External HD lights up when connected to battery and PC, but not through Hub?

[Viper69]

I am having some issue here, and not sure if it's the hub or me hah.

I'm looking to replicate this video below, mind you my drive is not the SSD, it's Seagate Backup Plus 4 or 5 TB. I have the exact same model USB-C hub as in the video.

The issue is when I connected my HD to the hub the activity/power light doesn't go on. Yet, when I plug the HD (using the same cable) directly into my portable power bank (16,750 mAh- full charged) the activity light goes on. This happened with another external portable hard drive. a WD model. If I plug the drives into my PC they of course work.

To me it seems like there's an issue with the hub's ability to delivery through its USB ports. I am using the hub's USB 3.0 ports to connect my drives. The hub's power light does come on.

Or is there something I don't understand here? Exact hub model below

https://www.anker.com/products/a8346?variant=37438455480470

 

[Janus67]

I would bet that the 3.0 ports can't pass through enough power to the drive to power it on. SSDs use less power so would likely have less of an issue

 

[Viper69]

I would bet that the 3.0 ports can't pass through enough power to the drive to power it on. SSDs use less power so would likely have less of an issue

Hey Janus! Man, I was afraid that was the case. I think you are right! I didn't know SSD generally use less power thanks.

 

[Janus67]

Does your drive also have an external power adapter?

 

[Viper69]

Does your drive also have an external power adapter?

No, just a cable. I didn’t realize mechanical moving parts would be so power needy. Time to get a portable SSD, thinking either San Disk 2TB, seen it for 129$, or maybe the Samsung T7.

All my 3.5” non-portable HDs have a power bricks- such a tangle of cords. I have IDE, SATA drives. Thinking of getting rid of all of them and consolidating to a single drive. I’ll keep one or two of the largest drives as a redundancy backup for certain files- music pictures etc.

 

[Zerileous]

That's an option or you could try a powered USB hub to run the drives and just use the Anker hub as an SD reader.. You could also try connecting a USB-C charger to your Anker hub's PD port (this is only intended to pass through to the USB-c port plugged into the computer, so you can charge a laptop and use the USB-C port at the same time, but it might boost the power to the drives as well.

 

[JLK03F150]

I have this Adata SD810 2TB external SSD & I've been very happy with it. Super fast on the Thunderbolt with my notebook & USB-C on my desktop.

ADATA SD810 2TB USB 3.2 External SSD Review - Overclockers

Overclockers review of the SD810 - high resistance and high performance external SSD from ADATA.

www.overclockers.com

Currently $149 on Amazon but you may be able to find it for less (I paid $129 in June).

 

[Viper69]

I have this Adata SD810 2TB external SSD & I've been very happy with it. Super fast on the Thunderbolt with my notebook & USB-C on my desktop.

ADATA SD810 2TB USB 3.2 External SSD Review - Overclockers

Overclockers review of the SD810 - high resistance and high performance external SSD from ADATA.

www.overclockers.com

Currently $149 on Amazon but you may be able to find it for less (I paid $129 in June).

I read that one! I wanted to get it, but I’ll have to go with Costco. Last time I had a different hub, and the SSD drive wouldn’t connect so I returned the drive and used the Seagate drive I have now.

Post magically merged: Oct 27, 2024

That's an option or you could try a powered USB hub to run the drives and just use the Anker hub as an SD reader.. You could also try connecting a USB-C charger to your Anker hub's PD port (this is only intended to pass through to the USB-c port plugged into the computer, so you can charge a laptop and use the USB-C port at the same time, but it might boost the power to the drives as well.

Im not sure if I’ll have access to electricity yet. Likely will have limited hours for electrical access.

Hmm so instead of a portable powebank/battery- just plug a USB-C charger into the hub?

I’m trying not to bring a computer. If I bring a computer then I will not need to do this piecemeal.
My laptop is a bit over 4lbs trying to save on weight, and NOT buy another 400-1000$ gadget
just for a trip if that makes sense.

 

[Viper69]

Small Update

The hub I have is definitely a lemon. It can't deliver power. I connected a working SanDisk SSD to it using USB-C- nothing happens. Anker is working on getting me a replacement.

 

[MisterEd]

The whole process seems way to complicated. I can connect a ten year old Seagate Expansion Plus (1TB) HDD directly to my Samsung S21 phone just using a USB-A to USB-C adapter cable. I tried to copy photos to the HDD but couldn't because the drive was formatted NTFS. It would have been no problem had the drive been formatted exFAT.

BTW, I only did this as a test to see if it would work. Normally I would have done this with an external SSD. Ironically, I could only do this with a Samsung T7 (4TB) SSD. For some reason it wouldn't work with a WD Elements (2TB) SSD. I thought it was a power problem so I used a powered USB hub. Even that didn't help.

 

[Viper69]

The whole process seems way to complicated. I can connect a ten year old Seagate Expansion Plus (1TB) HDD directly to my Samsung S21 phone just using a USB-A to USB-C adapter cable. I tried to copy photos to the HDD but couldn't because the drive was formatted NTFS. It would have been no problem had the drive been formatted exFAT.

BTW, I only did this as a test to see if it would work. Normally I would have done this with an external SSD. Ironically, I could only do this with a Samsung T7 (4TB) SSD. For some reason it wouldn't work with a WD Elements (2TB) SSD. I thought it was a power problem so I used a powered USB hub. Even that didn't help.

