Answers |
| (1) |
What is USB? USB is the simple
way to connect peripherals to your computer. It can be used to attach
a wide variety of devices like scanners, cameras, keyboards, speakers
- almost anything to your computer. |
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| (2) |
What is USB good for? USB for
great for attaching medium speed devices to computers. It's maximum
speed of 12 Mbps is fine for low speed devices like keyboards, mice,
or joysticks. It is also well suited for medium speed devices like
floppy drives, cameras, modems, or scanners.
Also, because it's "hot-pluggable" you can plug devices in or unplug
them safely when you computer is turned on.
Using either multiple ports on your computer or a hub, you can
attach an almost unlimited number of devices - theoretically up
to 128 if you have them. |
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| (3) |
What isn't USB good for?
USB isn't a replacement for every connector on your old PC. It's
maximum speed of 12 Mbps isn't fast enough for high speed networking,
digital video, fast disks, and other high performance peripherals.
Other solutions such as SCSI or Firewire/iLink
can fill these needs.
Also, many older peripherals do not have USB built in. For these,
there are a variety of USB adapters
available. |
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| (4) |
What is "hot-swapping?" One
of the best features of USB is that it is hot swappable. This means
you can walk up to a computer, plug in a new device using USB, and
use it right away.
Most connectors on computers can only be plugged in when the computer
is off. This prevents electrical shorts or glitches that can cause
damage. USB doesn't have this limitation. |
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| (5) |
What is "plug and play?" Plug
and play refers to the ability to use a new peripheral without going
through an elaborate configuration process.
Plug and play depends on the operating system used on your computer,
Windows 98 and MacOS have a set of basic USB drivers built in that
gives them true plug and play for a wide class of USB peripherals.
Even so, newer types of USB devices may need additional drivers
installed.
USB is well suited for plug and play operation. No jumpers need
be set or id's selected. There are no interrupt conflicts or other
messy configuration issues involved in using USB devices. |
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| (6) |
Hubs? Huh? Most computers have
two USB ports. If you need to plug in more than two USB devices
you do so by using a USB hub. A
hub plugs into your USB port and provides more than one additional
plugs. Common hub sizes include four or seven ports.
Many USB devices have hubs build right into them. Most keyboards
have another USB port in them so you can daisy chain a mouse, joystick,
or other USB device to it. |
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| (7) |
Self-powered vs. powered hubs?
One important feature of USB is that the cables distribute power
as well as data. This means that devices that use modest amounts
of power don't need separate power supplies. So few big power cubes
at your wall outlet and fewer cords running across your desk.
Still, the amount of power distributed over USB is limited. A unpowered
(or self-powered) hub uses some of the power coming to it for it's
own operation, and passes the remainder along to devices plugged
into it. This is OK for small hubs with low power devices plugged
into it. A good example is this is a keyboard with an powered hub
built-in. This has plenty of power for plugging in a mouse or track
pad.
Powered hubs have their own power supplies and can supply full
power to all the devices that can physically plugged into them.
Of course, you do have an extra wire and power block plugged into
the wall.
Some hubs can operate either way. If they don't have their power
supply plugged-in, they operate as an unpowered hub - with a limited
ability to power additional USB devices. When you plug-in their
power supplied, they function as powered hubs. |
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| (8) |
How fast is USB? USB has a "low
speed" mode operating at 1.5 Mbps and a "high speed" mode operating
up to 12 Mbps.
Low speed mode is often used by slower devices such as mice, keyboards,
and joysticks.
High speed mode is required by faster devices like scanners and
printers.
Today (1998) this speed range places USB firmly in the midrange.
SCSI and Firewire are faster, serial and ADB are slower. A few years
from now USB will undoubtedly be viewed as low speed...
Most computer with two USB ports place both ports on the same USB
bus. This means that the bandwidth is shared between them. So, if
you have USB speakers on one port, and a printer on the other, the
printer will run slower when sound data is being sent to your speakers.
