WDTV and WD My Passport 1TB - no power

jeeribaldi · Nov 19, 2013

I have a few years old WDTV and recently purchased a WD My Passport 1TB for storage and viewing video. For the first few days, all went well - plug the drive into the WDTV and watch TV. Now, the WDTV cannot power-up the new disk, but my desktop can. I know I need a Powered USB hub, I just need to know the power requirements for the 1TB disk so that I get a hub that provides enough amperage to the ports. Thanks!

Phillip Corcoran · Nov 19, 2013

You don't need to know the power requirement of the portable hard drive. Just buy any quality-made mains-powered hub. It's constructed in such a way that it's USB ports conform to the same power specs as computer USB ports (ie no more than 5-volts). I've been plugging my portable hard drive into various mains-powered hubs for 4 years and never bothered about power requirement of the drive. It's working fine.

popatim · Nov 19, 2013

I would think 1amp should be enough thou you might wind up using a usb y cable and draw power from 2 usb ports. A usb port is spec'd at 0.5amp.

Something like this (used for reference, this is not a recommendation as I have never used it)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812186123

jeeribaldi · Nov 19, 2013

Phillip Corcoran :

Thanks for your reply, but I chose popatim's answer as the best because he gave me the USB amperage spec (actually the second time I had heard about 0.5 Amps as the spec). My original concern came from the fact that my WDTV's USB ports originally powered the drive, but after 7 days of working it stopped abruptly without any logs to read or any other manner of troubleshooting except plugging it into my Desktop.

jeeribaldi · Nov 19, 2013

popatim :

Thanks popatim! That was the exact spec that I needed! I wasn't sure if the larger capacity drives had differing power (assuming P=IV - from the deep, dark, recesses of my mind.) They still may vary, but now I feel more confident in solving my problem.

popatim · Nov 19, 2013

Larger drives usually do require more power but if they need external power they usually come with the y cable or even an external power source. I sincerely hope nothing is wrong/damaged with your WDTV.

jeeribaldi · Nov 20, 2013

popatim :

I'll know later this afternoon, after I pick-up a powered hub! And I sincerely hope NEITHER (yes, luckily I have 2) WDTV is damaged. The first WDTV went down a few weeks ago when it started not reading any USB, but when this problem occurred I tested a 2GB stick and it was read fine. Crossing fingers....

BTW just found a SlashDot Article about a USB power meter - http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/13/11/20/0144223/not-all-usb-power-is-created-equal?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed

timing is everything, eh?

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WDTV and WD My Passport 1TB - no power

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