Do 1tb External Hd's Use More Power Than The Same Size Flashdrive??

These aren't listed on the products I have been looking at. I want to be able to use a usb hub.
Thanks.

 

Seems like an odd question to me.

Hard drives are big, clunky electro-mechanical devices. They have a spinning motor for the platters (disks) and another stepper motor to move the read/write head back and forth. Then they use a relatively powerful electro-magnet in the read/write head to change the orientation of the magnetic particles on those platters so they represents 1s and 0s.

Flash drives are fully "solid-state" devices with no moving parts. And they use a tiny voltage to flip transistor gates to represent 1s or 0s. So of course, a hard drive (internal or external) will use more power. This is why most decent external hard drives come with their external power supplies. This is particularly important when used with a laptop - to prevent eating up the laptop battery's charge too quickly.

 

I am talkng about a portable WD My passport drive. Still attaches to computer with a separate USB cord. It's not big or clunky though. Sorry if i wasn't detailed enough? ?? Same answer, though? I didn't know they made flashdrives so large now or I would ahve gotten that to begin with.
So it does not matter how big the flashdrive is- I can still use it on a usb hub with other flashdrives? That is the question. I don't wanna screw up. I was pretty bummed when I read the Hub instructions & it said I couldn't use it with an external.

 

Yes it is!

All hard drives are "big and clunky" when compared to flash drives (and SSDs too). All hard drives have two motors, spinning platters, and a swinging read/write head. Those mechanical components make a hard drive big, clunky, and power hungry too.

If the hub does not have its own external power supply, that is probably why you cannot use the external hard drive with it - external hard drives require too much power.

 

OK I hear you! but I shoudl be able to plug in 3 flashdrives of any size into the hub without a problem?? It says "max 500mA across all 4 ports"
Thanks.

 

No.

For USB 2:
500 mA at 5 V is just 2.5 watt.
Check with the manufacturer of the flash drives.

 

I agree with Eldon. Except for a keyboard and a mouse, I recommend one device per port. If using a hub to attach more than one device, the preferred and safe method is to ensure the hub has its own power supply to provide power to the devices attached to that hub. Then the computer's port is used just for data.

You do not want to demand too much current through any one port. "In theory" and "if lucky" the port would simply shut down. Since theory and real-world often do not jive, if not so lucky, excessive current demands of too many devices could cause something to overheat and become permanently damaged. You don't want that.

 

Hi! I'm sorry for intruding, but I have a related question: I have a WinXP laptop with only one working USB port, and I want to attach two power-hungry USB devices and a flash drive to it. I already have two USB hubs, but they don't have an external power supply. For what should I search?

 

???

Hubs that come with external power supplies.

 

Sorry for the stupid question. I thought I had to search for something specific.

 

Well, the stupid question is the one not asked. So, sorry for the smart-a$$ answer.