Why Rear USB ports only

only on the new Dells which don't have PS/2 keyboard and mouse. The new Dells boot to a USB keyboard and the BIOS they use looks for it on the front UBS ports [least that's what works so there isn't a keyboard error on POST].

Could have to do with the fact that the front USB ports have cables to the motherboard which could lead to interference instead of being soldered in.

I got two seagate 300's external. One I hook up via rear port. 2nd I use to backup 1st.

I hooked it up to hp with front USB and copied 56 gig (224,000 files) in one working files directory to it as a backup. took a few hours, which I expected as USB, slow but more convenient than SATA, worked fine.

And no, I didn't read the manual - only the quick setup guide, and didn't see this.

the above comment may be why they suggest this but overly cautious.

There are some issues with power supply through both front USB ports and USB hubs. I can't for the life of me remember the specifics.

The rear USB ports have a known good USB 2.0 interface. Unless properly installed, many front panel ports are not USB 2.0 compliant even if connected to a USB 2.0 adapter.

Many devices cannot operate properly when connected to a non-powered USB hub.

The reality, is that Seagate customer service has probably had too high an incidence of users having problems with the drives connected to the front ports. Therefore, they add the statement to use only the rear ports as an easy way to reduce support traffic.

Chas

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