looking for hard drive enclosure that gets power from USB/FW

yalborap · Post by **yalborap** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 9:02 pm

okay, my precious laptop is running low on storage.
"what shall I do? I don't want to delete anything, and I continue gaining more items that fill my hard drive by the day!", I asked myself.
"never fear! external storage is the answer!", I replied.
"but I need upgradeability! a 40 gig external hard drive may serve me well NOW, but what about later as hard drives become cheaper,and files become larger?", I explained.
"a hard drive enclosure is what you need, my child!", I told myself with great pride.
"you're me. I'm not your child.", I said.
"quiet, you!"

okay, now that that's over, I need a hard drive enclosure. but not just ANY hard drive enclosure. I need something that can keep the hard drive going off of the firewire or USB cable alone, so that I may use it in places where an AC outlet is inaccessible.

does such a perfect item exist?

gotchocolatemilk2 · Post by **gotchocolatemilk2** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 9:08 pm

im sure you could get power from the usb but that would seriously reduce your battery life

yalborap · Post by **yalborap** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 9:17 pm

well, the big reasoning for wanting power from USB or firewire is so I can use it in places like internet cafes and various other locations similar to that.

I can survive without such an ability, but it would be useful.

gotchocolatemilk2 · Post by **gotchocolatemilk2** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 9:23 pm

if you are talking about hooking up a normal harddrive then you could easily hack a usb cable because harddrives and usb both use 5 volts

Post by **SpongeBuell** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 9:26 pm

hmmm... gotchocolatemilk's avatar gave me an idea: why not get a cheap MP3 player? It even runs on its own set of batteries, saving yours. Even then, I would put the files you rarely use on another computer to free up space. Doesn't cost a dime.

gotchocolatemilk2 · Post by **gotchocolatemilk2** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 9:29 pm

and if you look into your idea yalborap and find out that its going to cost you 300 dollars any way you could get an ipod and get 20 or 40 gbs. I know that you want to have something upgradable and something that doesnt cost you $300 but its an idea

xxxeagle · Post by **xxxeagle** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 9:36 pm

I just cant wait untill they have Terabyte hard drives ( well they are around but nor really available to the public) space would no longer be aproblem.

Post by **SpongeBuell** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 9:37 pm

until Doom 5 comes out, or Unreal Tournament 2010.

Post by **Sparkfist** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 9:38 pm

I think there are better chances of you finding a Firewire hard drive encloser then a USB. Also if the size isnt too big why not use something like a Thumb drive or CD-rw/DVD-rw. That way you can move media without having to blow too much money at once.

Fabre · Post by **Fabre** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 9:46 pm

gotchocolatemilk2 wrote:if you are talking about hooking up a normal harddrive then you could easily hack a usb cable because harddrives and usb both use 5 volts

Since when? Last time I checked, desktop hard drives took 5 and 12 volts through the 4-pin molex port.

yalborap · Post by **yalborap** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 9:51 pm

because I'm going for huge amounts of storage for anime fansubs and the like.

and an mp3 player might work.....anyone willing to help me with that whole www.freeipods.com thing?

Post by **Sparkfist** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 9:52 pm

Fabre wrote:Since when? Last time I checked, desktop hard drives took 5 and 12 volts through the 4-pin molex port.

Well to my knowlege Laptop hard drives use 5v. As all 4 pins are not used only 2.

NiN^_^NiN · Post by **NiN^_^NiN** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 10:43 pm

Sparkfist wrote:
Fabre wrote:Since when? Last time I checked, desktop hard drives took 5 and 12 volts through the 4-pin molex port.
Well to my knowlege Laptop hard drives use 5v. As all 4 pins are not used only 2.

Sparky is right to use a 3 1/2 hdd you need a external power source.
For a Laptop HDD you can use self powered USB

Don't for get usb outpust 5v but it has a limit on the amount of mA available and the problem is that 3 1/2 drives need a lot of power to spin up and use a steady streat of about 1amp which the USB can't support and also its 12v and 5v as laptop drives are only 5v cause there aren't any need for the big motors to move the disc around which is why 12vc is needed on 3 1/2 drives.

Does this make sense?

yalborap · Post by **yalborap** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 10:46 pm

yes. I think.

now to get my hands on an ipod....or a cheap hard drive and an enclosure. both are good.

makuraken · Post by **makuraken** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 5:58 am

What laptop are you using?
Personally I would just take USB and Firewire TOGETHER. Let me explain, if you pin out the power on Firewire or USB (whichever has either a dedicated power line or something) then plug in both, and you can get the mA from both the USB and Firewire. Only thing is, you have to find a way for the computer to think that something is on a USB or Firewire port when nothing is really there. That way you get power in a manner that wont fry the USB line or anything.