new usb hdd problem?

[smurph]

A friend, using up-to-date XP on a 2-3 year old PC, bought a new 120GB Toshiba USB HDD, it is very small and seems to be a laptop HDD in a caddy.
It works when directly plugged into the rear USB port, but fails when thru his USB 2.0 (4 port) hub (which is thru same rear USB port), any ideas?

As I understand it, USB 2.0 items should all be backwards compatible and function if the PC has USB 1.0/1.1, is that so?
Where can I tell in/on PC whether it has USB 1.0 or 2.0?
Might he need a powered USB 2.0 hub or similar option?

 

[Nitestick]

he needs a powered hub, it's not surprising really. a lot of 2.5" external drives push the current limitation of a single usb port and often have been known to not run on laptop USB ports and more commonly USB hubs. once you factor in the power requirement for the hub and anything else plugged into it's almost certain that there just isn't enough power to power the drive.

 

[peterhuang913]

The hub probably isn't powered, so it splits the current between the four hub ports.