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External Backup?



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 5th 19, 11:45 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware
[email protected]
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Posts: 26
Default External Backup?

I have had bad luck with portable USB storage.
Such as the small 'sticks', and larger hard drives.
I have had them all fail on me. I am tired of it.
I think I wud do better if I used portable USB storage with its own
110v power supply (adapter). I have had a few in the past, and they
never failed on me.
Am I thinking right? Someone recommend a good 2TB drive?
Thanks
xxxxx
  #4  
Old July 5th 19, 07:30 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware
VanguardLH[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,453
Default External Backup?

xxxxx wrote:

I have had bad luck with portable USB storage.
Such as the small 'sticks', and larger hard drives.
I have had them all fail on me. I am tired of it.
I think I wud do better if I used portable USB storage with its own
110v power supply (adapter). I have had a few in the past, and they
never failed on me.
Am I thinking right? Someone recommend a good 2TB drive?
Thanks
xxxxx


If these are spinners, are you connecting them to USB2 or USB3 ports?

When I've bought USB2 drives, some required the Y-adapter to get power
from 2 USB2 ports. 1 USB2 port did not have enough power to spin up the
platters. Once spinning the power from 1 USB2 port was sufficient, but
the surge current needed to get them spinning required 2 USB2 ports. If
you didn't want to use a Y-adapter, the USB drive required a power
adapter to supply enough power. Back when I built my own, I made sure
to get /laptop/ 2.5" spinners which require less power, so I only need a
simple USB cable, not some Y-adapter, and could forego the power
adapter. Nowadays I don't think there is much difference in current and
surge load for those drives, plus the manfactures don't publish those
specs anymore.

For USB2 or USB3 drives, the USB3 port provides enough power. If you
use a USB2 drive on a USB2 port, you could run into the above power
limitation that just 1 USB2 port can supply. A USB2 drive connected to
a USB3 port has enough power from that port. For USB3 drive, you
should connect it only to a USB3 port, not to a USB2 port.

No mention if your external drives are USB2 or USB3, and to what type of
USB ports you are connecting them. "Sticking" sounds like a power
supply problem (not enough power) versus the "click of death".

Are these portable USB devices that you bought as pre-builts, or did you
buy the enclosure and drive to make your own? If they're prebuilts,
which brand and model? Is USB2, did they originally come with a
Y-adapter USB cable?
  #5  
Old July 5th 19, 08:33 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware
John McGaw
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 732
Default External Backup?

On 7/5/2019 2:30 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
xxxxx wrote:

I have had bad luck with portable USB storage.
Such as the small 'sticks', and larger hard drives.
I have had them all fail on me. I am tired of it.
I think I wud do better if I used portable USB storage with its own
110v power supply (adapter). I have had a few in the past, and they
never failed on me.
Am I thinking right? Someone recommend a good 2TB drive?
Thanks
xxxxx


If these are spinners, are you connecting them to USB2 or USB3 ports?

When I've bought USB2 drives, some required the Y-adapter to get power
from 2 USB2 ports. 1 USB2 port did not have enough power to spin up the
platters. Once spinning the power from 1 USB2 port was sufficient, but
the surge current needed to get them spinning required 2 USB2 ports. If
you didn't want to use a Y-adapter, the USB drive required a power
adapter to supply enough power. Back when I built my own, I made sure
to get /laptop/ 2.5" spinners which require less power, so I only need a
simple USB cable, not some Y-adapter, and could forego the power
adapter. Nowadays I don't think there is much difference in current and
surge load for those drives, plus the manfactures don't publish those
specs anymore.

For USB2 or USB3 drives, the USB3 port provides enough power. If you
use a USB2 drive on a USB2 port, you could run into the above power
limitation that just 1 USB2 port can supply. A USB2 drive connected to
a USB3 port has enough power from that port. For USB3 drive, you
should connect it only to a USB3 port, not to a USB2 port.

