Is USB power grounded?
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 at
12:36 pm
I just got a USB laptop hard drive enclosure. It has a port for external power, but it didn’t come with an AC adapter because USB provides power.
But unlike with a 3-prong power cable which I know is grounded, I have no idea how much grounding is provided by USB. The USB port on it appears to be a Mini-B. Will the hard drive be sufficiently grounded to avoid i.e. power surges when connected to my comptuer?
I guess it wasn’t entirely clear, but my concern is damage to the hard drive, not to myself.
Tagged with: ac adapter • comptuer • e power • hard drive enclosure • laptop hard drive • laptop hard drive enclosure • power cable • prong • usb port
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The USB drive will be grounded adequately to prevent susceptibility to electrostatic discharge. It is very well isolated from the power line; surges there would fry the computer’s power supply before it reached the hard drive, and that would protect it in most cases, except maybe for a lightning strike right on your house.
A USB only provides 5 volts, which doesn’t need to be grounded.