New computers, such as Apple's G4, are using separate USB buses
on each USB port. This means that you can use the full 12 Mbps bandwidth
on each port. |
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| (9) |
Can my computer use USB devices?
This depends on two things: hardware and software.
Hardware-wise, you need a USB port in your computer. This can either
be built in (most PC's build in 1999 and Apple's iMac) or from a
plug in card. A number of venders sell PCI
and CardBus USB adapters which can add USB capabilities to your
older computer.
Software-wise for Wintel computers, you need either Windows 98,
Windows 95 OSR 2.1 (although Windows 98 has better USB support than
Windows 95), Windows 2000. For Apple Macintosh computers you need
MacOS 8.1 or later. |
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| (10) |
How long can cables be? Five
meters is the maximum cable length allowed by USB. You can achieve
longer cable runs by inserting a hub every five meters. Companies
are also introducing cables with repeaters built into them to allow
longer cable runs. |
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| (11) |
Type A or B / upstream or downstream?
Type A plugs are the USB output port of a host system or hub. These
are also know as upstream ports. The USB plug in your computer is
a Type A plug. Your typical USB device with a single cable coming
out of it plugs into a hub or host systems Type A port.
Type B plugs are the USB input ports leading into hubs. These are
also know as downstream ports. They always connect to a Type A,
upstream port, at the other end of the cable. |
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| (12) |
How do I daisy chain my USB devices?
USB devices are not daisy chained, rather they use hubs to connect
more devices. If you have a single USB port on your computer and
need to use three USB devices, you need to first plug a hub into
the computer. The hub will then have four, or seven (or however
many) ports available for you to plug in additional devices.
Hubs can be daisy chained, to provide even more USB ports. |
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| (13) |
I just connected my External/Personal
Storage Hard Drives to my Windows 2000 or Windows XP system. When
entering Disk Management, I noticed the FAT 32 Partition and an area
of the drive marked as unallocated. Why is there unallocated space
on the drive? Older Operating Systems (before Windows 2000)
disk capacity was shown on a partition basis. With the introduction
of the Disk Management Utility (found in Windows 2000 and Windows
XP), the total capacity of the hard disk was shown (see image below).
Note the Unallocated Disk Space shown on the External/Personal Storage
Drive (Disk 1). Unallocated Disk Space will vary pending on the
capacity of the External/Personal Storage Drive that you have connected
to your Windows 2000 or Windows XP system.
NOTE: Windows 2000 and Windows XP do not have the ability to create
FAT 32 partitions. It is also important to note that FAT 32 partitions
possess a 4 GB file size limitation. If using the External/Personal
Storage unit with these Operating Systems, it is suggested that
you prepare the entire drive’s capacity using NTFS. Rocstor
recommends that you backup any/all data on your External/Personal
Storage Drive before starting the partitioning or formatting process.
Procedure:
In order to use the full capacity of the drive, you would have
to either:
Create a second partition utilizing the unallocated disk space
on the External/Personal Storage unit.
-OR-
Delete the existing FAT 32 partition on the External/Personal
Drive, create a partition for the entire space of the drive and
format the drive. |
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| (14) |
Why 1394 instead of USB?
1394 is fast becoming an industry standard for consumer electronics products.
It offers customers the same ease of installation as USB, with the added benefit
of a faster data transfer rate and more bandwidth. Maxtor's 1394 Personal Storage
data transfer rate is up to 400 Mbps - 30 times faster than USB connectivity!
Unallocated Disk Space shown on External/Personal Storage Hard Drives in Windows
2000 and/or Windows XP Disk Management Utilities. |
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| (15) |
What is the difference between a Basic Disk and a Dynamic Disk?
