Question on external hard drives

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jethro
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Jethro

Dumb question maybe.

I have an external hard drive enclosure which connects to computer via
USB and has its own 110V power connection. It holds an internal hard
drive inside. It is not dependable - that is often it does not work
when I power up the computer and I have to re-boot to get PnP to catch
its presence.

So I'm thinking of getting another external hard drive. I assume the
ones sold now do not have an enclosure but are strictly external
drives, not usable internally. That's fine - but what I am wondering
about is how do those drives get their power? Their own 110V power
cord? I would like to be able to turn it on and off.

Thanks

Jethro
 
Jethro said:
Dumb question maybe.

I have an external hard drive enclosure which connects to computer via
USB and has its own 110V power connection. It holds an internal hard
drive inside. It is not dependable - that is often it does not work
when I power up the computer and I have to re-boot to get PnP to catch
its presence.

So I'm thinking of getting another external hard drive. I assume the
ones sold now do not have an enclosure but are strictly external
drives, not usable internally. That's fine - but what I am wondering
about is how do those drives get their power? Their own 110V power
cord? I would like to be able to turn it on and off.

Thanks

Jethro
Click to expand...

I bet a penny to a pinch of mutter that those ED's sold cased DO have a
standard IDE or SATA drive enclosed............why make a special just for
these..........that could be used internally.

USB is hot plugable so why reboot just unplug and replug...............
 
I bet a penny to a pinch of mutter that those ED's sold cased DO have a
standard IDE or SATA drive enclosed............why make a special just for
these..........that could be used internally.

USB is hot plugable so why reboot just unplug and replug...............
Click to expand...

Well - your reply prompted me to call Circuit City to ask about a I/O
Magic GigaBank external hard drive they are selling right now on sale.
I asked if the hard drive within that external package was actually an
internal drive like we all know and love. They said NO. OTOH they
said the external package has its own 110V power connection, just like
my present enclosure.

I'm thinking it may be more PnP-dependable than what I have now.
I am probably wrong.

Jethro
 
Jethro said:
Well - your reply prompted me to call Circuit City to ask about a I/O
Magic GigaBank external hard drive they are selling right now on sale.
I asked if the hard drive within that external package was actually an
internal drive like we all know and love. They said NO. OTOH they
said the external package has its own 110V power connection, just like
my present enclosure.

I'm thinking it may be more PnP-dependable than what I have now.
I am probably wrong.

Jethro
Click to expand...

my external drives have their own power supply (240ac UK)

inside the enclosure is a standard IDE connector and a standard 4 pin BOLEX
power connector from an AC to DC (12Vdc I assume) converter board. Both
these connectors are as found inside a normal desktop comp.

I would say the CC guy has never even had one apart...........and its easy
to say No.

got any pics of your current setup.............
 
Lez Pawl said:
my external drives have their own power supply (240ac UK)

inside the enclosure is a standard IDE connector and a standard 4 pin
BOLEX power connector from an AC to DC (12Vdc I assume) converter board.
Both these connectors are as found inside a normal desktop comp.

I would say the CC guy has never even had one apart...........and its easy
to say No.

got any pics of your current setup.............
Click to expand...

read Bolex as Molex...............
 
Jethro said:
Dumb question maybe.

I have an external hard drive enclosure which connects to computer via
USB and has its own 110V power connection. It holds an internal hard
drive inside. It is not dependable - that is often it does not work
when I power up the computer and I have to re-boot to get PnP to catch
its presence.
Click to expand...

Have you tried to unplug and re-plug the external hard drive (USB) instead
of reboot?
So I'm thinking of getting another external hard drive. I assume the
ones sold now do not have an enclosure but are strictly external
drives, not usable internally. That's fine - but what I am wondering
about is how do those drives get their power? Their own 110V power
cord? I would like to be able to turn it on and off.
Click to expand...

Just like some Cellphone and many others can have the battery charged by
connecting to USB port, and some external hard drive can get power from USB
port too. But it may require power from 2-USB ports (using a special
Y-cable) to have enough power to spin the drive.

Also, computer may connect to 110V outlet but it doesn't use 110V, or the
Power Supply, and AC adapter have built-in voltage transformer to converter
110V AC to few DC volts.
 
Well - your reply prompted me to call Circuit City to ask about a I/O
Magic GigaBank external hard drive they are selling right now on sale.
I asked if the hard drive within that external package was actually an
internal drive like we all know and love. They said NO. OTOH they
said the external package has its own 110V power connection, just like
my present enclosure.

I'm thinking it may be more PnP-dependable than what I have now.
I am probably wrong.

Jethro
Click to expand...

You may wanna drag your soul to web site like www.newegg.com to look and
read what other owners think about the products (either the whole external
hard drive or enclosure etc.). IOW, just read dozen of them to get some
general idea and go from there.
 
