Hi Bob. By Y cable, are both ends USB? Basically, the USB on the receivers is not designed to power the EHD so that is why an external source is needed.
If you get a drive larger that 2TB (which we do not officially support and is not recommended) the receiver will only format 2TB of it. I am not sure if the rest of the space would be able to be used, but my time here tells me it cannot be
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Matt "Speedy" Gonzales | Moderator