topic Re: Power to Firewire/USB2 Drives? in PCs & Accessories

Power to Firewire/USB2 Drives?

ChrisOfTheOT — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 15:59:38 GMT

I bought a USB2 hard disc enclosure some time ago which uses two USB leads - one for data and one for power. My wife just got a new... erm... Dell laptop which refuses to work with it.

I've never liked the two-cable approach - I thought it would be a single cable cable for data and power, like our Zip 250 - so I wondered about replacing our present USB2 HD enclosure. But! All the HD enclosures I've seen so far use the two cable approach: does anyone know of a manufacturer who does use one cable for data & power (surely it's possible)? Or, would Firewire do that? (I seem to remember reading somewhere that Sony Firewire didn't carry power, data only. Did that change?)

Any pointers would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

Chris

P.S. I take it that all USB cables are okay with either USB1 or 2?

Re: Power to Firewire/USB2 Drives?

kee-lo_ — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 16:19:23 GMT

Chris,

The USB ports need to carry a lot of power for it to work.
My mother has an enclosure she got from savastore.com but it's not protable.

Re: Power...

ChrisOfTheOT — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 17:11:51 GMT

Portability isn't essential, Kee-Lo (it's only used for backups, really) but high speed is. With USB1, Anna's backups take up to 4 1/2 hours! And the two cable thing is tricky because USB isn't quite as fool proof as it needs to be... for a fool like me.

(For instance, our USB scanner will only work on the port it was installed in, and if two USB devices are plugged in at the same time, that can be very tricky... )

I take it even Firewire stuff has two cables then? A pitty. (Your mum doesn't know how lucky she is!)

Cheers, Kee-Lo,

Chris

Re: Power...

kee-lo_ — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 18:09:25 GMT

Right let me get you that link for ya...

http://www.savastore.com/products/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=Savastore&product%5Fid=10275342&pid=44
Thats the one she has...

Re: Power...

ChrisOfTheOT — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 18:57:05 GMT

You're a gem Kee-Lo!

I've been doing a lot of reading elsewhere (DellTalk - just like Club Vaio but the people aren't as nice... but the site is better! It even has a SEARCH FACILITY ). It turns out that Dell laptops have a 'know issue' in that they don't supply enough power to USB devices. (To conserve battery power, apparently. Pah! And double Pah!) There are PS2 - USB converters available but Anna's laptop doesn't have a PS2 socket. Typical!

As for your mum's enclosure, Kee-Lo, I actually wanted a 2.5" box but I do have a 40GB 3.5" drive that came out of our Sky+. Perhaps I'll go that route... (and the Savastore price is good too.)

Anyway, thanks for your time. :smileygrin:

Cheers,

Chris

Re: Power to Firewire/USB2 Drives?

ChrisOfTheOT — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 19:02:36 GMT

... (I seem to remember reading somewhere that Sony Firewire didn't carry power, data only. Did that change?)...

It turns out that Dell follow the same path as Sony (used to?) by only wiring 4 of the 6 terminals: Firewire without power. Great!

Cheers,

Chris

Re: Power to Firewire/USB2 Drives?

kee-lo_ — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 19:56:16 GMT

Trust DeLL to do that.
Yeah it's a known thing that laptops only have 4pin firewire, it's rubbish really!

Apple have 6pins (ooooh Apple 5 - Sony 1 boys!)

Have fun with the enclosure...

Re: Power to Firewire/USB2 Drives?

robpaxton — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 20:12:23 GMT

Apple have 9 pins on my Firewire 800 - Apple 6 Sony 1

Re: Power to Firewire/USB2 Drives?

kee-lo_ — Wed, 27 Oct 2004 20:14:50 GMT

Wooohoooo
Apple have a fater Firewire than Sony 7-1