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Hi all,

This is my first post on here. I am usually the bloke that comes in, find what I am looking for and then leave. I have however discovered something that may help others, so I wanted to share (give a little back).

One of my drives that I own is the LG BP50NB40. It has struggled with heavier 4K rips, especially in power delivery through the USB 2.0 "Y" cable that comes with the drive. My drive would dismount, disappear. I would have to unplug it and then plug it back in, in order for it to re-appear in File Explorer. I have found a work around.....I replaced the "Y" cable with a USB C to Micro USB cable (the correct type to suit the drive). So now, the power delivery comes from the USB C port on the back of my PC and not the USB A ports. I have not had any more drive dismounts as a result. It does not mean that the drive performs flawlessly and will read my entire collections.....it is however, an improvement non the less.

So, that is all. If this type of post already exists, YAY. I am not alone nor did I reinvent the wheel. Wish you all well.....happy ripping

Btw assuming you have two C ports to spare, you can even try to get two C-A adapters and use them with the Y-cable...never tried / needed that myself, but it seems "powerful", heh

P.S. I read that the power plug of the Y-cable can pull only 100mA anyway. Not sure if it's true.

Hi tomty89,

I probably should have been a bit more specific/clearer.....just a single USB C to Micro USB cable is plenty. One cable, straight into a single USB C.....absolutely adequate. I stumbled across this while looking for a solution. Google gave me the specs. Happy ripping

Single USB C with Power Delivery---Max Wattage Up to 240W---Voltage 5V up to 48V (negotiable)---Max Amps 3A to 5A

2USB-A Ports via Y Cable---Max Wattage ~15W total---Voltage Fixed at 5V---Max Amps 1.5A per port (total 3A)

Single USB C with Power Delivery---Max Wattage Up to 240W---Voltage 5V up to 48V (negotiable)---Max Amps 3A to 5A

Pretty sure you won't get PD or voltage other than 5V. Even if the host port were a "charging port", your device (the drive) wouldn't be capable of doing / requesting for PD. (Also definitely not leveraging a different voltage.) Is the 3A@5V the absolute max in reality when a C port is not doing PD? No idea. (But also, AFAIK, not all C ports offer 3A@5V. Some may offer just 1.5A@5V.)

2USB-A Ports via Y Cable---Max Wattage ~15W total---Voltage Fixed at 5V---Max Amps 1.5A per port (total 3A)

I have no idea whether there's any de facto standard for A ports, but AFAIK technically they are expected to offer just 500mA or 900mA (USB 2.0 o 3.0), even when in reality they probably offer more on most hosts.

Also as I mentioned, some people claim that because the power plug lacks the data link whatsoever, it therefore cannot "negotiate" anything but receive some 100mA "baseline". Although I never measured one myself and I kinda doubt that because it would mean such a popular solution is essentially a "hoax". (Well, unless +0.5W could make a difference :S)

Either way, my point is in case someone's drive requires more than 15W (or a single C port on their host give less than that), they can try to use two C-A adapters and a Y-cable (with two A plugs). (That is, it could give the drive more juice than plugging the Y-cable into two A ports on the host / using a C-micro_B cable.) -- addressing:

It does not mean that the drive performs flawlessly and will read my entire collections.....it is however, an improvement non the less.

even when you might not mean / it is really not powering issue anymore. I don't really have much experience with slim drive, especially not LG ones, so I don't really know how much they could need. (And Google AI told me that SATA can do 5A@5V=25W.)

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If the Y-cable didn't work, then I'm pretty sure it didn't offer the drive 15W, because that's most likely how much the C port has offered it. (Btw, even if the C port could offer more than 3A "PD-less", I doubt that the C-micro_B cable can do more than 3A either -- not that I'm suggesting this "type" of cable has technical limitation, but just that it's unlikely / less likely "expensive" enough to be "physically capable".)

(With that said, AFAIK you do need C-C cable / "use case" for more than 3A@5V / PD because the E-marker thing is required, even when you can do more than that with proprietary charging protocol that works over C-A cables -- which is irrelevant to the "use case" here.)