Are all HDDs created equal?
May 25, 2009 11:12 PM Subscribe
Hi friends, I have one of these WD Elements drives. It only requires one usb cord and no external power source. Is this a feature of the drive itself, or the enclosure? I wish to swap out the drive and want to be sure it'll work.
I have one with a power supply (WD Elements 1TB) - which died after a couple of months (the power supply that is). Apart from Western Digital being unhelpful and not replacing the faulty power supply (this is a common problem with these drives), I discovered a bunch of threads on this, which if you go through, might find a definitive answer to your question.
Here is a starting point.
posted by a non e mouse at 11:57 PM on May 25, 2009
Here is a starting point.
posted by a non e mouse at 11:57 PM on May 25, 2009
The enclosure. It most likely has a 2.5" SATA laptop drive in it so swapping for a bigger/faster drive should be no problem.
Not if the new drive requires more power then USB can provide.
posted by delmoi at 12:28 AM on May 26, 2009
Not if the new drive requires more power then USB can provide.
posted by delmoi at 12:28 AM on May 26, 2009
Best answer: USB can source no more than 500mA at 5V, meaning 2.5W total. You need to find a drive than consumes significantly less than this limit. From the wiki page, I infer that a 2.5" USB powered drive operates at 5V, so there is no dc-dc converter in your external case (as opposed to some full-sized drives which apparently are to be supplied with 3.3V, 5V, and 12V). Open up your drive's case, and look for a sticker on the hard itself that says something like... "5V --- 350mA". Shop for a drive that boasts the same, or smaller, current rating.
posted by fatllama at 12:48 AM on May 26, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by fatllama at 12:48 AM on May 26, 2009 [1 favorite]
I've always just gone out and bought a 2.5" enclosure and the cheapest laptop HDD that will fit it in, no problems. i don't think I've put a 7200rpm drive in though. You can get a Y-shaped USB cord, essentially the second USB cable is power only, so you can get double the power to the drive.
posted by defcom1 at 12:50 AM on May 26, 2009
posted by defcom1 at 12:50 AM on May 26, 2009
Response by poster: Thanks everybody, I will have a poke around tomorrow :-)
posted by buicksix at 1:08 AM on May 26, 2009
posted by buicksix at 1:08 AM on May 26, 2009
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posted by Dr.Jeckyl at 11:23 PM on May 25, 2009