Does the fact that these drives draw power from the USB decrease their performance? I'm concerned, however, in two regards: 1) Will this feature result in decreased performance of the drive vs. the same size, same rpm, same buffer sized drive which is...
221647
mine has a power supply which i leave hooked up. are you talking about a different drive maybe?
2245376
Could someone who has one of these drives post the size of the power port on the back? I am interested in getting one of these with an external power adapter, and would like to be able to order simultaneously.
1581255
Other answers are correct and also, each usb port "divides" the available "speed" amongst connected devices, so if you have 2 drives connected to one port at motherboard level, you will be splitting the available bus speed between the 2 devices (i.e. expect 1/2 bus speeds (real-life will be lower) from each device when connected/used at same time).
97229
I've had no issues with the speed of the unit. It really depends on the drives you use.
1191270
I have 3 of these Sabrent drive enclosures and I populated two with 500GBs and one with 1TB. All three worked as I expected. BTW, I only tested them on USB 2.0 connections. I'm still waiting for my "GMYLE® ExpressCard 34mm to USB 3.0 Adapter (Dual Port)" to see if the USB 3.0 connection is any better. I currently do not have a machine with a "native" USB 3.0 interface. I have not tested these units using an SSD.
1126407
WD says that greens will work and nothing else. I have a feeling that has to do with the lower power consumption. I have heard horror stories about green drives and WD software has said my drives have gone bad, but the drives read and write just fine. I love the raid setup and dont know why anyone else hasn't continued this setup at this price point ( I bought mine used for a little less than $100)
2255389
Simple answer: Does this rumor apply to your typical USB flash drive? No. Same thing goes for the SSD.Don't go defragging the SSD, though. First, you don't need it because there are no moving parts and secondly, there is miniscule degradation with each (re)write. I do mean tiny, too. You'll be buying a new computer before you replace an SSD, unless you go around defragging every couple of days.
1960823
I have the 3 TB version and the drive does not say. However, the power supply for the drive says the maximum output of the power supply is 12 volts DC at 1.5 amps. this means the drive must draw less than 18 watts. The power supply never gets hot so I guess it is drawing less than 10 watts.
817140
It is quite fast. I never ran any benchmark tests but it is considerably faster than USB2.0. Just make sure you have USB3 ports in your computer. In case you only have USB2 ports, the drive still works but with USB2 speeds only.
704782
I have not used it for such, only using it with a Raspberry Pi which has limited power capabilities from its USB ports. Check the documentation but I believe the total power limit for this device is around 2 amps, so you need to determine the power requirements of the drives. Further, there are only four ports on the device so without further extenders (it's frequently a bad idea to add USB extenders onto to USB extenders, I've heard stories of problems) you're limited to four devices. I do believe there are 8 port powered USB extenders available as well. You might want to investigate one of those. But first determine the total power requirement of your drives. I have not used it for such, only using it with a Raspberry Pi which has limited power capabilities from its USB ports. Check the documentation but I believe the total power limit for this device is around 2 amps, so you need to determine the power requirements of the drives. Further, there are only four ports on the device so without further extenders (it's frequently a bad idea to add USB extenders onto to USB extenders, I've heard stories of problems) you're limited to four devices. I do believe there are 8 port powered USB extenders available as well. You might want to investigate one... » Read More I have not used it for such, only using it with a Raspberry Pi which has limited power capabilities from its USB ports. Check the documentation but I believe the total power limit for this device is around 2 amps, so you need to determine the power requirements of the drives. Further, there are only four ports on the device so without further extenders (it's frequently a bad idea to add USB extenders onto to USB extenders, I've heard stories of problems) you're limited to four devices. I do believe there are 8 port powered USB extenders available as well. You might want to investigate one of those. But first determine the total power requirement of your drives. « Show Less
85050
I would say, in general, stay away from it. It caused my external drive to malfunction; and it didn't cause a significant power boost anyway.
809744
I have both the 256gb and the 1tb USB drives. So far I am quite impressed by the transfer speed and reliability of them. So much that I carry a great deal of information to include pictures and songs. So far neither one of them failed on me. You need to verify that the drive is a legitimate one by checking that on the USB port connector has the serial number engraved. I understand that there are some cheap ones on the market with a much lesser performance and capacity from what is described! I hope this may help!
1082856
I will test it tonight and see. Last time I checked though it performed at good speeds. But I am only using a 4700rpm drive so I may be maxing out the read/write on it anyways. But from my experience it performs a lot better then 2.0. Also another note is that if you plug this into a 3.0 port you don't need to use the extra USB cable for power. The 3.0 port can put out enough juice to power the whole thing. I didn't know this before I bought and honestly wasn't a big deal, but helpful to know now.
2052094
They do! 5400 rpm drive to 5400rpm drive I get 65-75 Mb/s minimum using both ports.
624647
I would guess that it doesn't matter. I've installed countless hard drives in various devices and I've never had one not work due to the RPMs being to high or low. I can confirm that 7200 RPM drives work in it.
248976
The drive is used for dvd backups and picture storage. When the old drive failed, I purchased another USB 3.0. That didn't help. I recovered almost 1 TB in two days. Then, since I had not yet received the new 3.0 card, I tried using the USB 2.0 to transfer from another backup (a western digital) to the Seagate. In 3 days, I moved about 300 Gb. That was left on 24 hours, too. After I got and installed the new 3.0 (I still doubted the old one), all remaing 500 plus Gb moved in less than 3 hours!. I never measured or recorded the speed. And the old 3.0 USB worked similarly.
1600661
I have had the drive as my main operating system, as well as mass storage drive for almost a year, and so far, it has been reliable, fast, and quiet. However, as the previous person responded, I am using Linux, which does put less stress on the drive and the file system is a bit better at file allocation, ETC...My experience is very positive in this environment. (Using the 3TB version partitioned into three sections)