Re: New laptop HDD - second unit faulty?

Philip Herlihy wrote:
Synapse Syndrome wrote:
Conor <conor_turton@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I recently bought a new 2.5" hard drive for my laptop. It arrived
(presumably) uninitialised, so before attempting to apply a disk-image
to it I hooked it up to a USB adapter - one I've used many times, which
has connections for a SATA cable and for 3.5" and 2.5" IDE devices. The
device can only be connected to the 2.5" drive one way, as there is a
"missing pin" which has to line up with a "missing socket".

I connected the drive to the adapter, and then plugged the adapter's USB
plug into my docking station. A warning bubble about exceeding
maximum power limit was replaced by a dialogue box, titled "Power Surge
on Hub Port", with the text: "A USB device has malfunctioned and
exceeded the power limits of its hub port. You should disconnect the
device."

At the same time I could hear the drive "ticking" - not a good sign.

I contacted the supplied (Misco) online, and was impressed by how
quickly and smoothly the situation was handled (and said so here).

Now the replacement (identical) has arrived - exactly the same. Is this
likely to be a duff batch from Western Digital, or am I doing something
wrong? A spare adapter (identical) gave the same results.

I thought that most external caddies required an additional power
supply?


Ones for 2.5" drives generally don't. But they do usually come with a dual USB lead, in case a single USB port does not supply enough power. I only seem to need to use the second port on *newer* machines.

ss.


An older caddy that I have does have a second USB lead, but in the past I haven't had to use it. The USB adapter I've been using recently doesn't have the second lead. When you use it with a 3.5" IDE disk you use a separate power supply with a molex connector, but the reverse side (for 2.5" disks) covers all the pins (a group of four on their own are not used, but aren't accessible).

Hmmm... When I get the chance (out of time) I'll try the disk in the laptop itself, and boot from linux or UBCD4Win.

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I'll report back.

Phil

I have four USB adapters, two with one plug and two with two (for extra power). The fourth got it working!

Oo-er, that means I probably sent a perfectly good disk back to Misco. I'll need to eat some humble pie and offer to pay for the round-trip shipping!

Phil
.

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