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Quick external hard drive power question - now with more new question

contrabandcontraband Registered User regular
edited October 2007 in Help / Advice Forum
So I'm planning on picking up this hard drive soon. Would I be able to plug that drive into a 4-port USB hub I use, or would it need to draw more power than the hub can supply?

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Posts

  • AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    contraband wrote: »
    So I'm planning on picking up this hard drive soon. Would I be able to plug that drive into a 4-port USB hub I use, or would it need to draw more power than the hub can supply?

    Considering that it requires external power, you'll be fine. Personally, I'd spend the extra money for a portable drive.

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  • whuppinswhuppins Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Yeah, most external non-flash drives run on AC power from the wall; they shouldn't be drawing any juice at all through your USB port.

    whuppins on
  • contrabandcontraband Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    AngelHedgie wrote: »
    contraband wrote: »
    So I'm planning on picking up this hard drive soon. Would I be able to plug that drive into a 4-port USB hub I use, or would it need to draw more power than the hub can supply?

    Considering that it requires external power, you'll be fine. Personally, I'd spend the extra money for a portable drive.



    Huh? I want a solid-state drive for the capacity.... I'm not going to take it anywhere.

    contraband on
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  • AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    contraband wrote: »
    AngelHedgie wrote: »
    contraband wrote: »
    So I'm planning on picking up this hard drive soon. Would I be able to plug that drive into a 4-port USB hub I use, or would it need to draw more power than the hub can supply?

    Considering that it requires external power, you'll be fine. Personally, I'd spend the extra money for a portable drive.



    Huh? I want a solid-state drive for the capacity.... I'm not going to take it anywhere.

    Um...that's not a solid state drive - it's an HDD in an external enclosure. They make external HDDs designed for use on the go, though - they draw all their power off of USB, and are small enough to slip in your pocket.

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  • mastmanmastman Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    USB spec is 100/500mA over 5 volts. I severely doubt that is enough power to spin up a hard drive.

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  • whuppinswhuppins Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    We've already established that it uses external power, and AngelHedgie's right -- it's not a solid-state drive. Not only that, but solid state or no solid state, if you're not going to be taking it anywhere, why not just get the internal version of the exact same drive for thirty bucks cheaper?

    whuppins on
  • contrabandcontraband Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    AngelHedgie wrote: »
    contraband wrote: »
    AngelHedgie wrote: »
    contraband wrote: »
    So I'm planning on picking up this hard drive soon. Would I be able to plug that drive into a 4-port USB hub I use, or would it need to draw more power than the hub can supply?

    Considering that it requires external power, you'll be fine. Personally, I'd spend the extra money for a portable drive.



    Huh? I want a solid-state drive for the capacity.... I'm not going to take it anywhere.

    Um...that's not a solid state drive - it's an HDD in an external enclosure. They make external HDDs designed for use on the go, though - they draw all their power off of USB, and are small enough to slip in your pocket.

    My bad! solid state was the wrong word :X it's never really going to leave my desk though, so i don't really need a portable one.

    also, mastman, the drive in question plugs into the wall, so from what i've gathered from the above posters it won't need to draw power from the hub... isn't that correct?

    contraband on
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  • contrabandcontraband Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    whuppins wrote: »
    We've already established that it uses external power, and AngelHedgie's right -- it's not a solid-state drive. Not only that, but solid state or no solid state, if you're not going to be taking it anywhere, why not just get the internal version of the exact same drive for thirty bucks cheaper?

    It's going to be used with my laptop. I don't think there's room in there...!

    contraband on
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  • whuppinswhuppins Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Edit: Doh, I'm an idiot.

    whuppins on
  • mastmanmastman Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Correct, it'll need a wall outlet and won't draw power from the USB port.

    I thought you asked if you could have it only run on power from the USB port.

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  • embrikembrik Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    I will caution you - I have the 1 TB version of that drive, and when the drive isn't being actively used, it spins down. The spin-up time takes a second or two (more for me, since it's a RAID-0, two drive setup), which is a huge irritation for me, as it kinda locks up certain things while it's spinning up, and there's no way to turn that off. At some point, I'll probably get something different, but it's just so nice to have a terrabyte of space in a little box!

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  • contrabandcontraband Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    embrik wrote: »
    I will caution you - I have the 1 TB version of that drive, and when the drive isn't being actively used, it spins down. The spin-up time takes a second or two (more for me, since it's a RAID-0, two drive setup), which is a huge irritation for me, as it kinda locks up certain things while it's spinning up, and there's no way to turn that off. At some point, I'll probably get something different, but it's just so nice to have a terrabyte of space in a little box!

    So is it true that there's no real way to turn the drive off? Is the power button only to reset it? Is it made to power on and off with the computer?

    contraband on
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  • contrabandcontraband Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    Also, I want to use this drive with Windows XP and Mac OS X. Will I run into compatability issues? It will be used to store music, movie files, documents, etc etc. Nothing platform-specific.

    contraband on
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  • Uncle LongUncle Long Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    contraband wrote: »
    Also, I want to use this drive with Windows XP and Mac OS X. Will I run into compatability issues? It will be used to store music, movie files, documents, etc etc. Nothing platform-specific.

    So long as you format with FAT 32 you shouldn't have any problems reading from both Operating Systems.

    Edit: I'm not so sure about NTFS, but I' pretty sure that it won't work.

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  • embrikembrik Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    contraband wrote: »
    embrik wrote: »
    I will caution you - I have the 1 TB version of that drive, and when the drive isn't being actively used, it spins down. The spin-up time takes a second or two (more for me, since it's a RAID-0, two drive setup), which is a huge irritation for me, as it kinda locks up certain things while it's spinning up, and there's no way to turn that off. At some point, I'll probably get something different, but it's just so nice to have a terrabyte of space in a little box!

    So is it true that there's no real way to turn the drive off? Is the power button only to reset it? Is it made to power on and off with the computer?

    No, what I meant was that there's no way to turn off the "spin-down" feature.

    embrik on
    "Damn you and your Daily Doubles, you brigand!"

    I don't believe it - I'm on my THIRD PS3, and my FIRST XBOX360. What the heck?
  • contrabandcontraband Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    New question: Why is this drive the same price but only half the density as this other drive..? They're even both from Western Digital!

    contraband on
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  • FirstComradeStalinFirstComradeStalin Registered User regular
    edited October 2007
    contraband wrote: »
    New question: Why is this drive the same price but only half the density as this other drive..? They're even both from Western Digital!

    I think the bigger one is bigger overall and louder. I'd get that 320gb version actually, it seems like a good deal, especially since you said you weren't moving it anywhere.

    FirstComradeStalin on
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