Re: [LUG] USB hard drives

[Julian Hall <linux@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 On 06/11/2011 09:42, George Parker wrote:
> On 05/11/11 22:15, Gordon Henderson wrote:
> > On Sat, 5 Nov 2011, George Parker wrote:
> >
> > > On 05/11/11 17:23, Gordon Henderson wrote:
> > > > On Sat, 5 Nov 2011, George Parker wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Stage 2. The new hard drive is not formatted and being a 2.5" 
> > > > > drive will not fit into the works of a desktop computer.
> > > >
> > > > Yes it will.
> > > >
> > > > http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Solid+State+Drives/Mushkin+Enhanced+2.5%22+Solid+State+Hard+Drive+Bracket+?productId=44222 
> > > >
> > > > or
> > > >
> > > > http://url.drogon.net/0l
> > > This is an ATA hard drive and the cables for a 3.5" drive will not 
> > > fit.  As far as I can see this is only a mounting plate.
> >
> > Yes - that's a mounting plate. It lets you fit a 2.5" drive into a 
> > 3.5" slot. Then you cable it up as usual. I used one when I put the 
> > SSD into my wifes new PC.
> >
> > I'm guessing when you say ATA, you really mean S-ATA - most 
> > motherboards these days have a SATA socket or 2 spare...
> >
> > One other thing - going back to the USB enclosure you've tried - it's 
> > possible that your USB socket isn't providing enough power, but you 
> > didn't say if the USB caddy had separate power or not. I have seen 
> > drives that work with USB power, but I've also seem some that really 
> > do need external power...
> >
> > Gordon
> No Gordon, I mean ATA or PATA if you like.  This is from an old 
> laptop.  You cannot just plug it into a 3.5" PATA connector.  The 
> caddy comes with  a special branched USB cable that plugs into 2 USB 
> sockets with another connector going to the caddy, presumably to give 
> sufficient power.
>
> George
Ah yes.. those can be a nuisance, especially if the motherboard isn't 
designed very well.. you could find (as I have with my tablet PC) that 
if you plug in another device such as a mouse or keyboard at the same 
time, the USB bus doesn't supply enough power to run that *and* the 
external USB drive.  You'll probably find better success with either a 
powered external drive, or with it plugged into a powered hub in the PC.

In my case I had an external DVD writer which booted fine.. plug in the 
mouse (which was an LED lit one) and the DVD died.  I've since replaced 
the mouse with a standard one - I don't like the flashy ones anyway :)

Julian

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