Question about IBM USB 2 external drive....

[chait]

Folks,

I own an external IBM USB 2 cd-rw/dvd combo drive purchased with my x40. the x40 has one special USB connection: double connection with the bottom one serving as a power connector for the external drive. the power connector looks like a smaller USB connector.

the x61 does not have this feature and I am forced to use a separate power adapter. does anyone know of a adapter that allow me to connect the power connector into a standard USB port?

thanks in advance.

[donzoomik]

This port is called Powered USB. X6x does not have this port. Unfortunantly, i haven't yet found any apator for it.

[mfbernstein]

Folks,

I own an external IBM USB 2 cd-rw/dvd combo drive purchased with my x40. the x40 has one special USB connection: double connection with the bottom one serving as a power connector for the external drive. the power connector looks like a smaller USB connector.

the x61 does not have this feature and I am forced to use a separate power adapter. does anyone know of a adapter that allow me to connect the power connector into a standard USB port?

thanks in advance.

How about a USB Y to mini USB cable like this? This sort of setup is often used for 2.5" USB hard drives. Or does the USB 2 CD-RW/DVD drive have a different sort of connector (not USB mini B)?

[andyP]

chait
one thing you could try is changing the usb power setting in bios to always on. I know the drive you have, the newer ones are from TEAC and don't have the "strange" cable, but aren't so flat.

[timnicholson]

I'm in the exact same boat. I'm trying use the IBM USB 2.0 CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo Drive that I had with my X41 Tablet and want to use it with my new X61 Notebook. I even called Lenovo's order hotline, they pulled in "someone with technical knowledge" and he didn't know either.

He suggested trying to see if I could find some adapter for that non-standard USB plug to a standard one. That might work if I could find one at Radio Shack or something.

I'm not sure if the "Y-adapter" suggested above would work? Has anyone tried it? I'm thinking it might not since the mini-USB on the drive doesn't seem to even try to pull power from the USB port. Its got a separate 7.5-18v 1500ma DC IN connector on it (negative on the outside, positive on the inside). That Y-adapter seems to be about 4 ft long too and I only want a foot.

I assume an AC adapter would work, ordering from Lenovo or wherever seeing as it accepts such a wide range of voltages. That would be OK for use at home, but cumbersome when on traveling.

Has anyone tried messing with the bios as suggested to keep the power flowing to the USB 2.0 port? I wouldn't think it would drain battery life if nothing was connected, but then again why would the power be off by default?

Thanks,