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    2.5" External Harddrive

    Discussion in 'Accessories' started by Bwen, Oct 13, 2006.

  1. Bwen

    Bwen Notebook Evangelist

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    I'm planning on buying a 2.5" External HDD for my notebook which runs off the USB power, how will this effect my battery life? will I see a dramatic increase in battery life and battery ware?

    Has anyone else had any similar experiences?
     
  2. mAjEsTiC

    mAjEsTiC Notebook Guru

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    i wouldn't call it a dramatic decrease but it would decrease the battery life by a bit if you leave it plugged in and running all the time...can't remember where i saw it but there was a test that someone did to show the the effects of a usb hdd plugged in as opposed to not plugged in...i think the difference was something like 10-15 min (???) off the battery life with the usb hdd plugged in...
     
  3. lku

    lku Notebook Consultant

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    It will shorten your battery charge. I tried it before. What i did was watch movies off my external drive until I was almost out of battery. If I remember correctly, it shortened my battery charge by 15 to 25 min max. Can't quite recall exactly how much cause it was a long time ago.
     
  4. Bwen

    Bwen Notebook Evangelist

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    Thanks for the replies guys, I might go pick up my 2.5" external as soon as possible.
     
  5. lixuelai

    lixuelai Notebook Virtuoso NBR Reviewer

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    Are you buying one off-the-shelf or are you making your own? Its much cheaper and very simple to make your own. Just buy any 2.5' hard drive and get an enclosure for it on ebay. Voila you got your customized 2.5' enclosure.
     
  6. Lil Mayz

    Lil Mayz Notebook Deity

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    I don't think it would drain a huge amount of battery as some high end laptops have two internal hard drives. I wouldn't be terribly concerned about battery life.

    Personally, I would have an external power supply however, if you want your Hard Drive to be reliable.