The light is on OK - nice and steady and I can hear the drive. If I then plug it into the laptop everything is fine. Unplug it from the laptop and nothing. The flash drive works fine that way but not the drive. Interesting.... The only thing I can think of is the hub requires a little too much power??? even though it's powered externally by either the AC supply or my battery pack and the light is on and steady. Does that sound logical? I guess I'll have to buy, borrow or beg another hub from my friends and see if another brand helps. I can't think of anything else to do... C