Can use this as a portable HD powered via USB without external power supply?
1346696
No, it's intended as a desktop drive, meaning the external power supply is needed. But it's worth checking out LaCie's portable HDs. I have a 250GB Porsche-designed one that's been a workhorse for years.
1346697
The big size external hard disks work batter and stable with power charge，long life external hard disk because the power supplication by charger is batter than usb。
1346698
@Jarek - you can use the 1TB portable LaCie external HDD without an adapter.
854837
Yes, but you have to plug into 110 volt outlet. A WD USB powered drive is what I use for this purpose. They are compact and new models are over 1T.
1756979
I haven't tested this personally, but considering the hard drive has AC power, it should not be an issue. I'm assuming this probably wouldn't work well or at all with a USB powered hard drive.
652782
This needs an external power supply to operate. Lacie also has an external drive that doesn't need an external power supply but it's just for storage only. I have them both.
343796
To my knowledge, the larger ones (1TB +) seem to have external power. The smaller ones (less than 1TB) are just powered by USB. Those are the ones I have anyway.
851548
No direct connection to power supply necessary or possible. Whether your existing power supply will be adequate is more a question of how many hard drives and other components are powered by it.
1299746
Thank you for your question. This hub can function directly with USB cord connected. Power supply is not necessary when using low power consumption devices. Should you have any questions don't hesitate to contact us again. Thank you.
140719
This device does not have an external power supply. It is charged through the USB port, which is a serious weakness in my opinion. That means I can use it on the go, but you can not permanently have it connected to an external drive and SD card, the battery will eventually drain. I really like this system for on the go, but I would also like a permanent set up where it does have external power, can connect to my 5tb external drive and put MicroSD cards in it to copy data to/from.
1167793
I have powered a small usb drive. I think the key is that you might have to use a drive that is only usb powered, but I don't know entirely for sure. You could always get the cable and try it.
842171
If your using an external USB device that has its own power supply (i.e. external HD that plugs into the wall) I'm pretty sure you don't need to power this card.
1153495
I haven't tried it without the power supply. But i doubt if it would supply enough power for a DVD to play and certainly not enough to burn a dvd. USB power alone is only a couple of watts.
339287
Absolutely. The Mini-USB port is only there for charging the device and is not usable for any other purpose. I have used this device with a USB powered external hard drive (you normal everyday external hard drive) several times. It worked without being plugged into my portable power charger (10000 Mil Amp) but worked much better when charging from it.
1026130
No additional power supply included because the device is powered thru the USB connection.
506714
No it won't run off USB I imagane that the designers figured you would not be useing this away from a power source.
2275114
No, it comes with a USB cable also that will allow you yo connect it to a USB connection and use it as a regular external HD.
678369
Yes it is. Assuming you don't run it from a USB hub as possibly won't have enough power then.
697668
None. You can buy an external USB drive or share a drive from another computer. We use our portable for that purpose.