Question Any recommendations for USB 3.0 external drive

Dec 3, 2022
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I am looking for a USB 3.0 external drive to used with a newly purchased Lenovo V14-ARE 14" FHD.

Anyone out there have any recommendations?
Thanks,
WV-Mike
 

Paperdoc

Polypheme
Ambassador
I'll offer a generic comment, not a model recommendation. You should recognize an important difference between two classes of external drives. The common hard drives used in desktop machines use a modest amount of power to spin the disks and move heads, etc, but that is much more power than any USB 3 port can supply. So almost all external drives containing such HDD units (and that includes drives you may assemble yourself from a desktop HDD mounted in an external enclosure) must come with a power source - a "wall wart" or "brick" that plugs into the wall and the enclosure to provide the power it needs. On the other hand, the items sold these days as "Laptop Hard Drives" are specifically designed (using lower-speed HDD units and low-power components) to work perfectly within the limit of power available from a USB 3 port - that is, 5 VDC at up to 0.90 A. So look for the latter type, and not just an "external hard drive".

Bear this in mind also. A single laptop hard drive WILL use almost all the power available from a single USB 3 port. So you cannot connect that drive PLUS other items to an unpowered USB 3 HUB and expect them all to work, because the Hub's only power source for all attached devvices is the single host port it plugs into. IF you plan to use the drive WITH other items on a HUB, make sure the Hub comes with its own additional power source able to provide more power that the single-port limit.
 
Last edited:
Dec 3, 2022
6
1
15
I'll offer a generic comment, not a model recommendation. You should recognize an important difference between two classes of external drives. The common hard drives used in desktop machines use a modest amount of power to spin the disks and move heads, etc, but that is much more power than any USB 3 port can supply. So almost all external drives containing such HDD units (and that includes drives you may assemble yourself from a desktop HDD mounted in an external enclosure) must come with a power source - a "wall wart" or "brick"
that plugs into the wall and the enclosure to provide the power it needs. On the other hand, the items sold these days as "Laptop Hard Drives" are specifically designed (using lower-speed HDD units and low-power components) to work perfectly within the limit of power available from a USB 3 port - that is, 5 VDC at up to 0.90 A. So look for the latter type, and not just an "external hard drive".

Bear this in mind also. A single laptop hard drive WILL use almost all the power available from a single USB 3 port. So you cannot connect that drive PLUS other items to an unpowered USB 3 HUB and expect them all to work, because the Hub's only power source for all attached devvices is the single host port it plugs into. IF you plan to use the drive WITH other items on a HUB, make sure the Hub comes with its own additional power source able to provide more power that the single-port limit.

My apologies for not being more specific.
I'm looking for a external CD/DVD burner to plug into the USB 3 port.
WV-Mike
 

Paperdoc

Polypheme
Ambassador
Yes, that's a different device. But my comments above on power needs still apply. While I cannot find clear specs on units of that type to get actual power consumption numbers, it still has to rotate a disk and move heads. I did get an indirect hint, though. For an OLDER unit used with USB 2 ports, several come with special cables to plug into TWO USB 2 ports at the same time just to get enough power to operate. That is exactly what used to be done for "laptop hard drives" on USB 2 ports. (USB 2 ports can supply power at up to 0.5 A, whereas USB 3 is up to 0.9 A.)