2.5" external enclosure that only need (1) USB port?

[monkeyboy311]

Is there a 2.5" external enclosure that only needs (1) USB port? I am able to run an old seagate go drive from a single port but a Vantec enclosure I purchased off of Amazon requires me to use (2) USB ports. Its a pita, especially since the cable requires a USB extension cable to get to the other USB port.

Anyone know of a 2.5" enclosure that doesnt require (2) USB ports?

 

[mv2devnull]

One USB 2.0 port can provide only 500 mA of power. One 2.5" HDD can draw more: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/25inch-500-640-750gb-hdd-roundup_17.html#sect0

That is not the fault of the enclosure. If your drive does not use that much power, then single port is enough.

 

[postmortemIA]

yeah you better have some 4200rpm drive or SSD in it, not 7200rpm "beast"

 

[Magic Carpet]

My Hitachi 5K500.B's run fine with only 1 USB 2.0 power. Tried and tested on multiple computers and laptops.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

My Hitachi 5K500.B's run fine with only 1 USB 2.0 power. Tried and tested on multiple computers and laptops.

Same here with Seagate Momentus (7200 rpm) and a Vantec 2.5" USB enclosure.

But yeah, it totally depends on the drive. 500mA converts to 2.5 watts on a 5v USB connection. That's enough to start up and idle most 2.5" SATA laptop drives, but some of them have peak power use higher than that, which may cause a problem.

The second USB connector is insurance more than it is a necessity.

 

[corkyg]

Another way is to connect a powered USB hub to the laptop, and then run the 2.5-in HDD off of the hub. The problem that can occur with laptops is less than max power on a USB port if there are more than one device snd/or you are riunning on battery power.