Thread: Help: HD's

I want a USB Hard drive I can carry around with my laptop. Because of that it needs to get all its power from the USB port. I have an ASUS G51Vx and cannot find how much power my USB outputs per port. (or how it even works).

I want a Portable HD, no power cord.
I want it to be 500GB or More, but not less.

Any good recommendations?

I came across this, wasn't sure though. I do have E-SATA on my laptop (External SATA port? Do I need to power down to plug in?)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-301-_-Product

Never done this myself, but a quick google search on "usb power limit," first result:

http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/2355

Within the Device Manager box, double click on the Universal Serial Bus controllers (it's the very last item on the list). Next, you're going to double click on the first line that says USB Root Hub. There will be multiples of these, but click on the first one listed. Now, choose the Power tab.

Under the Attached Devices area, you will find a list of all the devices you have running through your ports right then. You will also be able to view each one's power requirements (in milliamps).

As mentioned above, a port can handle up to 500mA, so if one of your root hubs is close to that 500 mark, you need to switch around some of your devices to other root hubs, so everything isn't all filling up on one

Lol wow. I was looking all over the web for someones technological insight on ASUS G51Vx's and the power on the USB -.-... Thanks!

USB 2.0 voltage is set in the specification. IF your laptop states the ports are all USB 2.0, then they should all provide the same amount of power. Some external HDs are rated to run off USB power, others require supplemental power supplies. eSATA does NOT provide power and does require supplemental power to run the drive. The trade-off is, eSATA is MUCH faster than USB 2.0.

The thing with power was, I was reading reviews and a lot of people were complaining because the HD didn't list that it took .85 amps (it just hinted at it, saying it was delivered with a "Y" USB cable) whereas most USB ports (including mine!) only deliver .5 amps. The problem was the Y cord did not have much length on either end, so people had to end up buying extensions.
So, I'm looking at the Western Digital My Passport (which is obviously popular) 500GB USB 2.0
You can google it by googling : WDME5000TN
(or just look at the link above)

Is there any downside to these things? I'm gonna be shoving this thing in my laptop case along with all my other stuff in there. I don't want this thing to break on me...