Hi,
I want to backup my system with a bootable image using an external USB
2.0 hard drive. Does anyone know of any external USB 2.0 hard drives
that are powered directly off of the USB 2.0 bus? I would like to have
this drive be very portable so that I can store it in a place other than
where my computer is located in case of theft/fire, etc.  A lot of the
USB 2.0 external drives I've seen need those darned AC adapters for
power and I want to avoide any such thing (I have far too many of those
things). I have heard that some USB 2.0 hard drives are powered-up fro
mthe bus itself, and that is what I am looking for!


Thanks!

Paul

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In article <10e399hn5c41o39@corp.supernews.com>,
pauls@nospam.com says...
> Hi,
> I want to backup my system with a bootable image using an external USB
> 2.0 hard drive. Does anyone know of any external USB 2.0 hard drives
> that are powered directly off of the USB 2.0 bus? I would like to have
> this drive be very portable so that I can store it in a place other than
> where my computer is located in case of theft/fire, etc.  A lot of the
> USB 2.0 external drives I've seen need those darned AC adapters for
> power and I want to avoide any such thing (I have far too many of those
> things). I have heard that some USB 2.0 hard drives are powered-up fro
> mthe bus itself, and that is what I am looking for!
>

You'll need to use the smaller 2.5" IDE laptop drives.

In addition, I've heard that some of the larger/faster
2.5" laptop drives are too power-hungry to self-power
off of the USB bus.  (Or the USB bus isn't supplying
enough current.)

Personally, I went with a slightly larger solution,
using a 3.5" USB disk enclosure.  The CA-405U2 enclosure
includes it's own 60W power-supply, so all you'll need
is the USB cable and a regular computer power cord.
Both cables are easily replaced should you lose them!

(It's getting harder and harder to find USB or firewire
enclosures that include their own power-supply rather
then relying on an easily lost external power-brick.)

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> (It's getting harder and harder to find USB or firewire
> enclosures that include their own power-supply rather
> then relying on an easily lost external power-brick.)

It's far cheaper for companies to buy bricks that are already UL/CSA
approved than to have to submit their products for testing. I suspect that
it also lowers their liability risk!

-------
Dave

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