Hardware Hard drive charging via y cable

[scotch]

Hello one and all,

I have a 4tb Seagate usb drive. When I power the drive via a y cable plugged in to the mains then plug in to an otg adapter on the switch, no content is detected. Drive isn't even scanning (or flashing to indicate it's reading content).

But when I plug the drive in to the switch 1st then plug in to the mains, drive works as it should.

My worry is it's the switch powering the drive, not the mains, am I right, and any ideas on how to power through the mains not the switch?

TIA