[wellylug] External USB drive

[Phillip Hutchings]

On 3/10/2007, at 19:56, Cliff Pratt wrote:

> jumbophut wrote:
>> Hi all
>>
>> I'm looking to buy an external USB drive for my Linux box.
>>
>> Requirements:
>>
>> 1. USB 2.0
>> 2. Bus-powered (no external AC/DC adaptor)
>> 3. Works with Linux usb-ehci and usb-storage drivers.
>>
>> Nice to have, but certainly not essential:
>> 4. Firewire connection
>>
>> Does anybody have experience with/recommendations for drives meeting
>> these requirements?  Will pretty much any drive be compatible, or are
>> some Windows-only? (I have been to the vendor sites and they mostly
>> say Windows / Mac compatible, but don't tend to say anything about
>> Linux).
>>
> Point 2. I'd advise against a bus-powered one even if you do have to  
> lug
> a power brick around. I've seen and heard of too many problems with
> bus-powered pretty much anything to really trust my data to a bus
> powered device. If it's a laptop you are connecting to, why stress an
> already underpowered power system?

What makes you think a laptop's power system is underpowered? If it's  
capable of running the system and charging the battery simultaneously  
it must have more power than is needed to run the system alone.

I wouldn't go for a bus powered system solely because they're  
restricted to 2.5" drives, 3.5" ones are much cheaper per GB.

--
Phillip Hutchings
http://www.sitharus.com/