question about the usb y cable

i recently got an external hard drive, was originally gonna use it for my Wii U, but the hard drive won't even power up. tested with a friend's usb y cable, and it works, so i got one ordered on the way. in the meantime, i'm using the hard drive for PS2 backups, since ESR won't work anymore. as i've heard, and seen, i get the video stuttering. some say it has to do with lack of power, others say data transfer is too slow cuz of usb 1.1 ports. but here's my question

does the y cable transfer...

question about the usb y cable