No mention if your external drives are USB2 or USB3, and to what type of
USB ports you are connecting them. "Sticking" sounds like a power
supply problem (not enough power) versus the "click of death".

Are these portable USB devices that you bought as pre-builts, or did you
buy the enclosure and drive to make your own? If they're prebuilts,
which brand and model? Is USB2, did they originally come with a
Y-adapter USB cable?


OP specified that he wants one with an external plug-in power supply.
  #6  
Old July 5th 19, 08:44 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 26
Default External Backup?

On Fri, 5 Jul 2019 13:30:10 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

xxxxx wrote:

I have had bad luck with portable USB storage.
Such as the small 'sticks', and larger hard drives.
I have had them all fail on me. I am tired of it.
I think I wud do better if I used portable USB storage with its own
110v power supply (adapter). I have had a few in the past, and they
never failed on me.
Am I thinking right? Someone recommend a good 2TB drive?
Thanks
xxxxx


If these are spinners, are you connecting them to USB2 or USB3 ports?



USB1 AND USB2. My PCs are old. Both PCs r x64 tho.
xxxxx



When I've bought USB2 drives, some required the Y-adapter to get power
from 2 USB2 ports. 1 USB2 port did not have enough power to spin up the
platters. Once spinning the power from 1 USB2 port was sufficient, but
the surge current needed to get them spinning required 2 USB2 ports. If
you didn't want to use a Y-adapter, the USB drive required a power
adapter to supply enough power. Back when I built my own, I made sure
to get /laptop/ 2.5" spinners which require less power, so I only need a
simple USB cable, not some Y-adapter, and could forego the power
adapter. Nowadays I don't think there is much difference in current and
surge load for those drives, plus the manfactures don't publish those
specs anymore.

For USB2 or USB3 drives, the USB3 port provides enough power. If you
use a USB2 drive on a USB2 port, you could run into the above power
limitation that just 1 USB2 port can supply. A USB2 drive connected to
a USB3 port has enough power from that port. For USB3 drive, you
should connect it only to a USB3 port, not to a USB2 port.

No mention if your external drives are USB2 or USB3, and to what type of
USB ports you are connecting them. "Sticking" sounds like a power
supply problem (not enough power) versus the "click of death".

Are these portable USB devices that you bought as pre-builts, or did you
buy the enclosure and drive to make your own? If they're prebuilts,
which brand and model? Is USB2, did they originally come with a
Y-adapter USB cable?

  #7  
Old July 5th 19, 08:53 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 26
Default External Backup?

On Fri, 5 Jul 2019 15:33:04 -0400, John McGaw wrote:

On 7/5/2019 2:30 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
xxxxx wrote:

I have had bad luck with portable USB storage.
Such as the small 'sticks', and larger hard drives.
I have had them all fail on me. I am tired of it.
I think I wud do better if I used portable USB storage with its own
110v power supply (adapter). I have had a few in the past, and they
never failed on me.
Am I thinking right? Someone recommend a good 2TB drive?
Thanks
xxxxx


If these are spinners, are you connecting them to USB2 or USB3 ports?

When I've bought USB2 drives, some required the Y-adapter to get power
from 2 USB2 ports. 1 USB2 port did not have enough power to spin up the
platters. Once spinning the power from 1 USB2 port was sufficient, but
the surge current needed to get them spinning required 2 USB2 ports. If
you didn't want to use a Y-adapter, the USB drive required a power
adapter to supply enough power. Back when I built my own, I made sure
to get /laptop/ 2.5" spinners which require less power, so I only need a
simple USB cable, not some Y-adapter, and could forego the power
adapter. Nowadays I don't think there is much difference in current and
surge load for those drives, plus the manfactures don't publish those
specs anymore.

For USB2 or USB3 drives, the USB3 port provides enough power. If you
use a USB2 drive on a USB2 port, you could run into the above power
limitation that just 1 USB2 port can supply. A USB2 drive connected to
a USB3 port has enough power from that port. For USB3 drive, you
should connect it only to a USB3 port, not to a USB2 port.

