USB harddrive without external power?

[Rob]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

Is there an external USB hard drive available that can draw power from the
USB port or is there simply not enough current available from USB? I wanted
to be able to cart an external drive to hook up to my laptop when I run off
battery. Thanks!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

Yes, but they all use laptop drives drawing less than 5W. Don't expect
performance.

"Rob" <rob@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:ZBLqc.42$N8.18@nwrdny02.gnilink.net...
> Is there an external USB hard drive available that can draw power from the
> USB port or is there simply not enough current available from USB? I wanted
> to be able to cart an external drive to hook up to my laptop when I run off
> battery. Thanks!
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

> Is there an external USB hard drive available that can draw power from the
> USB port or is there simply not enough current available from USB? I wanted
> to be able to cart an external drive to hook up to my laptop when I run off
> battery. Thanks!

Yes, look at www.buslink.com for their on-the-go drives. I think
that they come in 20, 40 and 60 GB sizes. The drive weighs about
a pound and fits in your shirt pocket. I've been using one for over
a year now and love it.

Lynn

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

I've heard that external cases for the 2.5 inch hard drive can run off the
USB power.
But the 3.5 inch need to use an AC plug.

"Rob" <rob@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:ZBLqc.42$N8.18@nwrdny02.gnilink.net...
> Is there an external USB hard drive available that can draw power from the
> USB port or is there simply not enough current available from USB? I
wanted
> to be able to cart an external drive to hook up to my laptop when I run
off
> battery. Thanks!
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

To be more precise, the laptop drives should use less than 2.5W as
the power available from a USB port is a maximum of 5V @ 0.5A = 2.5W.

"Eric Gisin" <ericgisin@graffiti.net> wrote in
news:c8g4kp1v2m@enews2.newsguy.com:

> Yes, but they all use laptop drives drawing less than 5W. Don't
> expect performance.
>
> "Rob" <rob@nospam.com> wrote in message
> news:ZBLqc.42$N8.18@nwrdny02.gnilink.net...
>> Is there an external USB hard drive available that can draw
>> power from the USB port or is there simply not enough current
>> available from USB? I wanted to be able to cart an external
>> drive to hook up to my laptop when I run off battery. Thanks!
>>
>>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

Maybe this cable will work, don't know specifics about it, but I heard
it just plugs into a bare drive (to USB2)

Rob wrote:
> Is there an external USB hard drive available that can draw power
> from the USB port or is there simply not enough current available
> from USB? I wanted to be able to cart an external drive to hook up
> to my laptop when I run off battery. Thanks!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

Lynn McGuire wrote:
>>Is there an external USB hard drive available that can draw power from the
>>USB port or is there simply not enough current available from USB? I wanted
>>to be able to cart an external drive to hook up to my laptop when I run off
>>battery. Thanks!
>
>
> Yes, look at www.buslink.com for their on-the-go drives. I think
> that they come in 20, 40 and 60 GB sizes. The drive weighs about
> a pound and fits in your shirt pocket. I've been using one for over
> a year now and love it.
>
> Lynn
>
>

How reliable are the on-the-go drives? I know someone who has the
SmartDisk Firelite. It was not particularly reliable. Sometimes it
would become corrupted, and would need to be connected to a Win95/98
machine before it could be recognized again. Also, if some other
portable drive was also on the same USB port panel, both devices would
not work at all. This was most likely due to power consumption issues.

Anyone have any other recommandations besides the on-the-go drives by
buslink?