There are two different types of disk storage available to the Windows 2000/XP
Environment:
Basic Disk Storage
Dynamic Disk Storage
Basic Disk Storage
Basic storage uses partition tables that are supported by MS-DOS, Microsoft
Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me),
Microsoft Windows NT, Microsoft Windows 2000, and Windows XP. A disk initialized
for basic storage is called a basic disk. A basic disk contains basic volumes,
such as primary partitions, extended partitions, and logical drives.
Dynamic Disk Storage
Dynamic storage is supported by both Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional.
A disk that is initialized for dynamic storage is called a dynamic disk. A dynamic
disk contains dynamic volumes, such as simple volumes, spanned volumes, striped
volumes, mirrored volumes, and RAID-5 volumes.
Reference Microsoft KB Articles 175761 and 314343 for more detailed information
on this topic. |
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| (16) |
How do I determine if Windows 98 Second Edition has the updated drivers for my 1394 device?
This FAQ applies only to Windows 98 Second Edition.
If the file, ohci1394.sys, is version 4.10.2222 or earlier, it must be updated.
Please get the latest 1394 update from Microsoft's website by clicking here.
Below are step-by-step instructions on how to verify the 1394 driver version.
- First you want to access Device Manager. To do this click on Start, Settings,
and Control Panel. Once in Control Panel double-click on the System Icon.
- A new window, System Properties, will appear. Click on the Device Manager
tab. Click on the + next to 1394 Bus Controller. Highlight as illustrated below
and click on the Properties button.
- Click on the Driver Tab as circled below.
- Click on the Driver File Details Button as circled below.
- If the File version is 4.10.2222 or earlier then it must be updated. Please
get the latest 1394 update from Microsoft's website by clicking here.
- If a new driver is determined please download the 1394 Storage Supplement
found on Microsoft's Website by clicking here.
- You should see the 'Disconnect or Unplug' Icon in the system tray when or
if you have the most recent driver as shown below.
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| (17) |
From my Windows XP/2000 System, why can't I create a FAT32 partition greater than 160GB using Partition Magic 8.0?
Problem:
Cannot create a FAT32 partition greater than 160GB using Partition Magic 8.0.
The following are examples from a 250GB External Hard Drive while attempting
to create a FAT32 within Windows XP Pro:
Note how the drive decreases in size when attempting to create a FAT32 Volume.
Partition Magic's Help File States the following:
What is new in PartitionMagic 8.0?
• New file management features that include the ability to browse files,
and view and manipulate files or folders on multiple types of file systems.
• New NTFS features enabling you to choose the cluster size on creating
a new NTFS partition or changing the cluster size of an existing NTFS partition,
and NTFS format versioning (NTFS 1.4 to the latest). (This feature requires
256 MB of RAM for drives over 120 GB in size).
Enhanced Copy Partition functionality letting you choose the partition type
(logical or primary) for the destination partition and whether that partition
is to be resized.
Changes in the UI, primarily in the main screen, that adopts a Windows XP
look and feel.
Support for Linux EXT2 and EXT3 file systems.
Support for partitions up to 160 GB, containing up to 145 GB of data.
...etc
Cause:
Partition Size Limitation of Partition Magic.
Solution:
Contact PowerQuest for more information. |
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| (18) |
How to partition & format your External Storage Devices for Macintosh Computers?
Rocstor Storage devices are shipped with the FAT32 Windows file system installed.
The drive will mount as a Windows-formatted disk on the Macintosh desktop; however,
the Macintosh disk repair/recovery tools cannot repair or recover data from
Windows-formatted drives.
For the highest performance and compatibility, we recommend you reformat the
drive using the Mac OS Extended format. However, if you will be transferring
files between a Windows system and a Macintosh, leave the drive in the FAT32
format, you will have to either:
• Limit the FAT32 Volume sizes to no more than 32GB in capacity.
• Format the drive with a Mac OS Extended Volume. Use a Third-Party Utility
that allows you to view (read/write) Mac Volumes from a Windows PC.
