jmorris
New member
I use 3 external hard drives for storage of projects. Each has a usb2 cable to pc. Each external HD has 2 usb2 ports in the rear. Can I daisey chain one to another end result only having 1 usb2 cable to computer?
T
TimOBrien
New member
Maybe (you'll have to try it to find out, but that won't hurt anything.)
The only problem you may run into is overloading the amount of data that USB2 can carry.
Firewire is a better choice and was DESIGNED to stream audio and video (much more demanding than audio) from multiple drives on a chain up up to 63 devices.
The only problem you may run into is overloading the amount of data that USB2 can carry.
Firewire is a better choice and was DESIGNED to stream audio and video (much more demanding than audio) from multiple drives on a chain up up to 63 devices.
TragikRemix
I am NOT a Gear Whore. ;)
USB might be able to daisy chain, i'm not positive. if it jsut for storage it should be fine. for streaming, i'd say probably not.
your comp will let you know right away, it will say something like USB bus, underpowered, somethgin to that effect. make sure you have them all going on external PSU's and not relying on the USB bus for that too.
your comp will let you know right away, it will say something like USB bus, underpowered, somethgin to that effect. make sure you have them all going on external PSU's and not relying on the USB bus for that too.
jmorris
New member
Thanks to both of you. I just want to eliminate some cables. I'm thinking it wil work, just don't want to toast anything! 
dgatwood
is out. Leave a message.
jmorris said:
A HD with two USB ports? Really? Are uou sure that other port isn't FireWire?
USB really doesn't lend itself to devices that support daisy-chaining. You'd basically have to build a USB hub into the device, which adds a fair amount to the hardware cost. Thus, I've never seen any USB devices that provide an A-style host jack. Unless it contains an A-style host jack, the answer is no, you can't connect anything to it other than a computer. Buy a cheap hub and be done with it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#USB_connectors
BTW, my guess, assuming it really is a USB jack, is that one of the jacks is a "power-only" jack so that a computer that doesn't provide enough current to each USB jack can still (maybe) bus power a bus-powered hard drive. Of course, if this is a desktop drive, then that explanation makes no sense, and I have no idea why it would have more than one connector....