I just purchased a 60-gigabyte portable hard drive (the WD Passport) from Western Digital (via Amazon.com). It doesn’t work. Okay, it works, but only on my regular USB port. My Dell computer has four USB ports: three in the back of the tower and one in the front. The one in the front is a regular USB port. The three in the back are USB 2.0 ports. Why would it work only in the front? The Quick Install Guide says that “A special cable may be needed for computers with limited bus power.” No cable, other than a USB cable, came with the hard drive. This is unbelievable! Does anyone know what’s going on?

Addendum: I see from the WD Passport page to which I linked that there’s a special cable available for sale. I didn’t know this when I ordered the hard drive. But I’m still puzzled. Why would only one of the four USB ports on my computer—the slowest one at that—have power? I assure you, my next computer will have several USB 2.0 ports on the front of the computer, and all of them will be powered. If Dell doesn’t make such a computer, then Dell has lost a customer. This is infuriating.