Power consumption of IOGear Portable Harddrive

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Bob

Hi,

Does anyone know what is the power consumption of the IOGear GHD225U40
portable hard drive?

On their web page, which I doubt is correct:
http://www.iogear.com/main.php?loc=product&Item=GHD225U40&sec=Specifications#display

The power consumption of this little beast is 5V 2.1A. That sounds awfully
high for a USB hard drive. Besides the USB port is supposed to pump out only
500mA. As a comparison with Seagate portable drive, the Seagate is consuming
650mA.

If it is a 2.1A device, anyone considering of buying it has to be extremely
cautious as you may not find too many motherboard can drive this high.

I am currently having trouble with one transferring large file (5+ G) over
to such a device. Anyone has any idea? It is complaining not enough space
but the hard drive (40G) is almost empty.

Thanks.

Bob
 
Bob said:
Hi,

Does anyone know what is the power consumption of the IOGear GHD225U40
portable hard drive?

On their web page, which I doubt is correct:
http://www.iogear.com/main.php?loc=product&Item=GHD225U40&sec=Specifications#display

The power consumption of this little beast is 5V 2.1A. That sounds
awfully high for a USB hard drive. Besides the USB port is supposed
to pump out only 500mA. As a comparison with Seagate portable drive,
the Seagate is consuming 650mA.

If it is a 2.1A device, anyone considering of buying it has to be
extremely cautious as you may not find too many motherboard can drive
this high.
I am currently having trouble with one transferring large file (5+ G)
over to such a device. Anyone has any idea? It is complaining not
enough space but the hard drive (40G) is almost empty.

Thanks.

Bob
Click to expand...

Are you sure it's not complaining about your host drive? How much free
space is there on the host?

Q
 
No.

It is fine for copying small files across to the IOGear but when large files
are being copied, it complains.

Besides does anyone know if this IOGear really consuming 2.1A - even a peak
current is awfully high for it. There aren't any newsgroup item for this
device. May be not too many people buying it.

Bob
PS It is now using a dual head power USB cable. With a single head cable,
the OS (XP Pro) will not even detect it is there. Seagate shipped with dual
head power USB cable - highly recommended when using with laptops.
 
Hi,

Does anyone know what is the power consumption of the IOGear GHD225U40
portable hard drive?

On their web page, which I doubt is correct:
http://www.iogear.com/main.php?loc=product&Item=GHD225U40&sec=Specifications#display

The power consumption of this little beast is 5V 2.1A. That sounds awfully
high for a USB hard drive. Besides the USB port is supposed to pump out only
500mA. As a comparison with Seagate portable drive, the Seagate is consuming
650mA.

If it is a 2.1A device, anyone considering of buying it has to be extremely
cautious as you may not find too many motherboard can drive this high.

I am currently having trouble with one transferring large file (5+ G) over
to such a device. Anyone has any idea? It is complaining not enough space
but the hard drive (40G) is almost empty.
Click to expand...


It's pretty much impossible that it'd use 2.1A, but if you
look at your USB Hub properties in Device Manager it should
show the current it actually "claims".

While I haven't hear of any issues with that particular
enclosure, or any recently for that matter, I vaguely recall
some had overheating bridge chips...

If you disassembled the casing to expose the circuit board,
you can touch-test the (largest chip(s)) to determine if
they're getting excessively hot during long transfers. IF
that is the situation then remedy is either returning it (if
seller or IOGEAR will accept it, or attaching an
appropriately-sized (but still small enough to fit in the
available casing space available) 'sink. Failing any other
method of attachment I suggest thermal epoxy like Arctic
Alumina Epoxy (or several brands more often sold for
TEC/Peltier use).
 
Bob said:
Hi,

Does anyone know what is the power consumption of the IOGear GHD225U40
portable hard drive?

On their web page, which I doubt is correct:
http://www.iogear.com/main.php?loc=product&Item=GHD225U40&sec=Specifications#display

The power consumption of this little beast is 5V 2.1A. That sounds awfully
high for a USB hard drive. Besides the USB port is supposed to pump out only
500mA. As a comparison with Seagate portable drive, the Seagate is consuming
650mA.

If it is a 2.1A device, anyone considering of buying it has to be extremely
cautious as you may not find too many motherboard can drive this high.

I am currently having trouble with one transferring large file (5+ G) over
to such a device. Anyone has any idea? It is complaining not enough space
but the hard drive (40G) is almost empty.
Click to expand...

I have the IOGear external 2.5" casing and I put an 80 gig Hitachi drive in it.
It needs power, as you found out, to be reliable. I have a 5V 1-8-2.6 amp AC
adapter that come with a mini Tripp-Lite USB hub that works perfectly with it,
so I think that the power specs are indeed correct.
-steve
 
Thanks everyone for the information.

I had been burned by a similar enclosure - fully enclosed case with a laptop
drive. I think the onboard chip set failed instead of the hard drive and the
shop tried two drives and both bombed out towards a NT format. In the end I
demanded money back.

To replace this, I played safe and paid a bit more to buy the Seagate
portable hard drive. This one is indeed well made. The case has a stainless
steel mesh belt on the side all around. I could leave it run all day without
raising a degree of two. It came with a dual head power cable that I only
need to use for my laptop. Other than that on the power hub, it just need
one USB connector and it just hums along.

Really disappointed with these portable hard drive manufacturers. I wonder
if they really have thought of the great variation of max USB power output
on different motherboard.

Beware anyone. Don't buy IOGear if it demands 2.1A. I am sure it is running
close to that!!

Bob
 
Beware anyone. Don't buy IOGear if it demands 2.1A. I am sure it is running
close to that!!
Click to expand...


The enclosure didn't come with an external power supply, or
did it? What does the manual say about a requirement to use
an external power supply?

I find it hard to believe that without a specific stated
requirement, that it would use even remotely close to 2.1A.

You could look at the label on the HDD (or at least write
down model # on it) to determine the drive's power
requirements and add them to the requirement of the rest of
the enclosure, which is certainly under 500mA, probably well
under 200mA with models lacking a fan.
 
kony said:
The enclosure didn't come with an external power supply, or
did it? What does the manual say about a requirement to use
an external power supply?

I find it hard to believe that without a specific stated
requirement, that it would use even remotely close to 2.1A.

You could look at the label on the HDD (or at least write
down model # on it) to determine the drive's power
requirements and add them to the requirement of the rest of
the enclosure, which is certainly under 500mA, probably well
under 200mA with models lacking a fan.
Click to expand...

It didn't come with a power supply, but there is a connector on the case and the
label rates it as 5V. I am successfully using a power supply rated from 1.8-2.6A
-steve
 
Bob said:
No.

It is fine for copying small files across to the IOGear but when
large files are being copied, it complains.

Besides does anyone know if this IOGear really consuming 2.1A - even
a peak current is awfully high for it. There aren't any newsgroup
item for this device. May be not too many people buying it.

Bob
PS It is now using a dual head power USB cable. With a single head
cable, the OS (XP Pro) will not even detect it is there. Seagate
shipped with dual head power USB cable - highly recommended when
using with laptops.
Click to expand...

If it has a jack for external DC power, can you use it?

Q
 
Thanks Stephen.

If that is the case, I would be wiser to buy a power pack (5V ~2.2A) to
power this drive via its external power supply port. Would you agree?

I am shocked to see such a high current drain from this.

Bob
 
If it has a jack for external DC power, can you use it?
Click to expand...
Seriously considering this option as the last effort. Sad to see this being
sold as portable drive than then has to be plugged into AC mains.

IOGear obviously has a funny definition of portable device.
 
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