How to Update to USB2.0?

[The_Devil_Himself]

I've decided to d/l DSL and see what happens. I got confused with the number of things that were in list... can anyone please point out the URL I need to leech? Also I've never used Linux b4, so support and guide me as how to go about.

Download DSL from here:*damnsmalllinux.org/download.html

and use this guide to make a bootable pendrive:

SB Damn Small Linux (DSL) This is a revisit of the Windows DSL USB installation tutorial: "Putting damn small linux on a USB pendrive". Damn Small Linux was created by John Andrews of damnsmalllinux.org and is basically a trimmed down version of Knoppix, making it perfect for smaller drives. Based on the 2.4 kernel, DSL is great to use for older and slower computers as well. It will fit and run on portable devices or drives as small as 64MB.


Basic essentials:

* A 64MB or larger USB flash drive
* HP-USB Format tool (optional)
* 7-Zip (or another extracting utility)
* Syslinux
* dsl-embedded.zip

Damn Small Linux USB install tutorial:

1. Download the HP-USB Format tool and format your flash drive using the Fat or Fat32 option
2. Download the dsl-embedded.zip and extract the contents using 7-Zip to your "USB flash drive"
3. Download syslinux-3.36.zip and unzip the files to a directory called syslinux on your computer
4. From Windows click start-> run-> cmd
5. From the command window, type cd \syslinux\win32
6. Type syslinux.exe -ma X: (replace X with your USB drive letter) to make the drive bootable
7. Reboot your computer and set your system BIOS to boot from USB-ZIP or USB-HDD. You might also need to set the hard disk boot priority to boot from the USB stick if your BIOS lists the device as a hard drive.

Notes: It is possible to "boot DSL using Qemu emulation" without the need to reboot the PC. See the included readme file that was written by the authors of DSL

If you still can't get DSL to work, you can try this full installation tutorial direct from the DSL wiki
SOURCE

Also I've never used Linux b4, so support and guide me as how to go about.

There are many linux gurus to help you.don't worry.

The_Devil_Himself-
I still don't have MacBook with me. Even if I did, I want this to work with my PC. I didn't try the WD in MacBook, it was a Dell 6400.

whatever dude it means the HD is perfectly alright.

BTW please do ask infra_red_dude about the distro which will suit your purpose the best.I recommended DSL because it is small and hence quick to download.


One more thing:you can find out how much power a usb port is delivering to any device connected to it.

go to the device manager in windows system properties then open the usb properties for the usb root hub in question then properties then power. It shows the power consumption of the device.

You can compare this to the power requirements of HDD.Hope this helps.

 

[s18000rpm]

my bro's laptop also showed similar msg whenevr i connected the Transcend Pen Drive.

i tried to update when net was conected, it failed, then today i tried when net was not connected, & i dunno how but it got updated to USB 2.0 (some file from C: Windows/System... got installed).


------
d/l CPU-Z & run it, goto to "Mainboard" tab to find out mobo model.

*www.cpuid.com/download/cpu-z-141.zip

 

[drgrudge]

The_Devil_Himself -
Thanks a lot for the support. I don't have the resource to do the thing today. I'll get hold of a pen drive and leech some mini-distro (DSL or anything better) tomorrow. I'll post here on the updates.

Regarading the power to the USB posts, I have two ports - as shown in the image below:
*img134.imageshack.us/img134/1707/driverdt5.jpg


And now when I see the properties of the 2nd item in the above screeny, I get the following thing:
*img228.imageshack.us/img228/4463/46134252wg2.jpg

and I was not able to see the power tab for the first item (the one with the Intel thing). I don't know which of the USB slot is named thus (ie, which is the Intel one and which is the Root Hub one). FYI, when I connect the WD to one of the USB slot, the light dims and brights alternatively - meaning that the power is not sufficient.


s18000rpm -
Hope something like that happnes to my PC as well. No use to find out which mobo I got, this is a old PC and as ppl point out it wont support 2.0 for sure. I just want his to work, thats it.

 

[NucleusKore]

Windows is sometimes known to mess up mounting of the external hard disks. Although both pen drives and external casing use USB Mass Storage Device Driver, somehow only hard disk mounting gets messed up. I hope you have set the external hard disk to master. If not do that and try.
Windows!!!
However, I usually work around the problem by using a Xubuntu cd (because its light). Just boot from it with the casing plugged into your system, you'll see your drive right there on the desktop or when you open HOME. Offcourse, I would not know what to do if you were to want to write to NTFS partitions

 

[infra_red_dude]

^^^ Yeah, don't take the trouble of installing DSL. Just use any Live CD. Most will automatically mount the external HDD. That way you can eliminate the windows drivers' problems.

 

[The_Devil_Himself]

^^ird you missed this:

The thing is the Optical drives are also not working and they aren't connected to the mobo. I really wanted to install Linux as running XP in this system makes it even slow.

he has no optical device connected to this PC.so livecd is outta question.

What he can do is download either DSL(its small) or any other 700mb complete regular distro(like ubuntu) and make a bootable pendrive.

 

[infra_red_dude]

^^^ Oh ok. Yeah, I missed that point!

 

[drgrudge]

^^
What's this add on USB drive? If that's what it take to make my WD work, I can invest on that as well. If driving power is the problem, then will this work?


