Experiences with recent iPods as auxilliary hard disks?

November 2, 2007 12:22 PM

How efficiently do the current generation of USB only iPods run off of PC USB ports?

I currently own a 3G iPod that will work with both FireWire and USB, but whenever I hook it up to a laptop PC via a USB port, the battery is sucked dry in about 15 minutes. It appears to draw no power at all from the PC via the USB port.

I'm also in the market for a new iPod and I'm looking that the 160 GB variety with an eye toward dumping my Complete New Yorker (~80 GB) onto it with disk use enabled for easier transportation and viewing. I'm worried, however, that if the power performance of these new iPods matches what I experience with my current one I'll just be wasting my money.

I've little or no experience with any of the USB-only iPods, but I'd like to hear some feedback from people who do have them and use them occassionally or frequently as general data storage devices as well as music and video players.

I have to think things are better now than when mine was manufactured, but I don't want to drop $350 just to find out that nothing has changed.

posted by hwestiii to computers & internet (9 comments total)

Try putting a powered USB hub between your laptop and your iPod. I bet that it doesn't act the same.

USB ports on laptops usually limit current draw to 100 milliamps. A powered hub will permit 500 milliamps. I bet the iPod is set to run off its own battery if the limit is 100 mA but will draw from the port if the limit is 500 mA.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 12:29 PM on November 2, 2007

My new ipod touch recharges just fine from my laptop, over USB, when the laptop is plugged into the wall. Haven't tried to power the ipod while the laptop is on battery.
posted by nomisxid at 1:43 PM on November 2, 2007

I would worry less about the iPod and more about the PC with the unpowered USB port.
posted by jon4009 at 2:22 PM on November 2, 2007

Maybe you have a USB 1.0 port? I don't believe they charge devices attached to them. Have you ever successfully charged another device using that port?

My 3rd Gen (and my nano) both have never had any problems charging via USB on my laptop or any desktop computer I've plugged it into. From no charge to ~70% in about an hour. I'd definitely look at your USB port.
posted by Thoughtcrime at 2:29 PM on November 2, 2007

Some information I found in the discussions at the Apple support site suggested that 3G iPods can't charge through USB at all, so perhaps its all moot.
posted by hwestiii at 4:05 PM on November 2, 2007

My laptop has a USB 1.0 port, and it charges both my old 4th gen and my new 160 GB classic.
posted by rfs at 6:45 PM on November 2, 2007

This is the DRM-stripped version (the SQLite ToC rewrite), right, because the legit version is locked down onto multiple DVDs? I haven't bought this yet, but it's on my xmas list. Permit me to ask, if you have this on a remote disk, can you access the DJVU files using a regular viewer, or are there some weird DRM issues that force you to go through their application? I was thinking of using a PocketPC running ORB to access the disk files remotely after I copied the files from the DVDs onto the server. I also hear you can view DJVUs on the Nokia and Archos players.
posted by meehawl at 7:22 PM on November 2, 2007

I think hwestiii is correct. My first iPod was a 3G and it required Firewire to charge, though it wasn't required for transferring music.
posted by lhauser at 11:16 PM on November 2, 2007

RFS, some USB 1 ports permit 500 mA current draw. Most are limited to 100 mA.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 3:45 PM on November 3, 2007