USB 2.0 PCMCIA card--power question

I have an MP3 player that only works in a USB 2.0 post. The computer with that just died.

And I need to get an adapter or enclosure for reading a 2.5" SATA hard drive, which needs power to spin the disk. Those all seem to be USB 2.0 and without external power.

Because I don't know anything about this stuff, I really can't tell whether getting a pcmcia USB card will work right for me. Photos of the cards show, if anything, some kind of a connector like you would see on headphones. What does it plug into to make this work? I think I provide my own power supply?
Or does someone sell it with its own power supply?
Do I just go to radio shack and get an adjustable power supply like I have my walkman plugged into?

Or, is the pcmcia slot able to provide the power into the USB slots ?

I'm looking at products like this:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14848
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839328001

Thanks for your patience and advice. I really don't want to buy something that doesn't do what I need, and I can't figure it out on my own.

My computer is an Inspiron 8000

 

The deal extreme seems like the best product for you. If your USB devices need more power than the unit by itself supplies, then you'll have the additional USB adaptor cable to supply that for only a couple of dollars more.

As long as its returnable if it doesn't work with your specific device(s), you should be fine.

 

Hmm, I didn't see an optional adapter cable. I looked at the page again, can you tell me where this is? I'm feeling pretty dumb!

 

lol

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14848

Click on the image and scroll down on the window that pops up.

 

I've found that external hard drive docks, especially those designed to dock both 3.5" and 2.5" tend to come with AC adaptors. The problem with those docks is, of course, the fact that they're not enclosures and thus you have a bare drive sticking out. You might want to check newegg; if you use their advanced search in the External Enclosure section, you can actually search for enclosures with external power. Also note, if you get a 3.5" enclosure, there are 2.5" to 3.5" caddies available that will let you put a 2.5" drive in a 3.5" enclosure, since the connectors are the same.

 

Tiller, I really appreciate your patience. I don't expect you to try to help again in the face of my inability to find what you're indicating, but I still can't see the power adapter cable option! Especially as something for individual sale. I see the black cable that has USB at one end and a "headphone jack" at the other. I don't see anything that looks like it would convert AC wall power and then get attached to the PCMCIA card, by that black cable I suppose??? I'm just lost, but that's ok, maybe I can call a place like Newegg and speak in person to someone who can try to hold back their laughter as they guide me

Judicator, I've only found external 3.5 enclosures that clearly had external power. Thanks so much for mentioning the adaptor caddy, I think that will be the way to go! But since I guess I'm calling Newegg, I'll check with them about 2.5" enclosures too.

Thanks again all.

 

Sorry, maybe I misled you?

We're probably looking at the same cable. Its not optional, its included with that card. How you use it (I assume) is plug in the 'headphone' end into the card and the other end into a free USB connector on the notebook. This will then give extra power to the HD to spin it up properly.

 

Ahhhhh! Ok, we were looking at the same thing. But since the other USB spots on the computer are 1.1, it's unlikely to have much power to send, isn't it?

I never even thought that's what the cable was for, because that's sort of a Catch-22, using a USB port to power the USB ports you added because you didn't have enough USB ports...

 

Yes, it does sound funny, but remember, the USB 2.0 ports you're adding are drawing their power from the Cardbus connection slot.

Even though they are only 1.1 ports, they might give just enough additional power to get an older, more power hungry drive started - once spinning they don't usually need as much to keep going.

 

But is it really safe to pull all that extra juice?

 

Of course, each part of the notebook will only supply what it's designed for - the HD, if it is requesting so much 'extra' is already designed for it.

See, no prob!

 

Well, when I was referring to docks, I was referring to something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182197

Since it's just a dock and not an enclosure, your hard drive will be sticking out of that slot on top, and so you'll have to be a little careful about bumping it or spilling something on it, but other than that, it works fine. It is, admittedly, not ideal for something on the go, but if you just plan to use it around the house, it's generally fine... well, unless you have small children or animals about. >.>

As for actual 2.5" enclosures, I found only 2 on Newegg right now with external AC power... one IDE ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817347012) and one SATA ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817106099). Well, actually, there were 2 others, but one's a RAID bay, and the other is something frighteningly expensive.