Powerbook doesn't like external HD - Why?

Hi There,
I have the HD from an old G3 iBook (with OS 10.4 installed) in a external firewire enclosure which is bus powered. When I plug it into my 17" Powerbook it doesn't recognize the format and prompts me to initialize or eject. But when I plug it into my old G3 iMac there is no problem. It appears on the desktop like normal. Both computers are running OS 10.4.
Can anyone explain this? How can I get it working with my Powerbook??

Its not normal, stannard, but it is certainly technically possible for this to occur. If the drive draws more current than it should for some reason (ie more than the regular FW specioication) then the port may not be able to provide sufficient. I have seen similar problems mentioned as an issue with bus powered USB devices on some PBs, for example, and it can be common in situations where more than one bus powered device is attached simultaneously on many computers.
You are probably more likely to run into such an issue when running from battery rather than the mains I would think.
Different computers have different abilities in this area, so the fact that the drive won't work on one computer but will on another is not altogether surprising, although it is uncommon, even if everything is working OK. Does the bus powered drive have a power connection option? Some do. It would be interesting to see if it worked when provided with an independent supply.
Have you tried another cable, yet? Cables really can be the bane of your life when it comes to firewire.
Some cable manufacturers actually sell cables that provide a visual indication of power and data availability - see http://www.granitedigital.com/catalog/pg18_firewirecables.htm for example. Worth considering, though I haven't tried them myself.
The article at http://www.wiebetech.com/whitepapers/FireWirePortFailures.php is interesting, by the way. Some of the stuff in http://www.macintouch.com/panfirewire04.html is too.
Cheers
Rod

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Its not normal, stannard, but it is certainly technically possible for this to occur. If the drive draws more current than it should for some reason (ie more than the regular FW specioication) then the port may not be able to provide sufficient. I have seen similar problems mentioned as an issue with bus powered USB devices on some PBs, for example, and it can be common in situations where more than one bus powered device is attached simultaneously on many computers.
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