Quote:
Originally Posted by drwtsn32
Yeah, I noticed that there doesn't seem to be an easy way to take this apart. And I doubt there's a low power spinup jumper on it anyway. If there was, wouldn't WD enable that by default? Why would you ever NOT want it that way for a bus-powered USB drive?
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As far as I know, WD currently does not make any 2.5" drives without this feature, so I would be surprised to see the drive in the passport not having it.
One reason for not enabling it by default would be that it affects performance by making the spinup slower. And these days benchmarks and internet reviews are important marketing tools... I agree the sensible thing would be to have it on by default though, and maybe it already is. I just thought it'd be worth checking. But I agree it's not worth breaking the enclosure and voiding the warranty just to check.
Options remaining:
1) Add an extra power supply.
2) Get a disk enclosure with built-in battery, such as the many different "OTG" devices used for backing up digital cameras and such. They cost a little extra, but the addition of a battery to handle the spin-up power surge means the USB port never gets overloaded.
A few examples:
V-Tec Cutie OTG,
Macally PHR-250 OTG,
Teac Digi Drive