No mention if your external drives are USB2 or USB3, and to what type of
USB ports you are connecting them. "Sticking" sounds like a power
supply problem (not enough power) versus the "click of death".

Are these portable USB devices that you bought as pre-builts, or did you
buy the enclosure and drive to make your own? If they're prebuilts,
which brand and model? Is USB2, did they originally come with a
Y-adapter USB cable?


OP specified that he wants one with an external plug-in power supply.


yes I did
xxxxx
  #8  
Old July 5th 19, 11:34 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware
VanguardLH[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,453
Default External Backup?

John McGaw wrote:

On 7/5/2019 2:30 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
xxxxx wrote:

I have had bad luck with portable USB storage.
Such as the small 'sticks', and larger hard drives.
I have had them all fail on me. I am tired of it.
I think I wud do better if I used portable USB storage with its own
110v power supply (adapter). I have had a few in the past, and they
never failed on me.
Am I thinking right? Someone recommend a good 2TB drive?
Thanks
xxxxx


If these are spinners, are you connecting them to USB2 or USB3 ports?

When I've bought USB2 drives, some required the Y-adapter to get power
from 2 USB2 ports. 1 USB2 port did not have enough power to spin up the
platters. Once spinning the power from 1 USB2 port was sufficient, but
the surge current needed to get them spinning required 2 USB2 ports. If
you didn't want to use a Y-adapter, the USB drive required a power
adapter to supply enough power. Back when I built my own, I made sure
to get /laptop/ 2.5" spinners which require less power, so I only need a
simple USB cable, not some Y-adapter, and could forego the power
adapter. Nowadays I don't think there is much difference in current and
surge load for those drives, plus the manfactures don't publish those
specs anymore.

For USB2 or USB3 drives, the USB3 port provides enough power. If you
use a USB2 drive on a USB2 port, you could run into the above power
limitation that just 1 USB2 port can supply. A USB2 drive connected to
a USB3 port has enough power from that port. For USB3 drive, you
should connect it only to a USB3 port, not to a USB2 port.

No mention if your external drives are USB2 or USB3, and to what type of
USB ports you are connecting them. "Sticking" sounds like a power
supply problem (not enough power) versus the "click of death".

Are these portable USB devices that you bought as pre-builts, or did you
buy the enclosure and drive to make your own? If they're prebuilts,
which brand and model? Is USB2, did they originally come with a
Y-adapter USB cable?


OP specified that he wants one with an external plug-in power supply.


The OP said he *thinks* an A/C powered USB enclosure *might* be more
reliable than using a USB port. His experience has been the A/C powered
USB drives were more reliable than the port-powered USB drives. My
experience has been the port-powered USB drives work just fine for a
long time -- PROVIDED you use a port that supplies enough power (USB3)
or you know the HDD inside the enclosure can work on just one USB2 port
instead of requiring 2 USB2 ports via Y-adapter. I've had USB2 HDDs,
too, and those required the Y-adapter, and as long as I used it to get
power from 2 USB2 ports then the USB HDD worked just fine. With just
one USB2 port, those old USB2 HDDs might not spin up.
  #9  
Old July 5th 19, 11:42 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware
VanguardLH[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,453
Default External Backup?

wrote:

On Fri, 5 Jul 2019 13:30:10 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

xxxxx wrote:

I have had bad luck with portable USB storage.
Such as the small 'sticks', and larger hard drives.
I have had them all fail on me. I am tired of it.
I think I wud do better if I used portable USB storage with its own
110v power supply (adapter). I have had a few in the past, and they
never failed on me.
Am I thinking right? Someone recommend a good 2TB drive?
Thanks
xxxxx


If these are spinners, are you connecting them to USB2 or USB3 ports?


USB1 AND USB2. My PCs are old. Both PCs r x64 tho.


