Slow USB performance on A31p

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ulrich.von.lich · #1 Post by **ulrich.von.lich** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 4:21 pm

Are the 2 USB ports on the A31p USB 2.0? It takes a lot longer to copy anything to/from my A31p. Is it the way it's supposed to be or is there something wrong?

I'm using a Travelstar 5K80 in the A31p and an external WD 7200RPM hard drive. THe OS is Windows 2000 SP4.

BillP · #2 Post by **BillP** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 5:25 pm

The A31P has USB 1.1 ports.

mediasponge · #3 Post by **mediasponge** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 8:02 pm

Correct, the A31P has USB 1.1 ports, which can be a HUGE limitation with an external hard drive for backups, drive images, etc. I recently solved this problem for about USD $40. Go out and buy a PC-card (Cardbus) USB 2.0 port. I got one similar to the following link. You can search for local suppliers in your area. This cut the time for Acronis to take a drive image from 1+ days down to 2.5 hours!

http://shop3.outpost.com/product/526562 ... IN_RSLT_PG

I'm running XP Pro, and no drivers were needed. I'm not sure about Win 2000, but you should be OK.

ElbertR · #4 Post by **ElbertR** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 11:14 am

My solution for the lack of USB2.0 on the A31(P) is to use a USB 2.0 PCMCIA card with a dongle cable.

IBM produced such a card (33L3245). I also got an extra dongle cable for this card. This way when at home I have the dongle cable connected to a cable which runs to a USB2.0 hub and 2 external drives in USB2.0 enclosures, and also a ultrabay floppy drive in a portable drive bay.

When going on the road I simply disconnect the dongle cable and leave it at home. The card stays in the laptop and I carry the spare dongle in my laptop bag.

This way there is nothing big sticking out the side of the laptop unlike with using a regular USB PCMCIA card.

Besides IBM, there is one other manfacturer that produces a USB2.0 PCMCIA card with a dongle. Will have to do some searching for that one, but they are out there.

sjthinkpader · #5 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 4:58 pm

I have one of these USB 2.0 card in my A31 and many times it can't supply enough power for the USB device even with the extra power cord plugged into a USB 1.0 ports.

The best solution is a 4 port PCI card in a dock.

ElbertR · #6 Post by **ElbertR** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 6:20 pm

sjthinkpader wrote:I have one of these USB 2.0 card in my A31 and many times it can't supply enough power for the USB device even with the extra power cord plugged into a USB 1.0 ports.

The best solution is a 4 port PCI card in a dock.

When at home I run a single usb cable from the USB2.0 card to a powered hub, which has no problem handling the power required.

Makes it easy to disconnect everything when you leave home, just a single cable (also use an extra ac-adapter at home, so don't have to pack that one up either).

housedl · #7 Post by **housedl** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 7:14 pm

sjthinkpader wrote:I have one of these USB 2.0 card in my A31 and many times it can't supply enough power for the USB device even with the extra power cord plugged into a USB 1.0 ports.

The best solution is a 4 port PCI card in a dock.

i had the same exact problem.. dont remember the brand name of the card.. it was from best buy... i tried to plug in a simpltech 250 gb 2.0 usb powered portable drive in it and it would not work... i did not try to plug the extra power cable into the regular usb 1.1 port...

however i did plug in a 4gb thumbdrive and it had no problem reading, writing, powering that drive... and it transferred at 2.0 speeds...

sjthinkpader · #8 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 1:01 am

Yes, I have those 4GB micro HDDs and they don't work in the PCMCIA to USB2.0 adapters. Flash sticks are no problem.

Also, I didn't realize the A31p Firewire port is not powered. So it didn't work for me either.

ElbertR · #9 Post by **ElbertR** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 1:26 am

sjthinkpader wrote:Yes, I have those 4GB micro HDDs and they don't work in the PCMCIA to USB2.0 adapters. Flash sticks are no problem.

Also, I didn't realize the A31p Firewire port is not powered. So it didn't work for me either.

Try using a powered hub first.

