Resolved Rock Mobile Disk hard drive - USB question

[font= "comic sans ms"]im confused as to why there are two usb jacks coming out of the same end of the usb cord. Can someone explain what the purpose of this is?

If you dont have a "rock mobile disk" external drive, let me try to explain what this looks like. Picture a standard usb cord - now picture a 2nd usb connection coming out of the first one, with the extra cable about 10 inches long.

My theory is that you can plug the 2nd usb plug into a 2nd usb port on a laptop (or pc, which ever you have) for double the transfer speed.

Can someone help me with this? It works fine the way it is, but im dying to know why it id designed this way. There must be a reason for the 2nd usb plug!!!

Ps - someone referred to this wire as an "usb hub" on a different forum, if that means anything to you guys. [/font]

 

Sounds like a daisy chain or piggy back.

The idea being you can use the second connection to conect other USB devices to the same port your HD is using. I'm certain it's not for connecting the same drive to two ports to increase throughput though.

 

So, it would be used to connect my home desktop and my laptop to my external HD? I have a picture of the wires, can you email me at email removed by admin*, so I can send you the pic? It seems that it could work for that, but the 2nd USB comes out of the 1st USB, and only has about 10 inches of wire. That doesn't seem like enough wire to connect dual computers.

email me so I can send you the photo, and then tel me what you think. please. And Thanx in advance!


* You don't want to post your email address on a public forum, your address will be harvested & you'll be spammed to death.

Post your picture on a site such as flicker, and post a link here.

 

The Reply by PeteC sounds like the most logical explanation, as I don't have an external power source, the only problem is, I use it all the time without plugging in the 2nd USB plug. If it has a small battery inside, it would have died out a LONG time ago.

Maybe its both speed and power. It needs the 2nd one to draw power, but if you dont use it, it will transfer data slower so it can also pull power through the 1st connection.

From now on ill just plug in both when I use it. Thanx guys.

 

@Pete

I never thought about power requirements. I'd assumed external drives would have their own power source but what you've said and neTTsQuiD confirmed makes sense.

You learn something new everyday

Any chance you can look in on this thread, it looks like the HD is healthy but has been wiped (there is a recovery partition though). Your advice would be appreciated.