Jethro said:
Well - your reply prompted me to call Circuit City to ask about a I/O
Magic GigaBank external hard drive they are selling right now on sale.
I asked if the hard drive within that external package was actually an
internal drive like we all know and love. They said NO.
Click to expand...

There's no reason to suspect they know what they're talking about. If
this is the drive in question:

http://www.iomagic.com/Products/show_all_results.asp?ProdID=I250HD35

I suspect that there is in fact an internal drive hooked up to that
external enclosure because:

1) You can buy empty enclosures that look very much like that one.

2) It would be perverse to develop a new manufacturing process for
drives when a long standing and stable (read cheap) process exists to
produce a usable drive.

3) The referenced product sheet says: "250GB IDE Hard Drive built in"
OTOH they
said the external package has its own 110V power connection, just like
my present enclosure.
Click to expand...

I would guess they have that one right--the manufacturer says it comes
with a power supply.
I'm thinking it may be more PnP-dependable than what I have now.
I am probably wrong.
Click to expand...

Good luck.
 
Well - your reply prompted me to call Circuit City to ask about a I/O
Magic GigaBank external hard drive they are selling right now on sale.
I asked if the hard drive within that external package was actually an
internal drive like we all know and love. They said NO. OTOH they
said the external package has its own 110V power connection, just like
my present enclosure.

I'm thinking it may be more PnP-dependable than what I have now.
I am probably wrong.

Jethro
Click to expand...


AFAIK, all external HDDs still use stanard PATA or SATA
internal drives inside. It is not always true with optical
drives though, and some of the external HDD enclosures are
now fairly well sealed shut but unfortunately I cant recall
which are and aren't... think at least 2 of the major HDD
branded ones are.
 
Have you tried to unplug and re-plug the external hard drive (USB) instead
of reboot?
Click to expand...

Yes and every time I unplug-replug the USB - PnP picks it up.
Same when I unplug-replug the power plug.
Same when I unplug-replug the internal power and IDE connections.
At least so far (I tried about 20 consecutive tests of all).

But if I use the on/off power switch on the front of the enclosure -
PnP fails 90% of the time.

Based on all this, and based on everyone's comments - I think I will
just unplug-replug the USB and forget the on/off switch on the
enclosure.
 
That sounds like it's working correctly. Don't you also get the icon in systray
for safe removal?
Click to expand...

Nope - no icon that I see. I'll have to research how to get that.
That's an incorrect procedure. If the drive isn't getting power from its owm
power supply, then it will draw power from the USB 2.0. There may or may not be
enough power and results are unpredictable, You must use the separate power
supply with those.
Click to expand...
Makes sense.
You should turn on the separate power before plugging USB and turn it off after
unplugging USB. You could leave it on, but the HD would be always spinning day &
night.
Click to expand...

It is connected to a control panel that I turn off at night.
HTH
Bob
Click to expand...

Thanks

Jethro
 
Jethro said:
Yes and every time I unplug-replug the USB - PnP picks it up.
Same when I unplug-replug the power plug.
Same when I unplug-replug the internal power and IDE connections.
At least so far (I tried about 20 consecutive tests of all).
Click to expand...

That sounds like it's working correctly. Don't you also get the icon in systray
for safe removal?
But if I use the on/off power switch on the front of the enclosure -
PnP fails 90% of the time.
Click to expand...

That's an incorrect procedure. If the drive isn't getting power from its owm
power supply, then it will draw power from the USB 2.0. There may or may not be
enough power and results are unpredictable, You must use the separate power
supply with those.
Based on all this, and based on everyone's comments - I think I will
just unplug-replug the USB and forget the on/off switch on the
enclosure.
Click to expand...

You should turn on the separate power before plugging USB and turn it off after
unplugging USB. You could leave it on, but the HD would be always spinning day &
night.

HTH
Bob
 
Jethro said:
Nope - no icon that I see. I'll have to research how to get that.
Click to expand...

The purpose of that is to close all file buffers so that data is not lost.
Otherwise it would be no different than pulling the computer power plug and the
consequences of file data corruption from that.
Makes sense.


It is connected to a control panel that I turn off at night.
Click to expand...

The important part there is the proper closing of all open files before dropping
power.

Bob
 
The purpose of that is to close all file buffers so that data is not lost.
Otherwise it would be no different than pulling the computer power plug and the
consequences of file data corruption from that.
Click to expand...

Okay I found a good dissertation on this scenario:
http://www.maxellcanada.com/faqs/usb/K1A.pdf

I notice when I finish doing the 'safe removal' the drive is gone from
My Computer which is what I would expect.

Thanks a meg.

Jethro
 
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