External firewire drive: will it be powered through the FW port?

Jump to First Reply
argeliusargelius
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Can anyone confirm that this 100GB Firewire external drive will be self-powered via the firewire port on my G4 Aluminum 15" Powerbook?



http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other.../MO8U5100GB16/



(I purposely chose the slower 5400 RPM (rather than 7200) since I've read elsewhere that the fastest drives don't get enough power from the Firewire port).



I reallllllly want to get a portable external drive that wont require an AC power adapter.



========



On an unrelated note from a relative Mac newbie, can applications be installed on an external drive just as they can on the internal/boot drive?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Well, it says:



    Quote:

    FireWire Bus Powered* or

    110v auto switching power supply transformer (included)

    * Some systems cannot supply enough power through the FireWire bus and the included AC transformer use will be required. This is more common with high speed (5400 and 7200RPM) drive mechanisms and may vary from computer to computer and drive to drive.



    I'd email them and find out what the actual current draw is. Apple has matching info on their web pages for the FireWire port. If A < B, then you're good to go.



    And apps can be anywhere.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 2 of 5
    argeliusargelius Posts: 309member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Kickaha

    Well, it says:







    I'd email them and find out what the actual current draw is. Apple has matching info on their web pages for the FireWire port. If A < B, then you're good to go.



    And apps can be anywhere.





    Thanks! I did email them previously but they wouldn't elaborate beyond "we can't guarantee....."
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 3 of 5
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    No, ask them for a current rating, in milliamps. This *does* come with a drive installed yes? Then you should be able to ask them for the power draw for the *drive*. If they don't know, ask them for the make and model of the drive inside it, and you can look it up from the original manufacturer. Add a bit for the FW controller, and it should give you a rough idea.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 4 of 5
    slugheadslughead Posts: 1,169member
    that'd be cool if it did.. last time I checked the biggest self-powered FW drive was only 80GB
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 5 of 5
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,954member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by slughead

    that'd be cool if it did.. last time I checked the biggest self-powered FW drive was only 80GB



    I would think that most or all the units that use laptop hard drives should be bus powered, but that partly depends on the FW/ATA bridge circuitry. A 7200RPM notebook drive takes just above 2W of power max power, assuming the bridge takes less than half a watt.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
Sign In or Register to comment.