So, are the USB HDDs just as old? You might need a Y-adapter for those
old USB HDDs. For the ends that plug into the case ports, one is only
for power and the other is for power and data.

https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1IizaP...Xq6xXFXXXA.jpg
https://cdn.chv.me/images/thumbnails...mb_400x400.jpg

The connectors depend on what type of port is on the USB enclosure. The
other 2 ends go to the case ports, and are usually USB Type-A plugs.
For those USB HDDs needing the Y-adapter, often the end going to the USB
enclosure was not a Type-A jack. That was to eliminate users plugging
the wrong ends into the wrong ports; i.e., so you weren't connecting 2
Type-A plugs that had data connected (so you were looping the data
between the PC ports) and have no data connection to the USB enclosure.
  #10  
Old July 6th 19, 02:18 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware
~misfit~[_16_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 158
Default External Backup?

On 6/07/2019 10:34 AM, VanguardLH wrote:
John McGaw wrote:

On 7/5/2019 2:30 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
xxxxx wrote:

I have had bad luck with portable USB storage.
Such as the small 'sticks', and larger hard drives.
I have had them all fail on me. I am tired of it.
I think I wud do better if I used portable USB storage with its own
110v power supply (adapter). I have had a few in the past, and they
never failed on me.
Am I thinking right? Someone recommend a good 2TB drive?
Thanks
xxxxx

If these are spinners, are you connecting them to USB2 or USB3 ports?

When I've bought USB2 drives, some required the Y-adapter to get power
from 2 USB2 ports. 1 USB2 port did not have enough power to spin up the
platters. Once spinning the power from 1 USB2 port was sufficient, but
the surge current needed to get them spinning required 2 USB2 ports. If
you didn't want to use a Y-adapter, the USB drive required a power
adapter to supply enough power. Back when I built my own, I made sure
to get /laptop/ 2.5" spinners which require less power, so I only need a
simple USB cable, not some Y-adapter, and could forego the power
adapter. Nowadays I don't think there is much difference in current and
surge load for those drives, plus the manfactures don't publish those
specs anymore.

For USB2 or USB3 drives, the USB3 port provides enough power. If you
use a USB2 drive on a USB2 port, you could run into the above power
limitation that just 1 USB2 port can supply. A USB2 drive connected to
a USB3 port has enough power from that port. For USB3 drive, you
should connect it only to a USB3 port, not to a USB2 port.

No mention if your external drives are USB2 or USB3, and to what type of
USB ports you are connecting them. "Sticking" sounds like a power
supply problem (not enough power) versus the "click of death".

Are these portable USB devices that you bought as pre-builts, or did you
buy the enclosure and drive to make your own? If they're prebuilts,
which brand and model? Is USB2, did they originally come with a
Y-adapter USB cable?


OP specified that he wants one with an external plug-in power supply.


The OP said he *thinks* an A/C powered USB enclosure *might* be more
reliable than using a USB port. His experience has been the A/C powered
USB drives were more reliable than the port-powered USB drives. My
experience has been the port-powered USB drives work just fine for a
long time -- PROVIDED you use a port that supplies enough power (USB3)
or you know the HDD inside the enclosure can work on just one USB2 port
instead of requiring 2 USB2 ports via Y-adapter. I've had USB2 HDDs,
too, and those required the Y-adapter, and as long as I used it to get
power from 2 USB2 ports then the USB HDD worked just fine. With just
one USB2 port, those old USB2 HDDs might not spin up.


A problem with those USB2 'Y' adapter things is sometimes you need to be sure to plug in the USB A
plug with the data pins *after* the auxiliary power supply USB A plug. (Or plug them both in at the
same time.)

I had a drive corrupt itself because of plugging them in in the wrong order once (a few years ago
now though).
--
Shaun.

"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy little classification
in the DSM"
David Melville

This is not an email and hasn't been checked for viruses by any half-arsed self-promoting software.
 




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