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External Hard Drive powered by usb?

The_FD
The_FD Posts: 85 Forumite
in Techie Stuff
I know you can get an External Hard Drive without power cable, but they tend to be smaller harddrives. What is the biggest they come in? Can you get 1tb or 500gb like this?

Comments

  • John_Gray
    John_Gray Posts: 5,847 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    The_FD wrote: »
    I know you can get an External Hard Drive without power cable, but they tend to be smaller harddrives. What is the biggest they come in? Can you get 1tb or 500gb like this?
    It's all to do with how much power they draw, which if I remember correctly the USB standard restricts to 500 mA. Sometimes two ports are used to give a maximum of 1 A - OK for something like reading a CD or a DVD but not something you'd want to rely on to make sure your data is safe when writing to a hard disk.

    If the power supply wasn't needed you can be pretty sure that the hard drive manufacturers wouldn't include it, to save money!
  • The_FD
    The_FD Posts: 85 Forumite
    John_Gray wrote: »
    If the power supply wasn't needed you can be pretty sure that the hard drive manufacturers wouldn't include it, to save money!
    Good point!!
  • warehouse
    warehouse Posts: 3,362 Forumite
    I've been Money Tipped!
    Recently got myself a Freecom 500GB external USB drive. No power supply because it's a low powered 2.5" drive inside.
    Pants
  • The_FD
    The_FD Posts: 85 Forumite
    warehouse wrote: »
    Recently got myself a Freecom 500GB external USB drive. No power supply because it's a low powered 2.5" drive inside.
    Where from.....? How much....?
  • fox2319
    fox2319 Posts: 978 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    They're all based on the 2.5" drives. The largest of these in the shops are generally around 320GB but given that you can get 500GB disks (I've got one in my macbook at the mo), it should be possible to get slightly larger. ebuyer have got a 500GB one at £60 here - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164448

    Larger than that may be coming, I'm sure I read about a 750GB disk somewhere but if it's out there it'll be expensive.
    Space for rent, apply within - Free trial on Thanks button though
  • warehouse
    warehouse Posts: 3,362 Forumite
    I've been Money Tipped!
    The_FD wrote: »
    Where from.....? How much....?

    As mentioned above, ebuyer are good on prices, but I got mine from RLSupplies in Watford because I'm close to them and they're very cheap.
    Pants
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