12-12-2006, 07:00 AM
My aluminum PowerBook G4 can't power a 2.5" USB drive (at least, the one I tried). Just b/c the USB spec is 500mA, that doesn't mean that's all the drive needs (it might need more), and the iBook might overpower the bus, while the PowerBook just meets it (or exceeds it, but the iBook just exceeds it by more).
BTW, firewire doesn't "always" work, but it's much more likely. I have one case that works bus-powered on my PowerBook G4, but not on PowerBook G3. But it's the only case I've found that does that, and I've used a lot more firewire cases than USB cases.
BTW, firewire doesn't "always" work, but it's much more likely. I have one case that works bus-powered on my PowerBook G4, but not on PowerBook G3. But it's the only case I've found that does that, and I've used a lot more firewire cases than USB cases.