After some unpleasant consumer experiences and pressure from the website PhoneNews, Toshiba acknowledged a incompatibility of its Canvio USB 3.0 hard drives with recent MacBooks Air and Pro.
"But wait, no Mac has USB 3.0 yet, * it's obvious * that they would be incompatible!" someone could scream.
Calm down, my dear Padawan: on these Macs, the drives would run at USB 2.0 speed, taking advantage of the backward compatibility of the interface.
The problem that even so they work.
The cause of the problem was finally identified after multiple tests with drives other than the HDD: contrary to what is stated in the specifications of the USB standard, these drives are consuming a little more than the 5W power limit.
As a result, Macs automatically disable their operation unlike PCs, which still accept them.
In fact, modern Macs are capable of offering up to 10W, but the system only releases this current if the device detected is an iPad.
Interestingly, while Toshiba doesn't decide what to do if it can be solved with a firmware update, with a different USB cable or if HDDs will actually have to go through a recall , a solution to the problem connecting the drives using a powered USB hub as an intermediary.
Go figure.
(via MacDailyNews)
