Dual-USB External DVD/CD RW 'drawing too much power'

Hello,
I had to make an emergency purchase down my local electrical store because my internal drive has stopped working properly. So, bought one of these: (http://cnmlifestyle.com/) DVD/RW that is supposed to be mac compatible. It has two USB connections - one for power & another for data I presume.
When I plug it into a USB port, a dialogue box appears saying 'Because a USB device was drawing too much power from your computer, one or more of your USB devices have been disabled.' And so therefore there isn't any power to the unit... and it won't work.
This appears immediately after plugging one of the two in. When I plug in the second USB connection a second, identical dialogue box appears. If I connect then re-start, two of the dialogue boxes appear...
Might it be that this unit is not compatible with laptops? (there is no information about voltage on the unit).
Many thanks,
Jay

Optical drives have motors and that makes them power hogs. If it does not get power from its own power brick, it could be overpowering your USB bus, especially if you have other USB devices connected.
Have you tried swapping the cables on the Mac's ports? Some people report that the left- and right-hand ports produce difference power levels.
If the drive does not have a separate power source, it was designed for mobile use on a notebook computer but someone in Marketing was not thinking about power issues when trying to jump on the mobile bandwagon.
I see two solutions, the best listed first:
1) return the drive for one that has a power brick self-powered)
2) Purchase a powered USB hub (has a separate power brick). That way, the drive gets a lot of power from the hub. This one:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Macally/TRIHUB4/
shows an ac adaptor is included

Similar Messages

  • WD Legacy External Hard Drive "Draws too much power from USB"

    I have a nice MacBook Pro running Leopard, a year or so old and I've never had any issues with it. I used a WD Legacy 250GB External Hard Drive for Time Machine to back up all my stuff. It has its own power source, and the USB cable works fine because I use it with my printer all the time. However, even with both the laptop and the hard drive plugged in, my laptop automatically disconnects the hard drive because the "USB is drawing too much power".
    It didn't happen when I initially backed stuff up on it, and it plugs in and works fine with a desktop. Is there any way to disable the automatic disconnect for drawing too much power through a USB? I don't understand how that's even possible because the external hard drive has its own power source, and I just want my stuff backed up. I could care less if it ***** the charge out of my laptop for a few minutes if that means it will work. I've considered getting a powered USB HUD, but wanted to get everyone else's opinion first. Thanks!

    Contact the manufacturer. I think the power pack for the drive is not functioning properly.

  • New iMac 27"  and just plugged in a Apple USB superdrive and get message, "Because a USB device was drawing too much power from your computer, one or more of your USB devices have been disabled."  I am trying to load Office mac2011  what to do?

    I have a new iMac 27"  and just plugged in a Apple USB superdrive and get message, "Because a USB device was drawing too much power from your computer, one or more of your USB devices have been disabled."  I am trying to load Office mac2011  what to do?

    If you just bought the iMac and the Sjuperdrive take the superdrive back and get a refund. The by any other brand external DVD drive that connects by USB and try that. Most come with a Y USB cable to allow you to connect to 2 USB ports to supply enogh power to the drive IF Needed.
    Or take both back and get a refund on both, you have 14 days to return it no questions asked, and buy another iMac and some other brand external DVD drive.

  • "Because a USB device was drawing too much power from your computer, one  or more of your USB devices have been disabled.

    Here is the total error message:
    "Because a USB devce was drawing too much power from your computer, one
    or more of your USB devices have been disabled.
    To prevent damaging your computer, the USB device drawing too much
    power has been disabled. Other devices may have also been disabled.
    When you disconnect the device drawing too much power, your other USB
    devices will be enabled again."
    Now in contrast to every other thread on this i get this error message eveytime i connect my soundcard (interface). Not when i start up the mac or anything, just when i connect the sound card. (the soundcard does not have its own power source but note that this has never happened before and i have had this soundcard for about a year!)
    It deactivates so i cannot use it.
    I have tried:
    Connecting the soundcard to my mothers mac -> it worked!
    Connecting an external harddrive to my mac -> it worked!
    so basically, i can't be the soundcard or the cable and it cannot be the mac USB port?
    I don't know what to do! i really need this to work! anyone got an idea??

    Hi, ryankeenanrk. 
    Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities. 
    I would recommend trying the steps in both articles below and test the results. 
    OS X Mountain Lion: Reset your computer’s PRAM
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ph11243
    Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
    Cheers,
    Jason H. 

