External HD - Power Supply vs Portable

Hi guys, I know this isn't the ideal forum to post in, but I couldn't find a better one - sorry!
My question is - what is the advantage to purchasing an external hard drive that utilizes an external power supply, versus just purchasing a portable one that does not require one? Reliability? Speed?
Thanks so much for your help!

Hi TFF,
Most 2.5" are bus powered and considered portable. Some come with an extra power supple as some HDs draw more power than the USB or FW bus can provide.
Reliability these days is pretty close to the same.
Speed should be similar also, as both come in 7200RPM or 5400RPM (the 3.5 is also available in 10,000RPM, but that's another story).
Capacity for the price is a big factor. You'll definitely get more storage for your money with a 3.5" setup, but then you have to carry the larger unit and always be tethered to that power cord for backups.

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External Drive - Power Supply Problem

Hi All,
I have a problem with my Lacie External HD, i know it's not an Apple product but it is used with my Apple machines and formatted for Apple OS. Also the folks here are very knowledgeable.
I have a Lacie D2 Triple Interface http://salestores.com/stores/images/images_747/301146U.jpg
The drive is not powering up, I have read online that they are know to have Power supply issues since mine went down. I have used the D2's power cable to power up my other external Lacie Mini drive and it is fine. So i can rule the power cable out the equation.
The tiny green light on the power supply is flickering when plugged into the D2 drive.
No blue light on the drive either.
I am prepared to open the drive up and try to fix the power supply, but is there any online guide to doing this? I can't find anything!
Any advice / help is appreciated.
cheers

First thing to try is see if LaCie will replace the power brick, and that is what most people mean by "power supply" issues.
The other is how LaCie products tend to disrupt FW ports and cause problems, which is something that they are also prone to, should not, and don't find with others.
There use to be more attention to hot-swapping FW cable and Isolate brand or feature to prevent a FW port or device from being 'fried' by hot-swapping or plugging in a hot cable.
I'd move my drives to either another Firewire product, or more to native SATA.
http://www.macsales.com/firewire/
Also, the ability to use USB/FW/eSATA (quad interface) means there is a bridge, and that in itself can impose a limit on I/O and how well a drive can talk to the other end. Drives today are faster than even FW800 can deliver.

External PSU (power supply unit) for Video Card

Hello guys. My 7979 6gb Radeon card arrived, but my Mac Pro only has 6-pin connections for video cards and two molex inputs, when my video card needs two 8-pin ports (or four 4-pin molex ports, 2 for each 8-pin), since I tried running the card simply using one molex for each 8-pin port (the card just turns off when I try to load a graphic intense video game, but otherwise runs) and it fails. To solve this, I am purchasing new psu tomorrow morning at best buy. 2 questions
1. Since this psu will be external and not a replacement for the Mac pro psu, do I have to connect anything from the psu to the motherboard, or do I simply plug it into the wall outlet, and then plug the video card 8-pin cables into the psu ?
2. The "requirements" on the video cards website says that I require a 500 watt CPU. But I believe this assumes a 500 watt CPU that is powering the whole computer (fans, ram, hard drives etc), so does that mean that getting a 430 watt psu will be fine since its exclusively for the video card? I read online that at max usage, the card only uses about 370 watts.
Thanks

The PCI-e bus can provide 75 watts, as can each of the two 6-pin auxiliary power connectors, so you only need a 150 watt supply. It is possible to mount it internally, below the optical drive.
<http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1472518>
or externally
<http://macperformanceguide.com/blog/2011/20110406_1-PowerHungryVideoCards--howto .html>

Which Power Supply For Portable 3U Chassis?

This forum site refuses to accept my posts. I keep getting a "Please try again" error at top. So I made a picture of it. Now, will someone answer my question? I need advice from someone with experience with this sort of build

Why do you need 550-650W or is that just because of future needs? I would suggest one of the Corsair +12V single rail modular PSU's if you insist on the modular design. Check newegg for what they have for modular in the Corsair lineup. I'm sure you're aware that their price is considerably higher than the non-modular. K8 MB's that needed -5V are the early ones that had Creative Sound Blaster onboard audio.
HX650
   * Was: $139.99
   * $109.99
   * After $10.00 Rebate
   * $10.18 Shipping
That's what it is now but if you don't need it in a big hurry you can probably wait a while and get for the same price but with free shipping.
Edit: Gee, Ultra with blown caps, I just happen to have a xPRO 800W that blew some caps, repaired it and started going bad again and then got my TX650 to replace it. Got it for $70 after rebate (which I haven't received yet) by waiting for the right price, rebate and free shipping. VX550 would have been good enough but at the time I got the TX650 at a lower price.

Dead Power Supply and LaCie Portable HD?

Here's my problem:
I coordinate a lab that has 8 400-MHz G4's. Four of the computers have just died over the past few months; no power at all when trying to start them.
I've already tried changing batteries and pressing the PRAM button, but that hasn't help. So it seems that there may be a problem with the power supply dying.
But here's the catch: It seems that the computers lose power when I connect a LaCie 80 GB portable Firewire hard drive to them. I was running one of the G4's today when said portable hard drive attached. I turned the computer off, then tried to start it up again. No power!
I know this has to be more than a coincidence, since it has happened once before. And now I'm thinking that is probably why the other computers died too.
Has anyone else had this problem occur? Or is this just my imagination?

