USB cable question!

BlurOfSerenity

BlurOfSerenity

New Member
i have two devices: a PDA, and a MiniDisc recorder that hooks up to my computer. both use usb cables, and each came with one of its own. the cables are both the same on the ends; they fit each other's device.
however, they are not totally the same because the minidisc one has this cylindrical, plastic thing near the end that i plug into the device. the pda one is just a straight cable with the connecty things on the ends.

my question is, can i safely use the cables interchangably?
for you see, i have two computers, and i use both devices on both computers. and it's a pain to keep plugging in/unplugging usb cables all the time.... especially if i am not even sure that i have to. so if i could keep one cable plugged into one computer and the other one plugged into the other computer, that would make life much easier.

but i want to first make sure it is ok to do this.

help?
 
Yeah, you should be able to. That little cylindrical thing is a common-mode choke, basically just protects the cable from interference and reduces noise. About the only problem you'd have is if you run the cable without it right next to your monitor, speakers, or something else that puts out a lot of interference.

From what I've found they started using the CMC's on USB 2.0 devices. So, most likely the device that came with the CMC can communicate faster than the other, I'm guessing it came with the MiniDisk recorder? Assuming your computer supports USB 2.0 of course, otherwise both will go at about the same speed anyway. I guess the thing to do would be to test download a movie from the Minidisc on both systems, see if there is a difference in the time it takes to do it, if it's significant, it would probably be worth swapping the cables around.
 
^ what pt said, but i'll add that i have usb 1.1 devices that came with a cmc on it. one of them was my scanner so i presume it is to ensure the scan isn't interfered with as it goes to the comp.
 
ris said:
^ what pt said, but i'll add that i have usb 1.1 devices that came with a cmc on it. one of them was my scanner so i presume it is to ensure the scan isn't interfered with as it goes to the comp.
Click to expand...
and likewise, my mp3 player cable has no cmc and is usb 2.
 
thanks for the input, everyone!

well i was all set to use my non-cmc cable for my MD player, but it like couldn't find the device. this turned out to be a problem i could fix by visiting my computer's control panel and reinstalling a driver, but by this time, id swapped the cable for the cmc one.... ahh well, i shall try it another day.
 
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