1TB usb3.0 drives without power brick questions

[Denvers Dawgs]

I'm looking to get a 1TB usb3.0 external drive and noticed that some don't need an extra power brick. Are these usb3.0 transfer speeds slower than those drives with a power brick. Also, which 1TB is the best bet, looking for $70-100.

On another note. I have a SATA drive that I'd like to put into a usb3.0 enclosure and was wondering if anyone has a first hand recommendation for one.

[aedipuss]

what you need to look at is whether the drive is a 5400 or 7200 rpm unit. most all 2.5's are 5400 and they tend to be the ones that don't need external power. 5400 will be slower than 7200.

[jman98]

In my opinion you should NOT EVER buy ANY external enclosure meant for a hard drive that does not contain a power brick. Period. If you ignore this good advice, then you willingly accept that electronics devices like DVD/BD players, streaming media players, etc. may be unable to provide enough power to make your drive work. It is not worth the risk.

[nic2k4]

You won't see a 3.5" external drive that doesn't use a brick for the simple reason that 3.5" HDD's require a 12V supply. It would be possible to step up a 5V power source to get 12V, but a circuit able to generate the current needed would be far too expensive and probably would require more current from the USB port than it's able to supply (even for USB 3.0).

2.5" drives only need a 5V supply and most modern drives draw close to .5 Amp at startup, a USB 2.0 port is able to handle that and USB 3.0 can supply three times as much. The only problem with 2.5" drives is their slow transfer rate (relative to 3.5" drives).

[lordsmurf]

In my opinion you should NOT EVER buy ANY external enclosure meant for a hard drive that does not contain a power brick. Period. If you ignore this good advice, then you willingly accept that electronics devices like DVD/BD players, streaming media players, etc. may be unable to provide enough power to make your drive work. It is not worth the risk.

It's almost impossible to find a powered 2.5" enclosure.

In fact, most will simply give a double-USB port to help draw more juice when needed.

[jman98]

Just keeping things simple, lordsmurf, as it's easier for people to remember that way.

[Denvers Dawgs]

Hi guys thanks for the info. I think I may have confused some of you a bit. I was first asking about the 1TB portable drives that don't have power bricks(5400rpm), when using usb 3.0, would the transfers be slower than a 1TB external drive that has an included power brick (7200rpm). Looking to find out about data transfer speeds between the 5400 vs 7200 using usb3.0?

The 2nd question I was asking was about buying an external 3.5 usb3.0 enclosure (this would have a brick). What I was wondering was if anyone could recommend an usb3.0 enclosure, that you have actually used.

[jman98]

You are correct that we danced around your point and I apologize for that. However, my point is - do NOT buy portable drives without power bricks.

Would the first one be slower? Yes. I can't tell you how slower, but it will be slower.

I use this enclosure:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817366031
I've been pleased with it, although I do not use USB 3.0 all the time.

[Denvers Dawgs]

Thanks for the info jman98. Drives with bricks it is, and I'll check out that enclosure.