A Ridiculous Question (looking For A Ridiculous Answer).

[imec]

Would I be able to keep an external hard drive next to my television, hook my Pandora up to both its charger and said external hard drive and be able to watch movies or play games off of the hard drive? Or is the power draw just too much for the Pandora to handle (I also heard that the Pandora can't just run off of the charger because of the way it manages power, is this also true?)?

 

[Miika]

Yes you should be able to, even without a charger but then you will have bad battery life.

 

[Mr B]

A regular 3.5 external harddrive enclosure will work fine like this, a 2.5 might / probably wont. Most harddrives want a fair bit more then the 500mA the USB host is specc'ed for. (Actually, only MWeston would know for sure i guess, since he may, or may not have gone outside the USB power spec.)
B!

 

[Snu]

Would I be able to keep an external hard drive next to my television, hook my Pandora up to both its charger and said external hard drive and be able to watch movies or play games off of the hard drive? Or is the power draw just too much for the Pandora to handle (I also heard that the Pandora can't just run off of the charger because of the way it manages power, is this also true?)?

im not quite sure what you mean about the pandora not being able to run off the charger... of course it will be able to run when its plugged into its charger.
the harddrive depends... desktop computers usually provide more power through the usb port than is part of the usb specifications, pandora does not. it definitely wont be able to power 3.5" external drives on its own, smaller drives i dont know, depends on the drive probably. regardless, it will definitely work if the harddrive's ac adapter is plugged in.

 

[magicman5421]

if the harddrive has external power then no problem. otherwise, as others have said, it's still up in the air.

 

[Tobriand]

(I also heard that the Pandora can't just run off of the charger because of the way it manages power, is this also true?)?

Yes, this is true - can't remember which thread it came up in, but it was quoted from MWeston, specifically along the lines of the OMAP3530 being designed mainly for cellphones, and consequently requiring a battery to be present before allowing the device to turn on.

That's not to say it'll run from the battery whilst the battery charges - I imagine it'll run from the power supply and charge the battery at the same time, though I could be wrong there. But it will need the battery present in order to run at all...

 

[Vorporeal]

(I also heard that the Pandora can't just run off of the charger because of the way it manages power, is this also true?)?

Yes, this is true - can't remember which thread it came up in, but it was quoted from MWeston, specifically along the lines of the OMAP3530 being designed mainly for cellphones, and consequently requiring a battery to be present before allowing the device to turn on.

That's not to say it'll run from the battery whilst the battery charges - I imagine it'll run from the power supply and charge the battery at the same time, though I could be wrong there. But it will need the battery present in order to run at all...


Although I wonder if there's a way to trick the Pandora into believing that that there's a battery plugged in, even if there isn't (assuming it doesn't run off the battery when charging but runs off the power supply).

 

[chad78]

Although I wonder if there's a way to trick the Pandora into believing that that there's a battery plugged in, even if there isn't (assuming it doesn't run off the battery when charging but runs off the power supply).

1. aluminum foil
2. electrical tape
3. ????
4. PROFIT!

 

[PSyMastR]

How do the cell phones/DS/etc... do their thing. Does the circuitry reroute the power to charge battery and power it, and when it sees no more power it makes the switch? Does the pandora work like this?

 

[StealthBagel]

I think 1.8" HDDs would work well. I have one in my notebook and they're the same type used in iPods. Or at least older iPods, not the flash based ones of course.

This one runs off just one USB port with no external brick; my other external HD (3.5") needs a 2nd USB plug just for power to spin up the disk. 1.8" disks are absolutely slower but I can still watch movies and listen to music from them in realtime.

 

[JakeK]

Is there such a harddrive that you can make run off of a battery?

 

[greendots]

Yes, Ipods run off a battery, but they might charge when plugged in to the pandora's USB. Maybe some one could hack a usb cable if ipod is drawing too much power.

 

[chad78]

Would I be able to keep an external hard drive next to my television, hook my Pandora up to both its charger and said external hard drive and be able to watch movies or play games off of the hard drive?

Yes.

QUOTE
Or is the power draw just too much for the Pandora to handle

If you have something like this that has (and requires) it's own power supply - you should totally be fine. You are talking about something immobile - a big TV - charging the Pandora, etc. - so if you get a big hard drive that needs its own power - you should be all set. I know some mobile devices can read flash drives - and powered hard drives - but not unpowered hard drives - (like this) - because of the extra energy draw. I don't know if the Pandora will suffer from that same restriction - but we have been told external hard drives are doable.

QUOTE
(I also heard that the Pandora can't just run off of the charger because of the way it manages power, is this also true?)?

I don't think so. But others have addressed this already.