screen draw that much more power?! I would like to connect both my printer and a Microtek Scanmaker i900. How can I make this work? (The Apple tech support had no answer.)

zinger, Welcome to the discussion area!
Have tried a powered USB hub but I don't think the computer is recognizing it as there is no icon on screen.
Icon for what? No icon will appear for the USB hub nor the printer even when it is working properly.
BTW, this is the discussion area for the iMac G5.
From your post I think you are talking about a Power Mac G5.
If that is true, you should post your question in the Power Mac G5 discussion area.

Can I share my iPod with other devices using a USB *Switch*?

Hello
I'm trying to design a set up that will allow me to share my iPod with my PS3, Xbox 360, and G4 Powerbook. I only need to use one sharing device at a time.
As of now I plan to have my 30Gb iPod Video, a USB Keyboard, and USB Mouse, running through a Belkin USB 2.0 Hi-Speed Hub. The hub will plug into a 4-way manual USB switch. (allowing me switch between the PS3, 360, and G4 devices)
My goal is to easily switch and stream content to any device from my iPod, as well as provide the switched device with instant access to the Keyboard and mouse plugged into the hub. Hopefully the hub will also be able to power the ipod and and charge a bluetooth headset as well.
I'd like to know if anyone has experience with a similar setup, and more specifically if there are any reasons why this wouldn't work properly?
My main worry is that there is no way to eject the iPod on the Xbox 360 or the PS3. So if I switched the USB port while the iPod is reading "Do Not Disconnect", do I risk corrupting the data or otherwise harm the iPod?
Any help would be appreciated, please let me know if I should clarify any details.
Thanks in advance.

You can find more information about how you can share the data connection in the user guide, check the following link:
http://userguide.sonymobile.com/referrer.php?region=global-en&product=xperia-z1-compact#Sharing-your...
- Official Sony Xperia Support Staff
If you're new to our forums make sure that you have read our Discussion guidelines.
If you want to get in touch with the local support team for your country please visit our contact page.

Bus powered USB switch with a printer

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