Is the LaCie drive able to work with any computer for a sufficient period of time?
It sounds like there may be an electrical problem with the external drive that is causing some damage when plugging it into a computer's firewire port.

Can i use an external power supply to power second graphics card?

hello. i currently have an ATI 5870 in my 2010 Mac Pro. I want to throw a Quadro 4000 in there as well, but i need one more 6-pin power cable. can i plop the quadro into the second PCI slot, buy a PC desktop power supply and just let it sit on the outside next to my Mac Pro, and then just run a 6-pin power cable from the power supply into the Quadro? i realize that the Mac Pro door would could not be placed back on...but i could figure out some way to cover up the opening so that dust doesn't enter.
would this work? anyone tried?

Hi,
Just want to ask a question that is not clear on everything that I have read. If you don't switch off the external power what do you take the risk for? Could you burn something or the card will just continue to work (spin the fan) after you turn off the Mac Pro? Where is the dangerous part?
Thanks!

Problem with Time Capsule used with an External Hard Drive (with it's own power supply)

I have a mid 2012 Macbook Pro with Mavericks installed. I have the latest Time Capsule (802.11 ac) with an external hard drive hooked up via the USB port. The external hard drive was taken from an older Mac desktop machine and is formatted correctly (Mac OS Extended Journaled). The external hard drive has it's own power supply and shows up fine when connected directly to my laptop.
For whatever reason I CAN see the hard (LAN Storage) when in AirPort utility but I CANNOT find or access the drive from anywhere within the Finder.
My finder settings are set this way:
My FInder appears this way, with the Time Capsule selected:
As you can see, the "Data" drive isn't displayed (it's not on the TIme Machine mounted drive either). The external drive "LAN Storage" isn't availailable anywhere either.
I've tried unplugging and restarting my Time Capsule and the External Drive with no luck.
Any advice?
Thanks.

Welcome to Mavericks.. and its new concept of network drives not just being hard to find like in Mountain Lion but totally invisible.
Apple changed over Mavericks to using SMB2 by default.. broken and flawed SMB2.
Change over to AFP by manually mounting the TC drives.
I strongly recommend the first thing you do is change the TC names to SMB standard.. that just helps.
Short, no spaces and pure alphanumeric.
So rather than the very Generic THE Airport Time Capsule.. you make it even more Generic with TC1 (each subsequent TC increment the number. )
LAN Storage is not a good name either for USB drive.. especially now that it is WAN Storage.. WStore for example.. but whatever makes sense to you.
The name itself doesn't matter. .following the rules, short no spaces and pure alphanumeric does. Everything, conforms.
Now in Finder.. Go, Connect to Server.
AFP://TC1 or AFP://10.0.1.1 (you can use either the name (now that it is proper network name) or the IP address .. replace with your actual name or IP).
The computer will find the resources and then ask you for a password.. this is required, even if default,, which is public.. so type in your password or public if you did not change it.
Store the password in your keychain.
The TC should now mount and all the resources on it be made available or visible.

17"display with extern power supply won´t work

Hi there,
my second display a 17"apple studio display (CRT with VGA) just works every now and then. Can´t locate what´s wrong, I already changed the graphic card, no result. In system profiler both displays are listed mostly, also in the display menue on the topbar, though as soon as I tell to recognize the displays only the main display remains. The 17" display has the extern power supply, but it´s a original apple as well. Thought it might be a bad contact, but can´t find anything. Living here in spain I nearly have no chance to check the display by a dealer. I would be grateful for some help, Michael.
G5 Mac OS X (10.3.8)

Try an SMC reset:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303319

T440s keyboard and external power supply

The issue that I come across is if T440s starts up on battery, as soon as the external power supply is connected, the keyboard stops responding, as well as mouse. if I disconnect external power supply, both keyboard and mouse function as usual.
If start up on external poewr supply, it seems to be OK.
Any suggestions?

Hello Hans -
Taking a look a the PrecisionHD Camera User Guide on pg 9, the 2.5x camera does have a power supply connector just like the 4x and 12x cameras. It does say the power supply connector is For future use, so it doesn't seem like it supports an external PSU at this time.

Does using two bus powered external devices MacBook Pro 13" put too much strain on the power supply?

Will daisy chaining two bus powered external devices put too much strain on my 2011 MacBook Pro 13" power supply? Specifically I would like use ProTools with a LaCie bus powered hard disc and a Digidesign Mbox 2 Pro which is also bus powered with firewire.

Hi rrlavigne,
The biggest difference between the two machines in maximum RAM capacity. The white MacBook is limited to 4GB, whereas the MacBook Pro will support 8GB of RAM. While the cost of RAM is prohibitory right now (to go to 8GB), to have that flexibility in the future will very much be worth it... especially considering you intend to install Logic.
Other than that, I think in terms of "raw performance" the machines are very equally matched. You're paying for the unibody design, backlight keyboard, SD card and new battery technology for that $200 premium (in addition to the slight CPU bump).