  • Apple USB keyboard drawing too much power

    I had my apple slim keyboard for more than a year and it always worked perfectly.
    Last week I started receiving this error message at the login screen:
    "Because a USB device was drawing too much power from your computer, one or more of your USB devices have been disabled."
    Changing the USB port used to solve the problem. Since this Sunday I can't get the keyboard to work on any USB port.
    No other devices are using the keyboard as an HUB and the iMac has all the latest updates installed.
    I tried on a Macbook and got the same result, while if connected to an HP laptop it works.
    I already tried:
    - changing USB ports on the rear of the iMac
    - attaching it on an externally powered USB HUB
    - resetting PRAM
    - resetting SMC
    - cleaning the contacts of the USB cable and the ports on the keyboardù
    - attaching usb devices to the ports on the keyboard will give them power, but those are not recognized by the system
    Any clues? I ran out of ideas...
    thanks

    It's related to the current drawn through the USB port itself which us monitored by the SMC and interpreted by the OS. Without getting too technical, Macs are better "tuned" to detect these issues. It sounds like your keyboard is dead or dying as it is drawing more than it's allocated current threshold. Solution, replace the keyboard. Some possible causes over time include, sweaty hands, humidity, coffee - it's the sugar over time that does the damage.

  • USB device drawing too much power...

    I have a Mac Pro 1,1 that until this last software update (10.6.7) was running fine. After the download and reboot, my computer is now riddled with the same error message: "Because a USB device was drawing too much power from your computer, one or more of your USB devices have been disabled."
    To give further understanding of my set up, I am running an ATI Radeon 5770 video card with three monitors attached: on the DVI port is a 32" Samsung flat panel TV, and attached to the two mini DVI ports were two 20" Apple Cinema Displays connected via dual link DVI connectors (each of which was connected to two of the three USB ports on the hub in the back of the Mac Pro tower).
    So, after the software updated and the computer rebooted, the Apple Cinema Displays did not come back on (obvisously because the USB hub in the back of the tower was shut down).
    I have tried repairing permissions. I have reset the PRAM and I have reset the SMC. None of these have thus far worked.
    After a visit to Apple, the Genius told me that it was because there was some discrepancy with the other third pary PCIe cards that have in slots one, two and three. So I confirmed with him that if I pull the cards and reboot, the error message should go away. I pulled all third party cards from the slots and I'm still experiencing the same problem.
    I realize that this sounds like a logic board replacement. But I'm hoping there's someone else out there in the community who may have had a similar problem and may be able to offer any other kinds of work around.
    Just for the record, I am running an RME HDSPe card in slot 1, UAD 1 in slot 2 and UAD 2 in slot three. Slots four and five are occupied by the ATI Radeon 5770.
    Any advice would be appreciated.
    Thank you.

    If you don't have any USB devices plugged in, then your Mac may just be confused. Try an SMC Reset:
    HT3964- Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

  • "A USB device is currently drawing too much power"

    I know it's a long post, but I just want to describe everything I've tried to do to solve the problem, so we can cut right to the chase
    Yesterday I got this message when I plugged in my external harddrive (which is working properly btw): "A USB device is currently drawing too much power. The port it is attached to will be deactivated."
    Today I haven't seen the message, but the USB port next to the Shift key on my MacBook isn't working very well.
    Well, actually it works when I plug in my other external harddrive (which isn't usb-powered). So it seems that there's nothing wrong with the USB port itself. It just doesn't have the power it used to.
    My USB-dongle from Cubase works fine. I tried another USB memory stick - it flashes very lightly and it won't mount. The other USB port - the one next to Caps Lock - works fine and it can even provide power enough for my MIDI keyboard and external soundcard.
    I've tried resetting the PRAM/NVRAM and the SMC as people often suggest when this problem is described, but it doesn't help.
    I've tried to do a full system check, and it says that there's no hardware errors.
    I can imagine, that some would assume that the USB port is fried - but it can't be when the externally powered harddrive works fine when using the port.
    I think is has to be some sort of software error. Is it possible that when OSX tells that "The port it is attached to will be deactivated" then the port needs to be reactivated somewhere?
    I'm really looking forward for your answers

    I don't know if this helps but...
    I have five 24" iMacs in a education lab that keep telling me "USB Current Overload," even though only the Apple keyboard is attached. It seems they starting giving me the message the first time I turned them on. However, after a great talk with an Apple Tech person, we deduced that it must be a driver I installed on the five machines. We came to this conclusion because when I boot the machine from the OS CD, the problem doesn't happen. When I reboot from the hard drive, the message incessantly pops up, even with just the keyboard and mouse (that it came with) plugged in. On one machine in particular, the message pops up so many times that I can barely use the machine.
    I have installed two external devices driver's on this machine, a Novation ReMote Compact SL driver and a TC Electronics 24 D firewire driver. I also have "frozen" these machines using DeepFreeze, which keeps students from installing things or chaning settings. My assumption is that one of these drivers is causing the bogus message. Since the computer works fine when booting up from the OS CD, this is the only thing that could be happening. Some other driver is causing the machine to think a USB device is drawing too much power. At least, I think this is what is happening. I'm still working on fixing this problem, but have not been successful yet with removing drivers.

