FreeAgent Go external Drive and iBook G4

I recently purchased a Seagate FreeAgent GO external HD. It is supposed to be entirely USB 2.0 BUS powered, with not option for a power supply.
When I initially plugged it in it lit up and sounded as if it was reading but never mounted. System profiler and Disc utility also showed no sign of it. After a few restarts it mounted but i was not able to reformat it. I moved it to a Intel Mac mini running leopard and it worked fine, as able to reformat and copy files no problem.
Back on the iBook if it did mount it would not allow me to transfer files saying the files names were too long. Even with an empty folder named "t". Verify disc failed so i moved it back to the Mini. Repair disc failed reformatted the drive again to Mac OS extended journal. with no change on the iBook.
SeaGate support suggested reformatting to Mac OS Extended with no change. And since it does work with the mini they decided it was my iBook.
I installed leopard with no change and am not sure what to do next.
The SeaGate agent suggested my USB ports may not be getting enough power to the hard drive. which makes very little sense, as they will both power an iPod just fine.
Any one experienced any issues with these Hard drives and compatibility or have any suggestions?

I have read quite a bit about the iBook's USB ports being a bit marginally powered, so that some things will work just fine, but if something draws close to or more than the USB port's rated capacity, the device won't work properly. You might try a powered USB hub and see if this fixes the problem. I think the Seagate guy is onto something. The external HD may require more power from the USB port than the iPod.
Good luck!

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