Posted by Barry Watzman on 11/29/06 02:28

Did you actually try the drive in a USB enclosure, or did you simply
assume that since it said 1 amp, it wouldn't work. If you simply made
and assumption, then try it. The vast majority of laptop drives work
with a USB adapter (even one with only a single-ended USB cable).


Flarky wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I bought a 40 gig hard drive for a laptop computer once,
> and I've since sold the laptop but not the drive.
> It's a good Hitachi drive, with a parallel interface and
> probably has data on it that I can use or need.
>
> However I can't make use of the drive.
>
> 1. My current laptop is SATA, so I can't
> install a PATA drive.
>
> 2. I have a USB 2.5" enclosure, but USB doesn't provide
> enough current to run the drive. The drive
> needs 1 ampere. Another 4 gig drive that I had
> did work with the enclosure. It used 0.5 amperes.
>
> 3. I don't have an iPod or any other MP3 player
> to put the drive into, and thereby hook it up to the computer.
>
> 4. The AC power supply for my enclosure is
> rare and costs $6.5 + $16 shipping from
> coolerexpress.com, which is ridiculous.
>
> After if get any data off the drive,
> the question remains, how to make use
> of it for backups and/or for music/video.
>
> Option A
> I have noticed that there are now 2.5" enclosures
> that have MP3 and video playing capability,
> but no screens (!). I don't want to waste my
> money on one of those. They don't even come with
> AC adaptors usually.
>
> Option B
> Buy an old iPod and put this drive in it,
> discarding the original drive. Does anybody
> know if the original iPods will even take a
> 40 gig drive?
>
> Option C = preferred
> Does anybody know if there is an MP3 player
> manufacturer that sells an MP3 players
> with a screen on it but with an empty hard drive
> bay?
>
> Thanks.
>

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