Is it possible to run a USB-powered portable external hard drive for too long? Like, could I have it hooked up to my macbook laptop for 3 or 4 hours a day running stuff off the external hard drive or would it be bad since it runs off USB and doesn’t have its own AC adapter?
I have 300GB external hard drive connected to my dell inpiron E1405 and noticed that the connection between my laptop and the external hard drive is lost almost every hour…
it’s not configured to have indexing service..
connection to laptop: USB
power supply: separate power supply with adapter
laptop still recognize external hard even when the connection is lost..
please advise.. thnx..
thanks Paultech.. i tried and noticed "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" was checked off.. as your advice, i unchecked it on every Root Hub (total 5).. i’ll see what happens then.. again thanks 
My Pc is dead, i have 2 hard drives, 1 has all my data, i need to get access to this, is there a way to do this via USB, or external hard drive, or adapters etc? i can’t turn on the PC, cause the motherboard is dead, i have a laptop and am trying to access through this, any ideas?
i have two external hard drives….one is USB powered…it seems to work fine occasionaly, but for the most part file transfer is slow, so slow that it can’t be used to download from the internet directly to the drive and when transfering files back and forth it either takes forever, or i often get the "cannot transfer file, path is too deep" type message…when i try to delete files from the hard drive, it often will not work. i’ve plugged this same external hard drive into my desktop computer and it works fine. I also have a regular external hard drive with a power adapter…im not sure if it would have the same problems when attached to my laptop as the USB powered one would because when i plug it into the laptop it slows the entire computer down….what is wrong here???
with the path too deep problem i have minimized the amount to folders the files are transferring through…..and i have 2.0 ports i’m using, not a hub…and if power supply was the issue, then would the external hd with it’s own power supply still slow the computer down?
this isn’t about an ipod. this is about me wanting to download stuff from a friend’s external hard-drive. his cord has the firewire plug on both sides. my laptop only has serial and usb ports. what can i buy to hook his hard drive to my computer? everything i found on amazon seemed to be for hooking to an ipod
my pcmcia card is internal so i don’t have a slot for that either. (what i get for buying a cheapo compaq i guess.) what i need is a cord with the firewire connector on one end (to plug into his hard drive) and the USB on the other to plug into my computer. does such a critter exist?
I formatted my laptops hard drive because it had a virus, i bought the external adapter so it can be used a a external hard drive, but im having trouble installing it. how do i do it?
What I have:
-Laptop with one bay for a hard drive
-A new laptop hard drive
-Norton Ghost 14.0
-A Western Digital MyBook 500GB USB external hard drive
What I want to know:
-How to literally swap EVERYTHING on my existing ‘old’ hard drive, with the ‘new’ one.
This is what I am thinking (theoretically!):
-Somehow, with Norton Ghost, I could create an image file or back-up (I don’t know anything about this part) and put that on my External Hard Drive.
-Then replace the ‘old’ hard drive in the laptop, with the ‘new’ one.
-Then somehow attach my External USB Hard Drive to the laptop with the new blank hard drive, and copy the back-up image thing across.
Please tell me if this is possible! Any tips and tricks please!
P.S. – I don’t want to spend even more money on IDE to USB adapters!
Wells i spose i can get a external hard drive. But I don’t want to spend money on one when i already have one.
I have an external hard drive with a USB port (no ethernet). I don’t have room for it on my desk and would like to be able to connect wirelessly. I know I can buy a USB Bluetooth adapter for about USD20.00 and if I got 2 of them, one for my laptop and one for the hard drive, I wondered if I could access the hard drive this way. It would probably be fairly slow, but I could live with that.
Im looking to upgrade the transfer speed to my LaCie external hard drive, but i only have USB 2.0, would adding a firewire 800 adaptor be faster than USB 2.0? thanks
What I have:
-Laptop with one bay for a hard drive
-A new laptop hard drive
-Norton Ghost 14.0
-A Western Digital MyBook 500GB USB external hard drive
What I want to know:
-How to literally swap EVERYTHING on my existing ‘old’ hard drive, with the ‘new’ one.
This is what I am thinking (theoretically!):
-Somehow, with Norton Ghost, I could create an image file or back-up (I don’t know anything about this part) and put that on my External Hard Drive.
-Then replace the ‘old’ hard drive in the laptop, with the ‘new’ one.
-Then somehow attach my External USB Hard Drive to the laptop with the new blank hard drive, and copy the back-up image thing across.
Please tell me if this is possible! Any tips and tricks please!
P.S. – I don’t want to spend even more money on IDE to USB adapters!
The Astone 500GB 2.5 inch Portable Hard Drive! City Software brings you the latest in portable storage solutions, the Astone 500GB portable hard drive. To buy this now or for more product information go to: www.citysoftware.com.au Product Features: – 500GB 2.5 inch Western Digital (WD) Hard Drive – Supports One Touch Backup function – Aluminum Alloy cover and iron mesh for best cooling – Pocket design – Replaceable Hard Drive capability and fully compatible to SATA I/II Hard Drives – Self Powered via USB cable – Plug and Play – Built-in USB connector, just pull it our and connect to PC – Attractive Green and Red LED indicates power and HDD activity – Weighs only 200g Have all the storage space that you need in your pocket. The Astone 500GB 2.5 inch Portable Hard Drive can hold up to 150000 photos, 500 hours of video or 125000 mp3s.
I want to know if this thing will let me get files off my broken laptop’s hard drive. And can it then be used as an external hard drive? and what would be the best way diy my own case?
http://www.emtcompany.com/products/adapters/dxusbide-usb-to-ide-adapter-cable.htm