dbminter Posted August 28, 2014 Posted August 28, 2014 I should have a new computer in about 2 weeks and it will be my first exposure to using USB 3.0. I have a USB 3.0 HDD I've been using on USB 2 on my current computer. So, I have to have the drive's power cable plugged in in order to power it. However, wasn't USB 3 designed so the USB 3 cable could supply power to the device, too? If so, does it supply enough power to power a USB HDD? Will I still need to plug in the power cable to use the USB HDD?
LIGHTNING UK! Posted August 28, 2014 Posted August 28, 2014 It can supply 900mA according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_3.0 So that's 400mA more than USB 2.0 I believe. It may or may not be enough to power some hdds. Most enclosures seem to come with a 2 amp PSU though so I doubt it'll work for anything other than a smaller sized 'portable' hdd.
dbminter Posted August 29, 2014 Author Posted August 29, 2014 Yeah, the drive I'm contemplating, it's not a portable size HDD. It's a 4 TB, I'm guessing 3.5 inch drive in a USB enclosure.
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