External hard drive has /two/ usb ends

i just realized I have a rather dumb question which is whether there is an issue with the fact that I have a couple of iomega external hard drive devices that have /two/ usb ends - which ostensibly are supposed to plug into the two usb slots on my MBP when running a backup? One is for power and the other is for backup - is that right?
Is there an issue with the fact that I sometimes just put one of these into the computer (MBP or MacPro) and run it with one USB because the other slots are taken?
TIA

The Y cable is to add more power if the drive does not work correctly off of just one USB port. Sometimes you need it and sometimes you don't. That depends on how much power the USB ports put out.
Depending on what you connected to the other USB port you could use a HUB on the othr port and connect that second connector of the Y cable to the HUB.

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External hard drive has /two/ usb ends

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