How to configure USB ports on MacBook Pro?

[patspahr9]

So this is frustrating. MacBook Pro has 2 USB ports. One if for my Focusrite Scarlett audio interface and one is for my external hard drive that contains all my footage and audio from a recent documentary interview shoot. There are no more ports for the ProTools iLock doohickey. What do you do? (I tried a 4-port USB extension but some devices are not recognized.)
Thanks,
Pat Spahr.

[dr_daw]

Unfortunately, that is the downside to having small setups that don't have too many I/o points. Personally, I have a Belkin active USB hub. It works fine with my iLok, USB wireless mouse combo, and Keystation49e. I use it at times to run back-ups onto a USB 3 drive, but would never try to run any of my data off the Hub. I would try to always plug the drive into the USB3 port on the MBP, the scarlette is USB 2, so it may or may not like being plugged into the active hub.

[albee1952]

I didn't think USB drives were approved on MBP's? This might be a case for installing a good SSD and record to the internal drive(as long as sessions are fairly small). Unsupported? Yes. Will it work? Probably

[mesaone]

Velcro this bad boy to the top of your scarlett. Plug it and your scarlett into the mac, plug the iLok and whatever else into the hub. Zip tiethe lead cables, if you like. Added bonus of not accidentally snapping your iLok in half if you forget to unplug it.

Also, maybe a firewire or thunderbold drive would be better? I don't know how well PT and USB hard drives play together on mac.

[Darryl Ramm]

Or get a decent Thunderbolt drive and/or a thunderbolt dock with more USB ports.

[dr_daw]

Originally Posted by albee1952

I didn't think USB drives were approved on MBP's? This might be a case for installing a good SSD and record to the internal drive(as long as sessions are fairly small). Unsupported? Yes. Will it work? Probably

I'm not sure about USB drives being approved on a MBP. The do work however for backups, which is what I'm using them for :P In tests, I've been able to run my OS off a USB2 seagate drive, and run sessions off a USB 3 seagate drive. I was surprised to know that it would work...not saying it would work for everyone. What I do know, is that it 'should' work long enough for me to restore a damaged drive

[JFreak]

Ugh, I only use USB for MIDI and iLok, and wired keyboard/mouse while on the road. It is not useful for anything else (we're talking about serious audio computers, right?).

ALWAYS buy such drives that have either FireWire800 or ThunderBolt connection.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by mesaone

Velcro this bad boy to the top of your scarlett. Plug it and your scarlett into the mac, plug the iLok and whatever else into the hub. Zip tiethe lead cables, if you like. Added bonus of not accidentally snapping your iLok in half if you forget to unplug it.

Also, maybe a firewire or thunderbold drive would be better? I don't know how well PT and USB hard drives play together on mac.

Belkin makes a good hub as does D-Link but whatever you get make sure it's a powered hub as that makes all the difference in the world.

I have an external hard drive I use as a sneakernet drive from my internet connected Mac to my daw Mac. Has FW800 and USB 2 ports on it. I usually use the FW port on both computers. I would never use that via the USB2 ports as the protocol is too slow for anything like recording.

[dr_daw]

Originally Posted by JFreak

Ugh, I only use USB for MIDI and iLok, and wired keyboard/mouse while on the road. It is not useful for anything else (we're talking about serious audio computers, right?).

ALWAYS buy such drives that have either FireWire800 or ThunderBolt connection.

Just to clarify what I use my hub for is exactly what you're describing. I use a FW800 Glyph GTP drive for recording. I use the USB drives as backup, and was surprised that they actually played back when running one drive on USB 3 for the OS backup, and USB 2 for the session drive! Would never, ever even consider trying to use that type of setup for anything other than recovering a faulty OS or Recording drive.