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Thread: 500 gb 2.5" sata

  1. #1
    RealG187 is offline Chocolate-Covered Ubuntu Beans
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    500 gb 2.5" sata

    I have a few Enclosures for 2.5"/Laptop SATA drives. I have used them with 160 GB drives.

    I want a 500 GB USB drive that does not need external power, so I am thinking of getting a 500 GB SATA drive and putting it in my enclosure.

    I am unsure if this will work. Would 500 GB SATA drives use a different standard the the 160 GB drive I used that would not be compatible with these enclosures, or should they still work?

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    Re: 500 gb 2.5" sata

    Quote Originally Posted by RealG187 View Post
    I have a few Enclosures for 2.5"/Laptop SATA drives. I have used them with 160 GB drives.

    I want a 500 GB USB drive that does not need external power, so I am thinking of getting a 500 GB SATA drive and putting it in my enclosure.

    I am unsure if this will work. Would 500 GB SATA drives use a different standard the the 160 GB drive I used that would not be compatible with these enclosures, or should they still work?
    open them up and have a look, if they're ide then it won't work, if they're sata then you should be able to find a compatible hdd, but make sure its a very low power one because the usb bus wasn't designed to power big things, if the drive tries to draw too much current it'll be bad

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    Re: 500 gb 2.5" sata

    when i worked at geeksquad for four years we used these for data backups all the time.....
    http://www.cooldrives.com/seatatousb20.html

    cheap and connects to most hdd's i have 2 at home <3 IF you just wanna mirror it over, but if you want it to be pretty u can get a enclosure on ebay for cheap or pricewatch.com.....
    You will never enjoy the sunshine if you always fear the storm

  4. #4
    RealG187 is offline Chocolate-Covered Ubuntu Beans
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    Re: 500 gb 2.5" sata

    I have an enclosure

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    Re: 500 gb 2.5" sata

    The USB power standard is +5VDC @ 500ma maximum current.

    That is your limiting factor.

    Yes, you can plug a 500G drive into those sleds and it *might* work. I would expect that the USB bus will be overloaded so I definitely would NOT try testing it from a live USB port (PC or hub).

    The way to test this is to make a special pass-thru cable that allows you to measure the total DC current draw while the sled is plugged into one of those USB-power wall wart thingies.

    If it draws less than 500ma ***peak*** current, you're golden, at least from the perspective of the USB standard. Not all PCs or hubs can actually deliver 500ma though, and if you overload the bus, very strange things *will* occur; just in time for all hallow's eve.

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    Re: 500 gb 2.5" sata

    Quote Originally Posted by RealG187 View Post
    I have a few Enclosures for 2.5"/Laptop SATA drives. I have used them with 160 GB drives.

    I want a 500 GB USB drive that does not need external power, so I am thinking of getting a 500 GB SATA drive and putting it in my enclosure.

    I am unsure if this will work. Would 500 GB SATA drives use a different standard the the 160 GB drive I used that would not be compatible with these enclosures, or should they still work?
    A 160 GB sata drive pulls the same power as a 500 GB sata drive.

    It will work just fine.

    As someone who has recovered a lot of data in the past few years, I figure about 80 per cent of my customers bring 2.5 inch external drives in for data recovery. 2.5 inch external drives are the least safe form of mass storage, in my experience.
    I lost a "z". Anyone seen it around here?

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    Re: 500 gb 2.5" sata

    Quote Originally Posted by az View Post
    A 160 GB sata drive pulls the same power as a 500 GB sata drive.

    It will work just fine.

    As someone who has recovered a lot of data in the past few years, I figure about 80 per cent of my customers bring 2.5 inch external drives in for data recovery. 2.5 inch external drives are the least safe form of mass storage, in my experience.
    No, they do not draw the same current.

    This is hardware engineering, not visual basic class. We test first, THEN destroy other people's hardware. Don't ask why; that's just how we roll.

    Two identical model drives won't draw the same current so why would completely different drive models draw the same current?

    That's a recipe for smoke.

    Test it first. With a good meter.

  8. #8
    RealG187 is offline Chocolate-Covered Ubuntu Beans
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    Re: 500 gb 2.5" sata

    I don't know how to test the current, I don't even have the drive yet.

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    Re: 500 gb 2.5" sata

    Quote Originally Posted by RealG187 View Post
    I don't know how to test the current, I don't even have the drive yet.
    It's probably written on the label anyway and that's good enough.

    I'm looking at a Fujitsu 2.5" SATA drive. 30G. It draws 550ma, according to the label (0.55A).

    USB standard = 500ma, Fujitsu 2.5" 30G SATA = 550ma.

    That can smoke a hub or cause the keyboard and mouse to go on vacation. It could also burn your motherboard.

    Az is wrong on this one.

    All that said, it might work fine, but you'd be operating the PC (or hub) pretty far outside of its design parameters.

    Science isn't always pretty.

  10. #10
    RealG187 is offline Chocolate-Covered Ubuntu Beans
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    Re: 500 gb 2.5" sata

    A 30 GB hard drives draws more than USB gives out? I've used my 160 with no problem. I'll check the label when I get home.

    Two identical model drives won't draw the same current so why would completely different drive models draw the same current?
    That threw me off, are you saying everydrive draws different current? If so then wouldn't the label be wrong, unless every drive has a different current. Wouldn't it take the manufacturer forever to test each drive and print the results on the label?

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