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What's the word again?
Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 6:19 am
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.
Re: What's the word again?
Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 6:42 am
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.
Re: What's the word again?
Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 6:46 am
by arjan.top
WD passport is USB-powered, it's 2.5" i think, and it looks sexy

Re: What's the word again?
Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 9:51 am
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
Re: What's the word again?
Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 10:09 am
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?
Re: What's the word again?
Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 12:26 pm
by Benjamin
Voodoo
Re: What's the word again?
Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 12:36 pm
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.
Re: What's the word again?
Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 1:32 pm
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

Re: What's the word again?
Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 5:55 am
by Kieran Huggins
astions wrote:Voodoo
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....
Re: What's the word again?
Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 6:56 am
by matthijs
Kieran Huggins wrote:Maybe if my laptop had an unfortunate accident....
Shall I help with some Voodoo magic?

Re: What's the word again?
Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 1:20 pm
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.