Discussion Using a SATA 2.5" HDD over USB

[ShockSlayer]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/311388187471

Ordered one of these a few days ago, been using it to test shit all night and it works great.

$9 shipped. Worth it so far. Best part is there's no external power, everything runs off the Wii's 5v line(and is therefore likely 100% fine to be powered off of the AMS1117's I've been using.)

I'll probably crack it open later and get some internal shots.

 

[ShockSlayer]

(and is therefore likely 100% fine to be powered off of the AMS1117's I've been using.)

Initial test seems to drop the voltage down to 4.2v, and the drive doesn't recognize. I might have to try running two of them in parallel or something. Need to do some additional research.

 

[Doom]

Need to do some additional research.

 

[ShockSlayer]

oh yeah mr krabs

 

[Aurelio]

Initial test seems to drop the voltage down to 4.2v, and the drive doesn't recognize. I might have to try running two of them in parallel or something. Need to do some additional research.

Don't use two AMS1117 in parallel. A small variation in the output voltage of the two regulator would cause a very big current.
Also I wouldn't recommend using SATA SSD over USB since their power consumption is around 2-3 Watts, while an USB stick needs less than 1 Watt

EDIT: Look at this comparison: http://www.anandtech.com/show/10163...mption-measurement-using-plugables-usbctkey/3

 

[ShockSlayer]

I don't doubt that flash drives are more power efficient. However, I am a big fan of this particular HDD. It has traveled around the world in various portables, and yet somehow always found its way back to me over time. Only the drive, its board wreathed in blue mask, knows its final destiny.

I was hoping I could use the AMS1117 as they're exceptionally small. I guess if I really wanna use this, then I'm going to need to either pull some trickery or use a different regulator. I have a few hunches I need to pursue first.

I managed to extract the adapter board from it's plastic casing. The board is tiny. I'll take pictures tonight most likely.

 

[Aurelio]

I was hoping I could use the AMS1117 as they're exceptionally small. I guess if I really wanna use this, then I'm going to need to either pull some trickery or use a different regulator. I have a few hunches I need to pursue first.

You should consider using a buck converter instead of a linear one. Assuming that you are powering your Wii with 7.4V and that your HDD requires 1A (in the last post I thought that you were going to use a SSD, not a HDD), with a linear regulator your circuit would require 7.4W of power of which 2.4W are wasted in heat that would destroy your regulator unless you use a proper heatsink.

 

[bentomo]

Since you got those things so cheap it's possible that you got some Chinese clones. Or they're just that low quality and why they're so cheap. Because according to the data sheet they should produce one amp. Unless your drive needs more than watts, which a spinning drive could.

Have you tried just a separate power supply yet?

 

[cheese]

Just curious, what is the model of that HDD? You could look up power draw of said drive, and see what it really uses. According to Toms hardware, most laptop HDDs are actually quite power efficient, even under max load.

 

[ShockSlayer]

It's a Toshiba mk2565gsx, the drive says 5v at 1A on the sticker.

Here are the shots of the actual converter board(after unearthing it from it's rubbery, hotglue covered prison):

I believe that this board was actually initially designed to have 2 USB plugs, based on the fact that it's got all these pads, and some of them were directly connected together via the USB wires. The cable ripped off when I removed everything, so we'll see if I can get it working again.

I'm also going to try bypassing all of the power circuitry and powering the drive directly off the AMS and seeing if it works.

 

[ShockSlayer]

Forgot to post, no dice on powering it directly with the AMS. It would attempt to spin up, but then stop itself abruptly and the drive wouldn't recognize. Ended up going with another PTH08080, no problems there, also powering a fan too.

I was also able to correctly guess the USB 2.0 data lines after having them ripped off. Will have to try to figure out the 3.0 lines later(which'll only matter for updating junk on the PC.)

 

[bentomo]

Even then the read/write of a spinning laptop platter won't really use 3.0 much.

 

[cheese]

Plus, you'd need USB 3.0 cables and a 3.0 port, since 3.0 adds more data lines.