The goal isn't to connect a drive to my phone.

When you google this photography need the video link I posted among others identical to it are what comes up. If you don't own a tablet or laptop, this is your only solution out in the field. There used to be a solution, called Gnarbox, they went out of biz quick. There is one solution similar but it's a pain to use, and flakey. Back to you point, to this day I'm surprised it's this convoluted.

I will say that even w/the video above, agreed, it's convoluted, what I've noticed is all the little parts one uses to make this happen- well not all vendor's parts play w/the others. SO, when they list the parts in their video, I buy them.

I'm sure this is why people cave and carry a laptop on their trip. I hate doing that as I try to pack light due to bringing camera gear. I rarely use a laptop, let alone bring one.

There's 2 guys which came up with a Rasberry Pi-based solution that looks exactly like what I need. I'll need to order those parts etc, it's a project for me as I'm not familiar w/that tech or the SW usesd w/it.

 

[Zerileous]

I must not have read too carefully, you're not using a laptop?

The plug (male USB-C) on your hub has to plug into something (i.e. a laptop) and I'm pretty sure the hub takes some power off the device from that plug. Have you been plugging it into a phone instead? That's an interesting idea but I think it would depend on if the phone is wired to deliver power out of its USB-C port, as well as if it has drivers to recognize the devices plugged into the port. I think most should be able to do this, but there might be some settings to play with (USB host comes to mind but that might be a term that's dated by 10+ years).

To make this all work, I would first set it up using a laptop and make sure it can read the SD and transfer to the drive. Then I would work on getting the phone set up to connect directly to the drive. Then do the same to the SD card using the dock. Then finally plug the drive into the dock. That way you're isolating each specific part and you know what to work on to get it all going.

The PD port on the hub will allow a device to charge off of the hub, so if you plug a USB-C charger into the PD port, it should be able to charge the device and also (hopefully) power the hub itself. This is primarily to pass power to the host device (the one plugged into the male cable), but I have also charged small devices (i.e. wireless earbuds) off of my dock's USB C port without issue. The charger needs to be a high enough wattage USB C charger, like 65W-100W. I don't know what the minimum is to operate the hub, maybe Anker can tell you. But if the wattage is too low, I know for example my laptop won't even respond that it's plugged into a charger, and will just treat it like a USB-c device.

Finally, if you're traveling, I strongly recommend using an SSD as others suggested. Not only is it magnitudes smaller and lighter, but it's way more durable to the activities of travel.

 

[Viper69]

I must not have read too carefully, you're not using a laptop?

The plug (male USB-C) on your hub has to plug into something (i.e. a laptop) and I'm pretty sure the hub takes some power off the device from that plug. Have you been plugging it into a phone instead? That's an interesting idea but I think it would depend on if the phone is wired to deliver power out of its USB-C port, as well as if it has drivers to recognize the devices plugged into the port. I think most should be able to do this, but there might be some settings to play with (USB host comes to mind but that might be a term that's dated by 10+ years).

To make this all work, I would first set it up using a laptop and make sure it can read the SD and transfer to the drive. Then I would work on getting the phone set up to connect directly to the drive. Then do the same to the SD card using the dock. Then finally plug the drive into the dock. That way you're isolating each specific part and you know what to work on to get it all going.

The PD port on the hub will allow a device to charge off of the hub, so if you plug a USB-C charger into the PD port, it should be able to charge the device and also (hopefully) power the hub itself. This is primarily to pass power to the host device (the one plugged into the male cable), but I have also charged small devices (i.e. wireless earbuds) off of my dock's USB C port without issue. The charger needs to be a high enough wattage USB C charger, like 65W-100W. I don't know what the minimum is to operate the hub, maybe Anker can tell you. But if the wattage is too low, I know for example my laptop won't even respond that it's plugged into a charger, and will just treat it like a USB-c device.

Finally, if you're traveling, I strongly recommend using an SSD as others suggested. Not only is it magnitudes smaller and lighter, but it's way more durable to the activities of travel.

Correct without a laptop

I contacted Anker- it’s a lemon, they are refunding me. Power comes from a portable powerbank for this type of setup.

I have a SSD- that didn’t power up either from this hub. Ultimately nothing did, even when hub was plugged into a charger or computer. It’s like all the ports were dead. Not even the SD card in the slot could be read.

I was in a computer store recently for something else, and they had a small, laptop for sale that was 50% off. I have time constraints for this approach to work. And as much as I did not want to carry extra gear I caved and bought it It was cheaper than a tablet.

However I’m still researching on building the Rasberry Pi based device I’ve seen that does exactly what I need.

 

[JLK03F150]

However I’m still researching on building the Rasberry Pi based device I’ve seen that does exactly what I need.

My first thought was "Raspberry Pi, what a great solution." My next thought was "how would you interface with it?" Would it just act as the hub in your set up and still use the phone as an interface?

 

[Viper69]

My first thought was "Raspberry Pi, what a great solution." My next thought was "how would you interface with it?" Would it just act as the hub in your set up and still use the phone as an interface?

Here’s a link. There’s a couple videos out there too. No phone needed, just Pi and your memory card.

DIY Portable Photo Backup Device - {DPHacks}

Find out how to make your own backup device for your photos using a Raspberry Pi. This compact and light-weight device packs a lot of the same features other commercially-available products have but for a small fraction of the price.

dphacks.com