Quick question

Does USB on Laptops not give out as much power as desktops, or rather does the power vary between Laptops

Reason is, I got a new laptop and plugged in the old hard drive using a non powered USB Caddy, and it starts copying data then you can hear the drive clicking like it is failing, then it disappears from windows completly and wont come back on unless I plug it into a different USB port on the Laptop

Now it has always worked fine before on different laptops and dekstops etc, so I thought the drive was on its way out, but it is only about 6 months old

So anyway I tried it again on a PC in the office and it worked and I copied 40Gb of data off it onto the PC

Now the USB caddy is powered by the USB port, and it does have a hole for a 5v power adapter but it didnt come with the adapter

I know my 3.5 inch USB caddy HAS to have external power, but this is a 2.5 inch one

Could it be the USB in the new Laptop (HP 6715b, Turion 64x2) isnt giving out enough power to keep the drive spinning ?

 

Yes, it could be the USB ports on the laptop not being able to give enough power. I was using a Toshiba laptop the other week and it had 2 USB ports on the laptop, but only had enough power for one external USB drive. If any other USB device was attached there was not enough power for the drive.

You are going to need an external power adapter for your enclosure I think. There may be some strange random option in the BIOS or power saving features. You may also get a littler more juice if the laptop is plugged in.

Failing that, if its under warranty you could try and sent it back.

 

Loomy, dont want to send it back, Ive only just got it a couple of days ago

Actually one thing I have noticed with it, with the power saving monitor settings and screen saver it hangs and no longer responds sometimes once it has gone into power save mode

I do use a USB mouse too, so I may unplug that and see how the drive works then

 

1) totally understand that mate....it would really suck to have to send a new machine back just after you have got it sorted no doubt (image it if you do, no doubt they will wipe stuff)

2) Thats more likely chipset drivers. My dad's laptops have had those issues from time to time, always fixed with chipset drivers. Should hopefully be a known issue and therefore a known fix.

3) yeah, deffo try without the mouse. That could just be enough of a difference for you. Your external HDD manufacturer may supply you with a power brick if you ask (for free). The last one I bought would do that, was part of the deal. You just had to ask

Fingers crossed for you

 

Is there not some settings in the device manager for power saving settings.

On XP years ago i had a problem with a USB modem. It would stop responding, was something too do with windows deeming that it wasnt being used so would stop power too it.

 

left the mouse unplugged (which uses 100ma) and plugged the drive in, worked a treat

So obviously not enough power to keep the drive spinning and accessing data

 

was gonna say check the usb power settings in system properties and uncheck the save power option. There had been issues on xp years ago with windows effectively turning off the devices and only an unplug and replu would wake it up again.

 

the device was on, as I was in the middle of copying about 60,000 files