1TB External HDD

[Andy]

I bought a 1TB (1000GB) External Hard Disk Drive unit. This uses a small power adapter and connects to the computer via a USB (2.0) cable.

When running, it is very quiet. Also, it comes with software to reduce the standby power but I don't know how to configure that yet since it's Japanese. I will have to wait for it to become available in the West and download the English versions of the software.

I was prompted to buy it since my computer's HDD was almost full and I am starting to film HD Video where the video files are large. Also, being external, I can use it with other computers such as laptops and for file backup.

Also, I was thinking to buy a mini-mac for iPhone App development but that only has a 160GB HDD so this unit can work with the MAC too.

The actual model is a Buffalo HD-CLU2 It is quite a recent release and comes in 500GB, 1TB, 1.5TB and 2TB versions. The cost was 12000 yen which is about $134 but I have a point card which reduced the effective price to $112 which I think is good value for such a large disk size.

[Menard]

Any experiences with external hard drives and how they hold up compared to their internal counterparts?

When I was shopping for an external hard drive some while back, looking at reviews for various models revealed a lot of complaints about them crashing in short order; of course others had good reviews as well.

I've had two models, both 80GB; one crashed and became useless, one still works (fingers crossed). The one that became useless crashed faster than any hard drive I have experienced.

Though I am not considering an external hard drive right now, I may get another in time and have been looking at the possibility of getting an enclosure to hold my choice of hard drive.

[donecweb]

I have several external hard drives from 1.5 Tb Free Agent down to a home made 60 Gb. Some of them I bought a cheap case and bought a hard drive for the case or used a HD from an older computer. Some I bought as complete units. There is really only one that I bought that was bad enough that I took it out of the case it came with and put it into another case. This was an iomega model RPHD-CG with a 320 Gb 2.5 inch drive in it. When ever I went to use it with-in 3 min it was too hot to handle. I took a known good HD and put it into the case and it got hot also. I thought it may be the Fire-wire circuitry causing the heat so I ran it open (out side of the case but plugged into the circuit board) to see where the heat was coming from and the HD was getting very hot. I did some research and this is very common with this company. The only thing I can think of that would cause this is the voltage produced by the control board was too high. Anyway I took the 320 Gb drive and placed it in a cheap aluminum case and no heat. I have never had an external HD die on me except for when it came from an old computer and was well worn. Some external HD's come with proprietary software that does not like Linux and some older versions of Windows but I just format these and use them like a plain HD. In fact I have never been pleased or used the software that comes with these drives. They make the software sound good but it has never satisfied me.

[Menard]

They make the software sound good but it has never satisfied me.

They call that marriage...don't they?

 

[donecweb]

They call that marriage...don't they?

 

Could be could be. 

[Andy]

When ever I went to use it with-in 3 min it was too hot to handle.

Not wishing to go down the thought pattern of Menard, I find it shocking that an electronics manufacturer could produce such bad products. It seems like the case was maybe sealed up with no ventilation?

My unit is mounted vertically with vents at the base and tip.

[donecweb]

It seems like the case was maybe sealed up with no ventilation?

My unit is mounted vertically with vents at the base and tip.

I tried it with out the outside case just the HD plugged into the cases motherboard and it still got hot so it has nothing to do with ventilation besides the case I put it into that works has no ventilation except for around the connectors but the case is aluminum (of course the iomega case is also) and it doesn't even get warm.

[Andy]

Was the 5V and 12V reversed on the power connector? It's been many years since I designed power supplies but I think the red wire is 5V and yellow is 12V or is it the orange wire??? And then there is 3.3V to consider.   Also there are may other voltages to consider like 1.8V Wow - I am glad that I am out of that industry now.

[donecweb]

Was the 5V and 12V reversed on the power connector? It's been many years since I designed power supplies but I think the red wire is 5V and yellow is 12V or is it the orange wire??? And then there is 3.3V to consider.   Also there are may other voltages to consider like 1.8V Wow - I am glad that I am out of that industry now.

I have not heard of any of the drives failing and iomega says there is nothing wrong but my common sense tells me it is not right to produce so much heat. I looked at the board and there are no colored wires on the board and I did not feel like hooking my multimeter up to check it out. Too much like the work I used to do.

[Andy]

I bet the heat was due to wrong voltages being fed to regulators.

btw my Buffalo 1TB drive is working fine still and feels cool to the touch even though it is spinning all the time. I will have to look for English language power-saving code to work with it. When it's not being accessed, it should power down I think.