Best HDD for Zalman ve200? What HDD manufacturers do you trust?

[fredted40x]

Hi,

 

I have just brought myself a zalman ve200 HDD enclosure but im now looking for a compatible hard drive.

 

After looking around for a external hard drive and reading reviews on how some usb external hard drives cant get enough power im now wondering if i may be limited to a 5400rpm HDD.

 

Can anyone with one of these devices give any advice please?

 

Also a more general question that i would like to ask is what manufacturer of HDD do people trust these days. I've recently had two Western Digital devices fail lately.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Fred.

[LeMarchand]

I just recycled the highest capacity drive I could find in the pile of dead laptops. This was a WD 5400 drive though (details at Amazon) so probably not much help to you!

 

Not had any problems so far, and have only needed the supplied USB lead (haven't had to use a "Y" USB lead to provide extra power).

[fredted40x]

Thanks LeMarchand,

 

I wonder if you have the Y lead for 7200 HDD's and single for 5400.

 

Normal external HDD are 5400 arnt they?

 

 

update: Just had a look at western digitals site and they say that the 5400 and 7200 use the same power. 500ma 2.5v.

Edited August 21, 2011 by fredted40x

[SYNACK]

I did the same and just checked in the highest capacity drve I had from a dead laptop, Seagate 160GB 5400rpm, the case chipset is really quick which is nice and makes for quick transfers. Weirdly it shows up with the little cross on the case LCD indicating an issue although running it through seatools finds no fault. At any rate it works fine, have had an issue or two with it drawing too much power to be used on front mounted USB ports even on an hp 8100 elite but that is probably because it is an old power hungry drive.

 

As to good drives, I don't think they make them anymore. I have had constant failures with WD drives, Samsung have been worse and others have had issues with Seagate drives. All in all I think they may well all be rubbish and your best bet is just to have a good backup and warrenty.

[Arthur]

I'm now wondering if I may be limited to a 5,400 rpm HDD.

I currently have a 500GB 7,200rpm Seagate Momentus XT in my VE200. This is usually fine, but on the odd occasion the HDD doesn't spin up, I find connecting it to the rear USB ports makes it work again. I do carry a spare USB splitter cable just in case though.

 

The problem with almost all 2.5" HDDs (even 5,400rpm ones) is that the power required to actually start them spinning is more than what a single USB 2.0 port can provide (500mA). Once the disk is spinning however, the power required drops to around 1.4-2.5 watts (280mA-500mA) depending upon what the drive is doing.

 

For example, the Hitachi TravelStar Z5K500 requires 4.5 watts (900mA) when you first connect it to the computer despite being a single-platter 5,400rpm drive. Looking at the specs, the Western Digital Caviar Blue's require 900mA-1000mA, whereas the Caviar Black's require 1150mA-1750mA. Seagate, Samsung and Toshiba are the same too.

 

what manufacturer of HDD do people trust these days.

As Synack said, none of them. Just make sure you make regular backups and you will fine whichever drive you choose.

Edited August 21, 2011 by Arthur

[LeMarchand]

I wonder if you have the Y lead for 7200 HDD's and single for 5400.

 

The Y lead belongs to another bit of kit (think it was my slimline external DVD writer) but comes in handy from time to time with my various other external USB devices.

 

As everyone else has said, make a regular backup just in case...

[Arthur]

If you don't have a spare Y cable to hand, you can easily find them online for a couple of £'s...

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003HHK576

http://www.ebuyer.com/237017

[fredted40x]

Thanks, I might go for a 5400 HDD something like the blue if the startup load is lower than the 7200rpm black edition. Hopefully less chances of it drawing too much power and failing to start.

 

Does the zalman give any warnings if it isnt getting enough power or does it just not even light up?

[SYNACK]

Thanks, I might go for a 5400 HDD something like the blue if the startup load is lower than the 7200rpm black edition. Hopefully less chances of it drawing too much power and failing to start.

 

Does the zalman give any warnings if it isnt getting enough power or does it just not even light up?

 

No warnings but it is obvious, you get the lovely wirrr---click, wirrrrr------click of it attempting to spin up. If it is an older drive it can drop out if it runs out of power during heavy I/O operations but this is much more unlikely. At any rate it just resets and tries again which is quite obvious.

[fredted40x]

Aahh, so the sound my WD external HDD makes every so often when i plug it in. Thought that my be something to do with power but never looked into it.

 

Thanks, will go with the WD blue i think, one of the cheapest.