7200rpm usb powered 2TB HD?

[Rafael Lopes]

I´m not sure if this is the right place to post this, so MODs feel free to move it.

I was looking into buying a western digital 2tb HD but then I´ve read they´re 5400rpm. Is there a 7200rpm usb powered 2TB HD out there that you guys may suggest?

[Randall Leong]

Rafael,

If by "USB-powered" you mean that there is no separate power supply (meaning that power is supplied through the USB connection itself), you'd be limited to those micro drives that use laptop-sized hard drives. Unfortunately, none of those that are factory installed in OEM enclosures spin at 7200 RPM. All use drives that spin at only 5400 RPM or even 4200 RPM. As for the external hard drive kits, Seagate is one that uses a 7200 RPM hard drive - but that particular line that uses such fast drives are desktop-sized and use a separate power supply (in the form of a "wall wart" AC adapter).

Also, which version of USB do you have on your computer? If it's only USB 2.0, you might as well have only a 3600 RPM hard drive because the interface itself cannot sustain more than about 35 MB/s. Even 5400 RPM hard drives can sustain greater than 100 MB/s for desktop-sized drives, and even 4200 RPM laptop hard drives can sustain greater transfer rates than the USB 2.0 interface's maximum practical limit.

[Chris Soucy]

You'd get a heap more mileage out of something like this:

Welland Industrial Co., Ltd. ???????? - External HDD Enclosure Supplier

This make is not readily available outside Australasia, but there's plenty of other makes out there.

The beauty is you can use any make of "bare bones" hard drive, any spin speed and any size up to 4 TB, 2 1/2" and 3 1/2", and with a USB 3 or Sata 600 adapter card in your pc, you've got the hot swappable drive from heaven (there is a Sata 600 "toaster" [for that is what they are nicknamed] from the same manufacturer, again, there are many other makes out there).

Depending on the "sweet spot" for "cost per gigabyte" where you are, using a couple of 1 or 2TB drives, 7200 rpm and with 64Mb of cache would probably be a better price option.

(These will also run the 10,000 rpm Raptor drives and even SSD's if you really want to push the boat out)

Beats a "container-ed" hard drive system by a country mile, and with the "bare bones" drive in free air and not in a box, they tend to be a heap more reliable, just don't drop 'em and do keep them labelled!


CS

PS: No, I don't know any USB system that can power any of the above drives, they use way too much power.

[Alan Craven]

I'm with Chris on this, buy your own box and fit your own drives.

I actually have some USB powered 7,200 rpm drives by this means, using miniature Icy Boxes. I have both Firewire/USB2 and more recently eSATA/USB2 boxes.

I also have a number of eSATA and USB3 external drives, again 7200 rpm, in larger Wall-wart powered Icy Boxes.

For Archive I use USB3 2 bay Icy boxes in RAID1, again with my choice of drive.

This comes more expensive up-front than buying sealed boxes, but if a drive fails, or you need a bigger drive, no problem.

[Rafael Lopes]

I don´t mind using small laptop HDs as long as they´re not 5400rpm. I have a USB 3 port available and I would really prefer if the Hd could be powered by the laptop instead of adding more cables.

[Randall Leong]

Rafael,

Even with a USB-powered external hard drive, you'll still need to plug in the laptop to an AC outlet: Even the largest battery that's compatible with your laptop still does not hold enough to run both for more than an hour or so. But a typical editing/rendering session with a laptop can run several hours at a time. That's because even the fastest-performing laptop is still about three to four times slower than an average fast i7 desktop when it comes to performance within Adobe Premiere Pro.

And as I stated earlier, you're stuck with either a very slow disk or an external kit that must also be plugged into an AC wall outlet if you're limited to a pre-container'd external hard drive from the major brands. As such, I would agree with Chris and Alan: Get an internal 7200 RPM internal SATA laptop hard drive and a separate 2.5" external hard drive enclosure separately. Make sure that the enclosure of your choice is both USB-powered and supports USB 3.0.

[Rafael Lopes]

I DO have my laptop plugged to a power source. I just want to minimize the amount of cables running through my living rooms´ floor.

[Randall Leong]

This leaves one more thing, Rafael:

Originally Posted by Randall Leong

As I stated earlier, you're stuck with either a very slow disk or an external kit that must also be plugged into an AC wall outlet if you're limited to a pre-container'd external hard drive from the major brands. As such, I would agree with Chris and Alan: Get an internal 7200 RPM internal SATA laptop hard drive and a separate 2.5" external hard drive enclosure separately. Make sure that the enclosure of your choice is both USB-powered and supports USB 3.0.

The decision is:

Are you limited in choice to a pre-packaged external hard drive kit? Or can you purchase an internal SATA laptop hard drive and a separate USB-powered 2.5" hard drive enclosure?

[Rafael Lopes]

I can absolutely go with an internal SATA laptop hard drive and a separate USB-powered 2.5" hard drive enclosure.

[Randall Leong]

Rafael,

In this case, you may end up buying a Western Digital Scorpio Black drive (and only the Black, in the case of the Scorpio line, spins at 7200 RPM - the Scorpio Blue spins at only 5400 RPM) plus that separate 2.5" enclosure. Seagate is phasing out its 7200 RPM laptop hard drives by the end of this year, leaving only the 5400 RPM models.

Unfortunately, Western Digital does not currently offer a 7200 RPM laptop (2.5") hard drive with a capacity over 750GB. Nor do the other hard drive brands Seagate or Toshiba. (Hard drives with the HGST brand name were formerly Hitachi, but are now distributed by WD.) All of the 2TB laptop hard drives spin at only 5400 RPM.

There are desktop (3.5") hard drives with a 2TB capacity that spin at 7200 RPM. Unfortunately, all external enclosures for 3.5" hard drives that I know of require a separate power connection (typically to an AC wall outlet).

[Rafael Lopes]

Western Digital Scorpio Blacks has a maximum of 750gb.

[Randall Leong]

Originally Posted by Rafael Lopes

Western Digital Scorpio Blacks has a maximum of 750gb.

I did a ninja edit in my previous post. As I tried to explain during the ninja edit, there is currently no 2.5" laptop hard drive with 2TB capacity that spins at 7200 RPM in existence. And all enclosures that are designed for 3.5" drives require a separate power connection. (The reason for this is that 3.5" disks draw more power than the USB connection alone is capable of handling.)

[Alan Craven]

The 2.5 inch drives I referred to in post #4 are WD Scorpio blacks @ 500 GB.

I note that Rafael refers to his laptop plugged into a power point in one post. I can certainly use my Icy Box drives connected to my laptop by just a USB power lead in to the power socket and a eSATA lead for the data, when the laptop is mains powered. I have used them briefly on occasion with the Sony laptop running on its battery.

[Rafael Lopes]

This is the highest capacity 72000 USB powered hard drive I´ve found http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/891239-REG/Hitachi_0s03559_1TB_2_5_External_Drive.html
It´s pretty cheap too!