  • Seagate drive quandary:  "USB device is drawing too much power"?

    I have a year-old Seagate external hard drive that when I plug in to a 2011 MacBook Air, it started saying something to the effect of "your USB device is drawing too much power and had been disable in order to aboud damage..."  I had been using this drive for some time, and this just started a few days ago.  I tried plugging it into a USB hub and directly into a USB on the MBA with the same result.  So I plugged in into my brand new 2012 MacMini and got the same messgae.  My initial conclusion:  the drive is dead.
    So I buy a new USB 3.0 Seagate compact external drive, plug it in and get the same error on my MBA and on the MacMini.  If that isn't odd enough, I have the exact same Seagate model plugged into my MacMini as the backup drive with no problems.  Any ideas??  Maybe I received a DOA drive by coincidence?
    UPDATE:  Tried the new drive on a Win7 PC and it recognized it fine.  Why would my 2011 MBA and 2012 MacMini not recognize the new drive?

    MIght be something to help you here >  USB Device Drawing Too Much Power

  • External HD claims to be drawing too much power, after 2 months of working

    I have a 2.5" external HD enclosure from Mad Dog Multimedia that uses two USB connections, one for data and one for power. It's been working fine with my new Macbook Pro since I bought it several months ago, and continues to work fine with other comptuers. Last night I got a message that it was drawing too much power and the ports would be shut off. I unplugged and replugged it, and it continued to work all evening. This morning however, no matter what I do, it continues to tell me that its drawing too much power. This is baffling to me, because it has worked for the last few months, and still works on other computers, leading me to believe that something is wrong with my USB ports. Unfortunately I don't have much in the way of other USB devices I can use to test this hypothesis. Has anyone else encountered similar problems, and have you been able to resolve them successfully?

    In the event you haven't done this already, shut down the computer and remove the external drive. Wait at least one or two minutes. Restart the computer then reconnect the external drive. See if your problem is resolved.
    Try repairing the hard drive and permissions:
    Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
    Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger and Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation complete. I also suggest you run Repair Disk on the external drive as well while you still have DU running. Now quit DU and return to the installer. Restart normally.
    If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger, and 4.1 for Leopard) and/or TechTool Pro (4.6.1 for Leopard) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
    If the above does not work, it is possible there's a problem with your OS X installation. It's difficult to know what that may be so you will need to experiment. First, restart the computer in safe mode. If this doesn't result in the problem ceasing, then try creating a new user account. Log out of your account and log into the new one. If this doesn't result in the problem going away, then more extreme measures are needed: reinstalling OS X. You might give this a try:
    How to Perform an Archive and Install
    An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
    1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
    Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
    Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer.
    2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
    3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
    4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
    5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
    6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

  • MBP disconnects IPhone everytime saying the USB is drawing too much power?

    Hi Guys,
    Today I went and bought myself a new Mac Book Pro 13".
    Tonight I've been transfering all my files over from my old MacBook and everytime I try to connect my IPhone 3GS by USB to my Mac a message comes up straight away saying "A device conected to your computer is drawing too much power, apple has disconected this device to prevent damage occuring to your computer"
    I have tried to connect my phone numerous times while it has been conected to the power cord and also running on battery.
    It also took my new Mac a good half an hour to recognise my external hard drive was connected and let me use it..
    I have had this problem once or twice with the same IPhone and my old mac so im thinking it may be a problem with my phone considering it is 2 years old now?
    But then again, my old mac that is nearly 4 can still connect to my phone when my new MBP can't.
    Any help would be appreciated.
    Thanks,

    Use a self powered USB hub.
    https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents

  • I've been getting "one of your USB devices is drawing too much power" and my keyboard is disabled

    This happens sporadically after the computer has been on for awhile. How can a keyboard or mouse draw too much power from the computor? These are the only things plugged in. Please help, I need my keyboard/mouse.

    See "About This Mac" from the Apple menu in the menu bar, and there than under USB, for what's all connected to the USB controllers in your Mac. You'll be surprised, it's not only keyboard, mouse, or what else you use externally.
    It also shows you what pulls how much current. Anything pulling the max current can be causing it, either due to a defect or some irregular configuration. Anyway, you should get pointers where to continue searching.

