bus powered mobile drive?

DeeJay-Mo · 24 Nov 2006 at 22:56

So I finally decided to go for a MacBook to run logic on, but now I'm in need of an external hard drive to go with it. I have a number of bus-powered 2.5" drives, but these are somewhat limited in capacity and speed. Larger, faster 3.5, but all the models I have seen rely on mains power, which is not ideal.
I do remeber seeing a firewire bus powered 3.5" mobile drive, but I can't seem to find it again.
Have any of you come across such a drive, or can suggest a suitable product?

rpstewart · 25 Nov 2006 at 08:48

You won't find a 3.5" drive which is powered from the data bus. Neither USB or Firewire can supply either sufficient current or the mix of +5V & +12V supplies that 3.5" drives need.

mosfet · 25 Nov 2006 at 17:23

rpstewart said:
You won't find a 3.5" drive which is powered from the data bus. Neither USB or Firewire can supply either sufficient current or the mix of +5V & +12V supplies that 3.5" drives need.

Actually the 6 pin firewire spec can provide up to about 45w depending on voltage. Macbooks have 6 pin connectors, but I'm not sure what the current limits are.

Lacie do a "little big disk" that they claim can run off firewire bus power.

DeeJay-Mo · 25 Nov 2006 at 17:44

Nice one. I'm checking out the Lacie now. It looks good. Thanks for the info.

jhmaeng · 26 Nov 2006 at 13:20

The Lacie Little Big Disk is just two 2.5-inch drives in RAID0, which I presume still consumes a lot less power than a single 3.5-inch drive.

MAllen · 26 Nov 2006 at 15:22

Have you thought about taking one of your current 2.5" caddies, removing the old hard drive from inside, and replaceing it with a larger laptop hard drive? This would be a simple operation to do, and would allow you to pick a drive size to fit your pocket vs storage requirements.

Slackworth · 26 Nov 2006 at 16:53

Seagate & WD now do 160GB portable drives that can be powered by USB. That is pretty much the limit unless you look at Lacie. Regarding the Lacie drives, I'll try and get them in at OcUK for Tuesday/Wednesday.

mosfet · 26 Nov 2006 at 19:32

jhmaeng said:
The Lacie Little Big Disk is just two 2.5-inch drives in RAID0, which I presume still consumes a lot less power than a single 3.5-inch drive.

My bad, I was looking at a review of that and the "WIEBETECH UltraGB+" and got confused :/

Apparently this will run off the bus for most 3.5" drives.

DeeJay-Mo · 27 Nov 2006 at 01:46

The Wiebtech looks pretty good to. I'm looking for a drive that is at least 320GB so I'll probably go for the Lacie or get a Wiebtech enclosure. From what it says on the website it should work with a 13" MacBook.
Thanks for your suggestions.

Slackworth · 27 Nov 2006 at 12:22

Unfortunately the UltraGB+ has been discontinued.

DeeJay-Mo · 27 Nov 2006 at 20:02

Shame about the Wiebetech UltraGB being discontinued. I would have got one of them if they were available. In the end I've decided that I will use 160GB 5400 RPM 2.5" drives. That seems to be the most cost effective option. I looked at the Freecom tough drives, but they seem to be only available in 4200RPM models. Sticking with Lacie, the rugged all terrain drives seem to be quite attractive as they appear to be more robust than other models. The big little disk seems a little pricey for a 320GB drive. I'll probably stick to using multiple 160GB drives until a better solution appears on the market.

DeeJay-Mo · 8 Dec 2006 at 23:45

OK so I bought a brand new 160GB 2.5" IDE drive and a USB caddy for it. All is well apart from something which has just come to my attention. The MacBook only has two USB ports. If I use one for a mouse and the other for an audio interface, there would be none left for a HDD. Using a hub is not ideal, as I don't want to have to lug around loads of unnecesarry gear, plus I have experienced random audio glitches in the past whilst using a mouse connected to a hub. One soultion would be to use a firewire caddy to house the drive.
Can anyone reccomend me a suitable caddy, that uses a 1394 connection to provide power and transfer data to a 2.5" drive?

ajf · 9 Dec 2006 at 23:47

Any ideas on availability of the Lacie Rugged drives?
Their website says available October but nowhere seems to have them?

Thanks
Andrew

Slackworth · 10 Dec 2006 at 10:49

Lacie aren't good at the moment.

jimblowscash · 12 Dec 2006 at 10:26

120gb and 80 gb tripile intaface and usb only ruggeds in...... get on it slackworth lol