I need guidance in choosing an xterm all portable power supply for iPhone 5 and iPad Air. Can U help?

Traveling intl. Need a rechargeable external power supply. I can't find any restrictions in choice. Need to chg iPad Air and iphone5. Any thing to avoid? Any advantages in specific choices/brands?

DNArizona wrote:
No charger at my seat on the plane..
How many planes routinely stay in the air for the 8-10 hours your battery lasts?

Fireware Update, NO EXTERNAL POWER SUPPLY! Im stuck!

OK so I just updated my ipod mini, now it says that I need to plug it into the external power supply. only one problem.... I don't know where it is. I lost it a while back and now I cant do anything on the ipod. Computer doesn't even acknowlege its in until i will update it fully by plugging in the power supply! plz help me. thanx

Shaun,
If this is a first gen mini and you updated via a usb connection, then you need to complete the update via the charger. No way around this.
Beg/borrow one, or visit an Apple store?

Powering down display with external power supply

I am using a 23" display with an old PowerMac G4 from 1998 with an upgraded video card and external power supply.
Is there any way to power off the monitor without powering down the computer? Ideally I'd like this to happen automatically based on my system prefs, but apparently the external power supply precludes this.
As a "workaround", I've created a screen saver that displays a black image. Does this actually save any energy and/or extend the life of my display?
Thanks,
- Michael

Hi Michael,
Welcome to the discussions.
You can install an on-off switch on the power lead to the external power supply (actually, it's safer to have a qualified electrician do this, as you are dealing with a mains power supply). I have this system for my ADC 15" Display, and it works fine.
A black screen saver will not extend the life of your monitor. Screen savers were meant to mitigate the "burn in" effect that happens with CRT displays (and which doesn't happen with LCD displays). If the display is still on, the backlights will still be functioning and they are the finite life component of the LCD display that you need to look after. Also, because the LCD's themselves use so little energy, there will not be much energy saving.
It's more appropriate to "sleep" the display. You can do this (via Energy saver settings in System Preferences) without having to "sleep" the entire computer. This will turn off the backlights and significantly extend the life of the display.
(I'm presuming you are using OS X - you haven't supplied any details regarding your system. :))
Cheers!
Karl

FireWire / MacBook Pro / External 7200 rpm Drive / External Power Supply / Daisychaining

I would like to use FireWire from my MacBook Pro to an external 7200 rpm drive (Fantom GreenDrive Quad with FireWire capability) that uses an external power supply. Are there any issues with using the external power supply? I read in an archived Mac forum regarding Thunderbolt that there might be (for Thunderbolt, which I'm not using). The archived info wasn't entirely clear to me as to whether it meant not to power up (turn on or plug in) an external power supply for a daisychained device while the MacBook was on or the daisychain had devices in use, say, or whether it meant don't use (daisychain) any devices that use external power supplies.
Once that question is resolved (about FireWire relative to the external power supply for the external hard drive), my next question is, Can I safely daisychain also? If so, what protocol would I use for that, relative to the power supply for each daisychained hard drive?

I have had no issues using daisychained FireWire 800 external drives with leaving the drives turned on, power supplies on, and restarting my MBP. The MBP starts up and sees the drives and runs fine.

Portable Power Supply for iPhone 3G

Hi,
I am looking to buy a portable USB power supply for my iPhone 3G.
I will be flying next month, so I need something to provide additional power while I am in the air.
I have searched around, and found:
IGO® POWERXTENDER UNIVERSAL AA BATTERY-OPERATED CHARGER
http://www.thesource.ca/estore/product.aspx?language=en-CA&catalog=Online&catego ry=iGo-HO&product=2739104
IGO POWER TIP-A133 (adapter for iPod/iPhone)
http://www.thesource.ca/estore/Product.aspx?language=en-CA&catalog=Online&catego ry=iGo-Tips&product=2739128
I live in Canada (so I can't buy from places such as Amazon.com) and would like to keep the cost to a minimum (I don't fly all that often).
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Thanks for your time.
- Brennan

There is power lost when using these chargers. Loss due to current creating heat in the wiring, loss in the iPhone battery that is being charged due to resistance in the battery, and loss due to the semiconductor devices used to manage the charging process. Not all of your 1000 mAh "ends up" in the iPhone battery.
I said "more than half" and that is literally true but a little pessimistic sounding. Maybe 70-80 percent. But I do not know. It will not be 87 percent. That's still good, to me.
Here is a quote from the instruction sheet for my 1200 mAh Richardsolo battery:
"If you have a 20-30% charge remaining in your iPhone, a fully-charged backup battery will bring the iPhone back to about a full charge. Once your iPhone is below 20% remaining battery charge, you may
not quite get a complete recharge from the backup battery, but close."
I find those percentages to be about right.
Regarding Amazon review, I think that is true only for an iPhone that is only partly discharged, not completely discharged.

External HD - Power Supply vs Portable

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