  • Strange problem: USB devices drawing too much power / not responding - multiple macs

    Hi everyone
    I was wondering if anyone had any solutions to a rather strange problem.
    Yesterday my Lacie USB drive and my USB SD card both stopped working on my Macbook Air.
    The USB SD card fails to mount (no power light), my Lacie USB drive brings up a warning that it is "Drawing too much power and will be disconnected".
    The only thing I had done the day before was try and plug in a USB externally powered host to connect these two devices (and a printer).
    This morning I tried these two devices (Lacie drive and SD card) on a different Mac and both still don't work - I get exactly the same issues as described above.
    Is it a coincidence they have both gone wrong at the same time? Could it have been the external hub that broke these? Has anyone else come across anything like this?
    I've done some searching and have run the SMC and Pram resets on these machines and it doesn't make any difference. I've also tried a different cable / used the cable on a different USB drive and it works fine.
    Any help / advice would be awesome!
    Thanks in advance
    Martin

    Are you talking about the CABLE ,the charger is the device that plugs into the wall socket
    if it is the cable it has warranty with the iphone .Cable is intelligent ,they go wrong which is why you have  a warranty
    If it is faulty Apple will exchange it but you will have to take it to an Apple store genius bar ,nothing else you can do

  • Error message (Because a USB device was drawing too much power)

    Hi Everyone,
    Bought recently a new macbook pro 13 inch with Retina display with 120 GB flash drive.
    Connected a non-apple CD drive to my macbook and after that started receiving this message: "Because a USB device was drawing too much power from your computer, one or more of your USB devices have been disabled."
    initially I was receiving this message after I switch on my macbook but now after every 30 seconds this message pops up although I never connected anything to my macbook through its USB ports.
    Will highly appreciate for your help on how to get rid of this problem.
    Regards
    Homayun

    Try resetting the SMC
    Shut down the computer.
    Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if its not already connected.
    On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time.
    Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
    Press the power button to turn on the computer. 
    Note: The LED on the MagSafe power adapter may change states or temporarily turn off when you reset the SMC.

  • I am trying to upload photos from my digital camera. Every time I try to plug it into my USB, the following error message comes up: "Because a usb device was drawing too much power from your computer, one or more of your USB devices have been disabled."

    I am trying to upload photos from my digital camera. Every time I try to plug it into my USB, the following error message comes up: "Because a usb device was drawing too much power from your computer, one or more of your USB devices have been disabled."
    I don't have anything else plugged into my MBP, so I am confused as to what's going on.  This problem has never happened before.  MBP is less than a year old - about 9 months old.  HELP

    Get a powered USB hub.
    https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents

  • MacBook pro 13" mid 2010 "USB drawing too much power" HELP

    Hi, my MacBook Pro keeps coming up with a window about 30 after start up saying "USB drawing too much power" and none if the USB ports work neither does the iSight camera (green light is constantly on) and the headphone jack won't work! I have tried re installing OSX but it hasn't worked! Apart from an SMC reset and a PRAM what else can I try? Absolutely nothing is plugged in not a single cable or keyboard or mouse just my MacBook on its own, is it definitely a software problem or am I going to have to get apple to repair the hardware because I do not have that much money to replace a logic board and get apple to replace it themselves. Thanks in advance!

    I hope it works for you ...

Maybe you are looking for

  • Enabling the Data Editor in Query Builder 6

    Hi, The help in Query Builder 6 says: Note: Because the Data Editor enables you to change or delete vital data, Query Builder is shipped with the Data Editor disabled. Contact your system administrator if you cannot activate the Data Editor and you f

  • Online # not working Australia

    Hi...my online number is not working.  I've checked all the settings, have got the latest skype and I've given it over 24hrs to go through but still not able to have people call me on the online number.  It seems that others have having issues and wo

  • Interlacing Problem

    I've just been informed by the production house encoding my video into flash for the net that there's a problem with the fields interlacing that's visible on diagonal lines. They wanted the file written as dv, so I wrote it through dv-stream. Should

  • How to view View Objects or JSF locally?

    Hi I am very new to ADF and Fusion Applications. As the JDeveloper is running too slow, I would like to know if there is any way to view the view objects and JSFF definitions locally to understand and customize the seeded objects. Any pointers will b

  • Release Stategies for a document type

    Hello Gurus,    Is there any bapi that I can use to display the release codes applicable for a document type? For a PR perhaps? Thanks, Jeffrey