Caution: Formatting the drive destroys all data contained on that drive. Make
a backup copy of all your data before formatting your drive.
Answer For Mac OS
Below are procedures on how to format the drive for Mac OS 9.x.
To format the drive for Mac OS 9.x
- Plug the drive into the Macintosh computer using either the FireWire or
USB cable. The drive appears as a single drive on your desktop.
- Disable the File Exchange control panel.
- From the Apple () menu, select Control Panels -> Extensions Manager.
- From the list that appears clear the check box next to the File Exchange
control panel. c. Click Restart. As the computer restarts, a message appears
saying the drive is unreadable and asks you to initialize the drive.
- Enter a name for the drive in the Name field.
- Select Max OS Extended from the drop-down list and click Initialize. The
new drive appears on your desktop as a Macintosh drive with the name you assigned.
To confirm the drive is formatted properly, select the drive and then select
File -> Get Info -> General Information. The drive format should read
Mac OS Extended.
- Enable the File Exchange control panel.
- From the Apple menu, select Control Panels -> Extensions Manager.
- Select the check box next to the File Exchange control panel.
- Click Restart.
To format the drive for Mac OS X (Jaguar & Panther)
NOTE: The way in which Mac OS X mounts the hard drive depends on the drive's
capacity.
- Plug your drive into the Macintosh.
- Launch the Disk Utility.
- Select your new drive from the list on the left. A description of the drive
appears in the right window.
- Select the Partition tab at the top of the window.
Enter a name for your drive in the Name field.
Select the Mac OS Extended from the Volume Format drop-down list.
Select the check box next to Install Mac OS 9 Drivers. This will allow your
disk to be recognized if you start your system with Mac OS 9.
Click Partition to continue. An alert dialog appears to confirm the Partitioning/Formatting
process.
Click Partition to start the Partitioning/Formatting process.
When complete, the drive will Mount to the Desktop. |
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| (19) |
Can I swap my Personal Storage Device between a Mac and PC?
Problem:
Sharing an external hard drive between Windows and Macintosh systems has been
an issue that has caused much difficulty in the past. End-Users that delve into
both the Windows and Macintosh system see this problem on a daily basis; they
cannot share files between their Windows PCs and Mac Computers.
Cause:
The problem stems from the fact that the file systems used by Windows Based
PCs (FAT, FAT32, NTFS) differ from those used by Macintosh Computers (Mac OS
Extended, HFS+). These differences make it a difficult task to share files between
Mac and PC users.
Resolution:
Click here for ways to use Windows formatted external drives with Mac Systems.
It is worth mentioning that Mac OS X (Panther 10.3.x) can now read NTFS Volumes;
this means that you can copy files from an external drive (formatted with NTFS)
to a Mac running Panther. However, you cannot write files from the Mac to the
NTFS Volume.
The following 3rd party software products available that allow external disk
drives formatted in the Macintosh file system (Mac OS Extended, HFS+) to be
used on Windows systems.
MacDrive from MediaFour
MacOpener from DataViz
NOTE about 3rd Party Software:
Fitness for use in your specific application and support of these products
are the SOLE responsibility of their respective publishers. |
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| (20) |
How can I convert my existing FAT32 drive to NTFS on a Windows 2000 or XP system?
You can use the CONVERT.EXE file to convert a FAT32 partition to NTFS partition
without the need to reformat the drive, data on the drive will be intact. Reference
the Windows Help File for more information.
NOTE: We suggests that you backup any/all data before running this utility.
To convert a volume to NTFS from the command prompt
- Open a Command Prompt by clicking on "Start" -> "Run"
-> then type in cmd. Click "Ok".
- In the new window, type:
convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs
For example, typing convert D: /fs:ntfs would format drive D: with the NTFS
format.
Note:
Convert.exe only works on Windows 2000 and XP.
You can convert FAT or FAT32 volumes to NTFS with this command. |
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| (21) |
1394 Windows 98SE / Windows 2000 Installations.
There are two sides to a successful 1394 Windows installation - software and
hardware.
