2.5" USB 3.0 HDDs

[kyrcy]

Is anyone using either the Verbatim Store 'n' Go 1.75TB or the Maxtor M3 Portable 2TB 2.5" USB 3.0 HDDs? Any problems?

[lingyi]

Don't have experience with those particular drives, but given my poor experences with external HDDs (both desktop and portable) and the numerous posters with problems with their drives, I would highly recommend spending a little more for an internal drive and an external case (ideally one with duel USB plugs for additional power).

[kyrcy]

External case with duel USB plugs for additional power? Can you recommend one?

[redwudz]

I've been using a 1TB WD 2.5" Passport USB 3.0 drive for about six months with no problems.

It does use a different cable connector for the drive end compared to one of my USB 2.1 drives,
so if you need a longer cable than the one supplied, be aware of that.

Seems very fast when plugged into a USB 3.0 port. And works well with a USB 2.1 port.

I haven't seen any need for external power as it runs OK with my laptop and my smaller
Asus Nextbook netbook.

[Krispy Kritter]

I typically recommend AC powered units over USB powered units. USB power can be affected by several factors which can in turn affect the drives ability to function or function properly. However, when everything is working normally, there is no difference between either type. The most common failure with external drives (aside from mishandling or treating it like an internal drive - ie: powered on all the time) is the controller board (interface between the HDD and the connection type to the computer). As to the connection type, choose whatever the fastest external is on your computer (eSata, USB3, USB2).

[usually_quiet]

External case with duel USB plugs for additional power? Can you recommend one?

All the external enclosures I looked at today which are designed for 2.5-inch drives only have one USB connection. Most are USB 3.0 now. If you have a standard USB 3.0 port on the PC, it can supply up to .9 amps as opposed to up to .5 amps from USB 2.0, and should not require a second USB port to power a laptop drive.

The only items I saw with a second USB connection for power were adapters like these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1JM2CZ0672
https://www.amazon.com/Semlos-Serial-Converter-Adapter-Laptop/dp/B00NCR8AB4/

The USB 3.0 adapter's second USB connection may only be needed for USB 2.0 connected laptop drives. I don't think these things would qualify as a truly portable solution because there is no protective enclosure for the drive.

[lingyi]

Amazon U.S. has this dual plug to Micro B connector that I'll be adding to by cable toolbox:
https://www.amazon.com/35cm-SuperSpeed-External-Seagate-Toshiba/dp/B00MFL4HQU/ref=sr_1...3.0+dual+cable

I have two case, one USB 2.0 and the other USB 3.0. I've swapped out several drives in both cases and find the USB 2.0 case often requires a Y connector (data and additional power) connector to work properly. The USB 3.0 case https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OJ3UJ2S/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 works well with all the dirves without a USB Y connector. The only inconvience is that requires a Male to Male connector.

My guess the reason wby my USB 2.0 case sometimes requires the extra power connector is because of the hard drive itself. Older drives (both 2.5" & 3.5") are generally less power efficent and require the extra boost to spin up.

On a somewhat related note, I tried two different USB 3.0 external Blu-Ray burners (one with dual plugs and one without) and couldn't them to work on my laptop. I finally settled on a dual USB 2.0 connector drive and it works well on my laptop and desktop.

[lingyi]

Wow...I really need to start spell and grammar checking my posts!

[ahhaa]

I have both Store&Go & My Passport terabyte single cable USB drives in both USB 2 & 3 single cable models. Also a large Seagate with additional power wart.

Never had any operational trouble with them per se, but actual transfer speeds do vary wildly for various causes. (I've never yet had that 'movie EFX shot' where the entire database downloads in a few seconds.)

One possibility is how many other processes you've got going on during a transfer. btw, I'm a big believer in UPSs between all your equipment and the mains power.

Another which I've run into is your security suite checking files en passant. Some seem to create an index for a drive which is lost when the drive is unplugged or used on another machine. I haven't checked this out scientifically, but have seen it happen in association with the 'estimated transfer time' in the progress bar being way off and speed (according to win10) varying from kilobytes to megabytes depending on the type of file being transferred.