Hey guys. I have one of those USB portable HDDs that i use mainly for easy backup. The one i got some time ago has a USB Y connector (conects to two USB ports for power). Anyway, i was thinking on getting another one, but it seems that all of those current USB portable HDD's now comes with a cable with single USB connector. I have been reading that these require 600mA to work or even 1000mA, while each of my USB ports only go till 500mA. I wonder if this is all true, or those new ones will work smoothly with only 500mA. My home computer is quite old (2004), though did some updates like more ram, videocard,... I'm doing backus of pictures, videos, documents, to hopefully get a new computer soon. Anyway, can someone help me on this? I don't want to buy a laptop HD + USB case as most of the people i know that had those, complain about corrupted files and so on. Plus i don't want to backup everything and some time later have a USB HDD die on me because it didn't had the necessary power it needed.
Not sure i understand your question but i'll try and answer it as best i can. Most newer USB portable HDD's including the ones i have or have used now mainly only use the USB for data and have their own power supply/plug which is why they have a single USB connection and i believe they can't use USB power as they require more power than you can get off a USB port .
I'm talking about those portable USB drives (that are basicly 2.5 notebook hds) that only use one single USB cable for power and data transfer. No AC plugs. Like this: http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/default.asp?newsID=3536 And this: http://www.bigbruin.com/2008/320gbfreeagent_1 http://hardwarelogic.com/news/138/ARTICLE/5973/1/2009-03-18.html The one i have (full), has a Y double USB cable. So it connected to two USB ports. But now the new ones (from Western Digital, Seagate, and so on) only comes with a single USB cable. And all this talk if they require more than 500mA is making me Don't want to get one of those things and lose data because the hdd died because lack of power.
What ? oh my you are very unlucky. I have two external HD cabinets I bought here (I already had two HDs) but damn how can they be more expensive if you already have the HD ? try to look for two ATA or SATA external USB HD cabinets. With a power cable. The only thing you need yourself is the HD. But anyway maybe you are correct that they are more expensive, but that is weird, if I may say so.
Of course External cases aren't expensive, but most of the ones sold down here are cheap quality (that may end up corrupting the HD). That's why i want a "ready to go" solution. When i said that it was more expensive, i was talking about "ready to go" products from Western Digital, Seagate,... that have bigger capacity and require to be powered by an AC plug. I wasn't talking about getting a external 3.5' USB case + SATA HD. The one 2.5' USB HD (The first "My Passport") i have, from Western Digital, is great. Small, works fine... But it has that USB Y cable (connects to two usb ports). I was almost buying another one, or a Seagate FreeAgent Go, when i noticed they now only have a single USB connector. Looked for info on the internet, and all this mess and confusion about using more than 500mA or not (USB Power Bus) began. Some people say it requires 600mA to work, others say 1000mA, while others say 500mA is fine to power them. It didn't helped that the Western Digital and Seagate don't mention how much power they require to work flawlessly.
Well, I have a 2.5" 120GB Fujitsu SATA encased in a separate housing which sports two USB connectors, but the HDD works fine on both PC and Wii with just the main one hooked up. Also I have multiple WD 120GB and 250GB 2.5" SATA drives, and all of those power up fine with just 1 connector plugged in. I once had an old 2.5" PATA HDD, I believe you had to use both connectors on that one... so maybe that's only true for old PATA HDDs? I have no idea when the first "My Passport" was released and whether it's SATA or PATA, but maybe that's the point. I can't say anything about 500GB drives and especially nothing about double-height 2.5" HDDs, but seriously, do you think WD or Seagate or whoever would sell HDDs that wouldn't power on with the only cable supplied?! I say go for it, it's super ugly to have 2 USB plugs for 1 device anyways. If it doesn't work, invest 10$ and get a nice USB2.0 PCI card. Or reuse that old Y-cable you still have on the new HDD if it fits. EDIT: Maybe you know more about that than me, but from what I read the only time a 2.5" HDD needs 'much' energy is on powerup, then when running it needs less. So I don't think you should be afraid of any file corruption issues/dying HDDs due to underpowering as you mentioned before, since the HDD won't even start without enough power.
That's a nice idea. Thanks for the advice. I agree with you, but both companies sell separately a "booster" help. Western Digital sells the Y cable, while Seagate sells a Dock that has that Y cable. Anyway, thanks for the heads up That's quite useful info :thumbsup: I guess i'll be safe if it powers up then. Still, it's quite incredible that on the internet there's so much contraditory / conflict information about this. Any company would save some trouble if they mentioned how much power those things need. Anyway, thanks again.
I have an Aspire One netbook and I use up to 4 portable hard drives (320, 160, 120 and 100gb). Two are using generic enclosures for SATA and IDE drives the other two are maxtor onetouch drives, although all of them came with Y cables, but all of them work fine with just the data part of the Y cable and straight mini USB to USB connectors. I can run 3 of then on the Aspire one even running off batteries. The IDE drive is FAT32 formatted and will work on my 1st generation PS3 with a single cable too. However not all notebooks/netbooks will supply enough current to the USB ports and you might need to use the Y cable. My friends NEC notebook requires the Y lead to work. If the USB port doesn't supply enough current, then the drives might just fail to spin up, also never use USB hubs unless they are powered.
I'll only use on my home desktop pc. I was worried, because my PC is not new (mainboard is from 2004). So i guess the 500mA USB bus power is sufficient, right? Taucias also suggested that. Anyway, it seems that it will work fine on a normal mainboard USB port.
Just to let you guys know, i bought today a Seagate FreeAgentGo 320GB and got the FreeAgentGo Dock (+ leather case) for more 20 bucks. This dock has the Y cable, so the whole discussion is sorted. Better safe than sorry. Thanks for all advices and comments. :thumbsup:
I have a Freeagant hooked to my Wii and the USB power is just fine. I use it when I travel to take all my games with me. Arr.