Software:
Drivers for the 1394 External Storage Unit and 1394 PCI Adapter card come directly
from Microsoft. A sign that you do not have these drivers installed would be
if you do not see the 'Disconnect or Unplug' Icon in the icon tray of your start
bar located on the right side. To obtain the Microsoft Critical Updates:
• Click on the START button located on your tool bar.
• Select the Windows Updates option. (This will launch your browser to
the appropriate URL for your Operating System in the language that you are using).
• Click on Product Updates option. (This option will examine your system
and prompt you to download the necessary updates for your system).
For 1394 PCI Adapter Cards:
If you are using another brand of 1394 card or computer with an integrated
1394 interface and have the Microsoft Critical Updates, you will need to obtain
the 1394 drivers from the manufacturer of that card or system.
Further driver troubleshooting from Microsoft is available as follows:
INFO: 1394 Device Not Being Detected
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q221/8/23.ASP
1394 Host Controller Driver Does Not Retry Busy Devices Properly (Win98SE)
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q252/1/83.ASP
Connectivity Problem with IEEE 1394 OHCI Host Controllers (Win2000)
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q268/3/47.ASP
Hardware:
The following power sequences MUST be followed for your system to properly
detect your 1394 External Storage unit
Initial installation - or - If you move the 1394 External Storage unit from
one computer to another.
- Ensure that your computer is on and running one of the required operating
systems.
- Plug the 1394 External Storage power supply into your wall socket. If needed.
- Ensure that the power switch on the 1394 External Storage is in the "O"
(power off) position.
- Plug the black round power plug into the back of the 1394 External Storage
unit.
- Turn the power switch to the "I" (power on) position (Note: The
light on the front of the unit will glow).
- Plug one end of the 1394 cable into the 1394 port in your computer. Be sure
to do this before Step 7.
- Plug the other end of the 1394 cable into your External Storage unit.
Power up sequence after initial setup:
- Turn the power on to your 1394 External Storage FIRST and then to your computer
- your system will automatically locate the Maxtor 1394 External Storage unit.
For further details of the basic installation steps, please see the installation
guide. |
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| (22) |
How do I format and partition my 1394 or USB Personal Storage device in Windows?
The 1394 and USB drives are pre-formatted in FAT 32. To format and re-partition
the 1394 or USB Personal Storage in Windows XP or 2000 use Disk Management.
To format and re-partition in Windows 98 SE or ME you should use FDISK.
How to format and re-partition the drive in Windows 2000 and XP
Note: This procedure is data destructive. Backup the data before performing
this procedure.
- Access "Administrative Tools" through the "Control Panel".
XP users might have to click on "Performance and Maintenance" first
to access "Administrative Tools".
- In "Administrative Tools" click on "Computer Management",
"Storage", and "Disk Management".
- Right-click on the Drive Letter assigned to the Personal Storage device.
- Select "Delete Partition..." and "Yes"
- Right-click on the "Unallocated" space.
- Select "New Partition".
- In the "New Partition Wizard", click Next. Select the type of
partition you want and follow all on-screen instructions.
How to format and re-partition the drive in Windows 98 SE and ME
Note: If you are running either Windows 98 SE or ME edition, it is recommended
that you obtain an updated version of the FDISK and FORMAT utilities included
with Windows. The update allows the FDISK and FORMAT utilities to report the
correct disk capacity on the screen. Update information is available on Microsoft's
support web site at:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q263/0/44.ASP
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q263/0/45.ASP
- Click on "Start", "Programs", "Accessories",
and "MS-DOS"
- You will need to run FDISK from the DOS prompt.
- For information on how to format using FDISK please refer to:
Microsoft's Knowledge Base Article Q255867 Or,
FDISK Simulation by Computer Hope at
http://www.computerhope.com/sfdisk1.htm
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