Optical drive is a problem, but I think my CD ROM drive should work even though it's not connected to the mobo. Got to check that one now. I'm waiting for unlimited net connection (gave the request letter today and the people there say by tomorrow I should have UL connection) ... presently on Home 250 which s*cks bigtime.

 

[infra_red_dude]

The same USB 2.0 addon PCI card I was mentioned about. You can invest in that. No harm in doing that. At least the data transfer via flash drives will be faster for sure!

 

[The_Devil_Himself]

^^well instead of buying that card for 500 wouldn't it be wise to get a low end new mobo instead(the ones costing 2-3k with pcie,sata,and of course usb2.0 slots)?

 

[infra_red_dude]

Then he'll hafta buy a new proccy, RAM. Isn't that equivalent to almost buying a new system??!

 

[NucleusKore]

A USB 2.0 card is fine, but speed is not the problem here! Please take note.

Also, Please read this article
*marc.herbert.free.fr/linux/win2linstall.html

it will help you as you do not have a optical drive

 

[The_Devil_Himself]

^^i guess so but spending 500 just for USB2.0 support sounds just too much to me.And there are always chances that his problem is not solved even after making this purchase.IMO hdd should have worked on usb1.1 port too(I searched net and found nothing that suggests that a usb2.0 port provides more power than a usb1.1).

 

[drgrudge]

The_Devil_Himself -
Upgrading my PC is of no use. It's a 8 year old PC. Thats y I didn't buy a optical drive for my PC. Plus if I change the mobo, prolly I got to change the cabinet as well.

I'm planning to leech Gutsy Gibbon when I get the UL connection. By that time, the pen drive should not be a problem (now I don't have any).


My situation:
- I want the WD to work as I don't want to run my MBP 24/7. So would use this PC for running full time and leeching as much as possible.

- Previously I thought of a LAN connection or using a different modem (so that I can use Wi-Fi with my MBP) to share net connection. But it seems that once I go back to Dubai (in abt 45 days), the net connection would be surrendered as none of us reside in Chennai.

- I hate browsing with my PC. S*cks with 800*600 resolution and generally slow operation. Is there any other way I can access Internet with MBP other than connecting the ethernet wire to it?

Worst case senario:
1. WD is not usable with PC,
2. No net sharing btw MBP and PC (other than connecting the wire),
3. And to make things worst, I don't have an Optical drive working or have a Pen drive right now!

I'm planning to leech the things with my PC, transfer the data to my MBP (and from that burn to DVD or store in my WD). To browse, disconnect PC and start using MBP.


Guys, please tell me that there's other way than what I thought. I'm still positive on the situation and hope It doesn't get to the worst case senario or worst than worst case senario...

NucleusKore -
Thanks a lot for guiding me to that article. That seriously looks geeky to me. Hopefully things should not go that worst.

I love to install Linux in my system (will it run faster than XP?) but this optical drive issue is worring me? Can I install those OS from a Pen Drive? Or can I install both Linux and have XP. When things are under control in Linux (multimedia, internet usages only), then we can uninstall XP.

 

[The_Devil_Himself]

I can only see one possible solution...Get hold of a pendrive(2gb one should do)...Use your mbp to surf net and use PC for downloading stuff....transfer data from your pc to MBP using pendrive.

I love to install Linux in my system (will it run faster than XP?) but this optical drive issue is worring me? Can I install those OS from a Pen Drive? Or can I install both Linux and have XP. When things are under control in Linux (multimedia, internet usages only), then we can uninstall XP.

You can configure linux to run faster than XP
Yes you can install Linux from a pendrive(for more info look at the source of the tut I posted in an earlier post)
Yes you can install both linux and XP(dual boot system).Now ubuntu gutsy gibbon supports NTFS read and write support natively.
Dude the multimedia and internet features of Linux distros rock!!Amarok is the best music player in the world.Enhanced internet security(read no fear of viruses).what more?It perfectly fits your needs.

 

[drgrudge]

^^
Hmm... that's what I thought about! Can you clear my doubts in the end (which got merged)?

I just read infra_red_dude's tutorial on net sharing. Cost is an issue, as it seems I need to invest 4-5k on it. If I'm staying here, then would have considered it - not use to invest that much for a temporary period on a old PC.

 

[The_Devil_Himself]

^^a 2gb pendrive should not cost more than 1k.

 

[drgrudge]

^^
Pen drive is not an issue. My father has my 1gb Transend drive and he's coming to Chennai next Tuesday. Plus my cousin also has one. Still if I might need one, I'll buy a Pen drive ASAP.


I was referring to nOObish Linux doubts and not the Pen Drive one.

 

[The_Devil_Himself]

don't worry about linux man...you will love Gutsy gibbon trust me

 

[NucleusKore]

NucleusKore -
Thanks a lot for guiding me to that article. That seriously looks geeky to me. Hopefully things should not go that worst.

I think you missed something. See the third point in bold The even better trick, please read those three lines, thats it
It talks about the easy way of doing it using instlux. Link is here
*sourceforge.net/projects/instlux

Just for your info, I haven't tried it, but if its an old pc you have nothing to lose. The screen shots of the program interface look easy (Windowsish)