What's the word again?

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Ollie Saunders
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What's the word again?

Post by Ollie Saunders »

What's the word for where something is powered by USB or firewire and doesn't require an additional power source? I'm after an external hard drive that doesn't have to have a chunky power adapter.
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Maugrim_The_Reaper
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Re: What's the word again?

Post by Maugrim_The_Reaper »

self-powering? Not sure there is a specific term...

I suspect it's difficult to find a HDD that's USB-powered - USB 2.0 only offers a DC voltage of about 5v (say 3.5 AA batteries worth) which is not a lot. You may, but it's bound to come with an optional power lead for high powered usage or with some Iomegas, even a dual-headed USB lead to get 10v from your machine.
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arjan.top
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Re: What's the word again?

Post by arjan.top »

WD passport is USB-powered, it's 2.5" i think, and it looks sexy :D
malcolmboston
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Re: What's the word again?

Post by malcolmboston »

moving away slightly from the topic but i have been considering getting one of these for a while now......

...... what happens if you pull out the USB (accidentally) whilst the HD is in use? is there any 'security' features to prevent damage to the drive / data?

cheers
georgeoc
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Re: What's the word again?

Post by georgeoc »

ole wrote:What's the word for where something is powered by USB or firewire and doesn't require an additional power source? I'm after an external hard drive that doesn't have to have a chunky power adapter.
Bus-powered?
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Benjamin
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Re: What's the word again?

Post by Benjamin »

Voodoo
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Christopher
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Re: What's the word again?

Post by Christopher »

I don't think there is a name other than "powered" but maybe it's called -- I want 30 volts too 'cause 3 volts sucks.
(#10850)
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Ollie Saunders
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Re: What's the word again?

Post by Ollie Saunders »

Bus-powered is almost certainly the term I'm after. The WD Passport seems to be the only thing that will offer as much as 320gb and it looks really cool esp. because it's so small. I wonder whether my MacBook will give it enough power though and I've lost the manual for it :-(
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Kieran Huggins
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Re: What's the word again?

Post by Kieran Huggins »

astions wrote:Voodoo
:rofl:

Bus-powered is the correct term ;-)

I have a bus-powered drive enclosure (laptop drive, the big ones spike too high) and the USB cable has 2 host plugs to double the available power. Works like a charm, even though it uses up 2 ports...

The new MacBook Air has a bus-powered DVD drive... I soooooo want one, if I could only justify it. Maybe if my laptop had an unfortunate accident....
matthijs
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Re: What's the word again?

Post by matthijs »

Kieran Huggins wrote:Maybe if my laptop had an unfortunate accident....
Shall I help with some Voodoo magic? 8)
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Benjamin
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Re: What's the word again?

Post by Benjamin »

I saw a laptop what was baked in an oven. The case was melted and basically a pile of sludge, but amazingly it still worked. You can always test to see how durable it is.
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