2.5" hard drive enclosure - thoughts on power?

[mmmPeanutButter]

I noticed that some of the enclosures for laptop drives were powered with an adapter, and some were powered with the USB.

Just wondering if there is one I should avoid?

I like the idea of the USB powered one cuase you don't need the adapter.  But it would help drain your laptop battery faster. 

Does anybody have any thoughts?  (specifically on the laptop drive ones - cause I think all the 3.5" drives are wall adapter powered)

Thanks.

[ChadTower]

You have to be more specific?  Are you talking about external hard/optical drives? 

[mmmPeanutButter]

You have to be more specific?  Are you talking about external hard/optical drives? 

Sorry.  I'm talking about an internal 2.5" laptop hard drive that I want to put into a USB enclosure, therefore, making it external.

[BobA]

Get the USB powered type.  It will run off your laptop battery but if you get the adapter type you need an AC outlet so the laptop could be plugged in and you will not drain the battery.  If you have no AC outlet the USB type is usable but the adapter type is not.

[mmmPeanutButter]

Get the USB powered type.  It will run off your laptop battery but if you get the adapter type you need an AC outlet so the laptop could be plugged in and you will not drain the battery.  If you have no AC outlet the USB type is usable but the adapter type is not.

Great point.

Does the power type affect the speed of the data transfer?

[2600]

Not all laptops when using the battery will provide enough power to the USB port for a hard drive.  They only provide that much current when they have AC power.

Also, some laptop drives draw too much current to run off the USB port even with the dual plug USB ports.  Unfortunately, you won't know.  The hard drive will spin up, you'll see it in your OS, and it will seem to work normally.  Until you get file corruption that is.


That being said I have one and it has the dual plug USB cable and can be powered from an external power supply as well.  Nice thing to have.  Some of the enclosures are complete crap, so don't always go for the cheapest with data that you actually need.

[Samstag]

I've had zero luck with USB-powered 2.5" systems, even using dual USB plugs.  It may be the cheap case or the cheap refurb drives I've used.  I've also run into an enclosure that requires a slim 9.5mm drive even though they all say "fits any 2.5" notebook drive".

I would avoid buying a bottom-of-the-line enclosure.  If you can, find an enclosure that can be bus-powered but includes the adaptor.