What external hard drive is good for storing backup? Prefer one that does not need power supply, just plug in the USB cable. Prefer 4TB and above.
Is 5TB higher rate of becoming faulty than other TB?
Thanks
Do they need an external power supply when connected to a USB hub?
My Book does, My Passport doesn't. It's the difference between the 3.5" drive inside the My Book which needs 12V and 5V and the 2.5" drive in the My Passport which needs only 5V. USB doesn't provide 12V. As far as I know USB 3 provides more amperage than USB 2. My information comes from reading the label on the drives.
Forgot to add this: the My Book [2 x 4TB] came formatted as exFAT, can be noted on the package/box by the Windows and Mac printing.
Mac OS X [and maybe newer macOS] had issues with NTFS in writing files.
Last edited by Berton; 08 Dec 2021 at 10:16.
I've used both seagate and western digital externals without any noticeable problems with either one. Stick with a 2.5" notebook size drive and you don't need the power brick as explained above.
What is the model? I have a 2.5" 160-GB "My Passport Essential (WDME1600TA)" USB HDD, which does not spin up on a USB hub connected to even a USB 3.0 port. I have a 1-TB Seagate USB HDD, which does spin up on the same hub connected to even a USB 2.0 port. Perhaps new models of My Passport require less power than my old My Passport.
So did my Seagate One Touch, but I reformatted it to NTFS.
Maybe too many devices sharing the hub. You might want to try to remove other devices on the same USB hub or do a direct connection to PC USB port.
I read this
"I tested it: Put an USB3.1 Hub in USB3.0 port, then connected 2x external HDDS to it: first needing 500 mA; second needing 800 mA. Both drives started spinning. Then started a copy from the second to the first. ASAP the operation started, the second drive turned off abruptly. So in conclusion: An USB3.0 port will not provide more than 0.9A total current to the underlying bus-powered hub no matter how much ports it has." source What is the maximum power supplied by a USB 3.0 port? - Super User
"With electronics, total power in always equals total power out. You have two power sources: up to 2 A from power supply and 0.9 A from upstream port, that's up to 2.9 A total. What happens if drives try to pull more than that?
- If the power supply is of good quality, it won't provide more than its rated 2 A and (at least some) drives won't spin up/will stop abruptly.
- If the power supply is not reliable, it will catch fire.
With daisy-chained hubs:
- If hubs have a diode that prevents backpowering, things get confusing: the power supply of the first hub powers all hubs down the chain, but the last one powers only the last hub. This is super unreliable.
- If they don't, all power supplies are shared between all hubs. This would be preferable.
What's more, HDDs will draw significantly more than rated current for a moment when they spin up. And they spin up as soon as they get power, i.e. simultaneously. Servers deal with this by starting drives one by one in intervals. You can't do this here because you don't have an advanced drive controller; each drive has one in its integrated SATA-to-USB adapter. More powerful power supplies will improve things, but it will still be super unreliable." source: hard drive - What would happen when USB devices draw more power than the hub can provide? - Super User
I use Seagate Expansion drives powered by the USB data lead. Ensure you don't knock or move them whilst running else you might damage the drive.
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