PCMCIA USB2.0 card -> Powered USB2.0 Hub -> USB2.0 Drive

kajencik · #10 Post by **kajencik** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 2:14 am

I'm trying to solve the same problem with the USB 1.1 ports in my R40e, I've bought a cheap PCMCIA USB 2.0 card, but as listed above, it couldn't provide enough power for my external USB hardrive, so I tried the power cable from the drive to the R40e's USB port, and main USB connector to the PCMCIA card, this worked, but only for a while, and then the disk seemed to be sort of stuck, I wasn't able to read from it, although in the USB 1.1 ports and in my R40 (with USB 2.0) it works fine.

Is there any card for the PCMCIA which can provide enough power? I wish to use this disk on the road, and especially on the battery power, the powered HUB is not a solution

sjthinkpader · #11 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 11:05 am

This is not the card but rather the PCMCIA slot spec. They have a limitation in power.

cmarti · #12 Post by **cmarti** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 1:24 pm

sjthinkpader wrote:This is not the card but rather the PCMCIA slot spec. They have a limitation in power.

It seems that's there is no hope...

I too use a usb 2.0 pcmcia card in my A31p and my 600X.

r2d2 · #13 Post by **r2d2** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 4:16 pm

sjthinkpader wrote:
This is not the card but rather the PCMCIA slot spec. They have a limitation in power.

Is this problem for PCMCIA slot alone? Because I have a USB external HDD (USB enclosure bought off eBay, made in China for $2

) which works with my USB 1.1 on my X20. Well at first it seemed it lacked power but when I tried to plug the other USB connector (btw it came with a 'Y' usb connector... it said one for the enclosure and the other 2 for the power. You can use only one for the power if it supplies enough voltage but you have to use 2 if otherwise); it worked very well.

mediasponge · #14 Post by **mediasponge** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:13 pm

I use an external HDD case that has its own external power supply. It makes it larger, but you can use it with anything. This is with a 3.5" drive, not a 2.5" one.

ElbertR · #15 Post by **ElbertR** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:10 pm

I am using the IBM USB2.0 3.5" drive enclosure shown below

These can be found on ebay for cheap. They were originally sold with 40gb drives included. The ones on ebay come without the drive. There is also a SATA version.

It has a seperate power cable that plugs into a different USB port.

To use the USB power cable was not practical for me, so I used the power supply that came with the Ultrabay portable drive bay (19K4504). Just had to change the power plug on the power supply to a smaller one (found at Radioshack).

I now have 3 external drives setup like this, all with their own power supply.

USB2.0 PCMCIA card with dongle -> Powered USB HUB -> External harddrive enclosures and floppy (in portable drive bay).

cmarti · #16 Post by **cmarti** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:35 pm

ElbertR wrote:I am using the IBM USB2.0 3.5" drive enclosure shown below

And what is the output voltage and amps of the ac adapter? I guess positive is at the center of the connector.

Never mind.... A saw a picture on ebay it needs 5v and yes the center is positive.

ElbertR · #17 Post by **ElbertR** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:42 pm

cmarti wrote:
ElbertR wrote:I am using the IBM USB2.0 3.5" drive enclosure shown below
And what is the output voltage and amps of the ac adapter? I guess positive is at the center of the connector.

Never mind.... A saw a picture on ebay it needs 5v and yes the center is positive.

5V 2.5A. Watch out, the USB enclosure has positive on the OUTSIDE.

housedl · #18 Post by **housedl** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 7:56 am

ElbertR wrote:I am using the IBM USB2.0 3.5" drive enclosure shown below

These can be found on ebay for cheap. They were originally sold with 40gb drives included. The ones on ebay come without the drive. There is also a SATA version.

It has a seperate power cable that plugs into a different USB port.

To use the USB power cable was not practical for me, so I used the power supply that came with the Ultrabay portable drive bay (19K4504). Just had to change the power plug on the power supply to a smaller one (found at Radioshack).

I now have 3 external drives setup like this, all with their own power supply.

USB2.0 PCMCIA card with dongle -> Powered USB HUB -> External harddrive enclosures and floppy (in portable drive bay).

that is alot of hardware to get a 2.0 speeds...lol.. but i guess the solutions are limited with this aging box..

Slow USB performance on A31p

Slow USB performance on A31p

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