Usb Devices

[VRAndy]

Okay, I'm not finding any info regarding it's power output. Is there a way I can test or gauge how much power it consumes using my laptop?

If you go into the windows device manager and double click on a hub(Including the root hub), then click on the "power" tab of the pop-up window, it'll give you a list of every device attached to that hub and the amount of power it requests from the computer.

I think its possible that this number is a lie, but I don't think you can get a measured value without cutting up a USB cable and sticking some probes in it.

Presumably someone reputable like Western Digital can be trusted to design their hardware to accurately report its power needs.

 

[dnlgreenwood]

I think it is much better to invest in a solid state drive (SSD) instead of a hard disk drive.

An SSD takes much less power, is less vulnerable to shock, is faster, is quieter, and last longer because they have no moving parts (hence "solid state," the term used to define something electronic that has no moving parts)
They use the same interface as hard disk drives, so you could just put one in your HDD's enclosure.

with the pandora, you are packing it around, and you want to have more battery life, yes? and while packing it around, you are more likely to damage the drive, yes?

I'd say they are worth the extra dough.

hard drives are great for storing movies, music, games... Il est parfait pour la Pandora.
I need one because I have a lot of junk on my computer. I used mine for my wii i might save up for some hefty 32GB Class 10 SD cards, though. wait, those are probably more expensive than an SSD.

 

[Abanest]

I shall look into a decent SSD me thinks. Lower power consumption and less prone to damage from banging around in my pocket has got to be a good thing. What are the more decent external SSD's I can pick up? Any dodgy suckers I should avoid?

@Andy: Yup, according to that the device works at 500mA. Thanks for the little guide, mate. *thumbs up*

 

[dnlgreenwood]

I shall look into a decent SSD me thinks. Lower power consumption and less prone to damage from banging around in my pocket has got to be a good thing. What are the more decent external SSD's I can pick up? Any dodgy suckers I should avoid?

@Andy: Yup, according to that the device works at 500mA. Thanks for the little guide, mate. *thumbs up*

The best thing to do to avoid being ripped off is to look on the websites of major retailers, or buy directly from the manufacturers.
For example: here is what my local tech retailer is selling:
http://www.futuresho...acb3de81082en01

heres the manufacturer:
http://www.kingston....ssd/default.asp

The manufacturer, kingston sells them for a bit less, but FutureShop has free ground shipping (I think its only for Canada, but I might be mistaken)
The costs are $180 for a 64GB, or $310 for a 128GB one. (Canadian Dollars)

whereas I can buy an 1TB hard disk for $100 from the same store
http://www.futuresho...5externalhar-en

It depends on how much you can spend, SSDs are expensive.

check your local tech retailer. I don't know where you live...

 

[Abanest]

Australia. And generally speaking when it comes to most kinds of technology we get more than our fair share of ripped-off.

Those SSD's are quite expensive. All I can do is shop around and see what I can dig up. Cheers, Com!

 

[tsh]

or you could buy one of these: http://www.amazon.com/USB-Female-Mini-Male-Adapter/dp/B0016RNX2I/ref=pd_bxgy_e_img_c

I guess that that will not have pin4 grounded, so will NOT work.

 

[DynaMight]

There's a fifth pin on the USB mini that needs to be taken to ground, as noted in one of the threads in the Help forum. When you splice the USB mini cable, you should see 5 wires. Which ever one is not red, black, green, or white should be spliced together with the black wires. This extra pin forced to ground tells the USB OTG port to switch from client to host mode.

Just made a hacked cable but the Mini USB cable only had 4 wires, no 5th. I built it anyway but I assume it'll be no good without grounding the 5th? I guess I just need to hack open another cable and hope theres a 5th wire?

 

[mali]

^ Chances are low you'll find a cable with five wires, dunno if they exist at all. Your best bet is to find a pre-grounded adaptor or disassemble the connector yourself. It takes quite long to cut off the rubber, cause you have to be careful not to cut a wire and it's tiny in there when you solder the pin. It works though.

edit: notaz' adaptor

For me it works without any manual tricks, but the device needs to be plugged twice (plug, unplg, plug) due to some driver breakage. Tested with self made adapter:

 

[Ollonk]

I bought a surprisingly well-built ädapter from Dealextreme. I have no Pandora to use it with, but it was dirt cheap, and should fit nicely in the case along with SD cards.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.26783

It's $1.46 so at the current exchange rate... that's 1.13 Eur or .95 GBP.

 

[tsh]

Y

I bought a surprisingly well-built ädapter from Dealextreme. I have no Pandora to use it with, but it was dirt cheap, and should fit nicely in the case along with SD cards.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.26783

It's $1.46 so at the current exchange rate... that's 1.13 Eur or .95 GBP.

So, how does this help? You bought it, it does not match the description of what will work, and you haven't tested it.

If pin4 is not grounded, that is 95p wasted.

 

[greendots]

I bought a surprisingly well-built ädapter from Dealextreme. I have no Pandora to use it with, but it was dirt cheap, and should fit nicely in the case along with SD cards.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.26783

It's $1.46 so at the current exchange rate... that's 1.13 Eur or .95 GBP.

I just wanted to say adapters like this don't fit the pandora... I don't know the proper name for for the shape of pamdora's OTG slot but its not mini-USB

 

[tsh]

I just wanted to say adapters like this don't fit the pandora... I don't know the proper name for for the shape of pamdora's OTG slot but its not mini-USB

Part right - it will fit, the OTG socket fits both USB Mini-A and USB Mini-B. The problem is the electrical wiring (and the physical shape, this isn't going to be nice plugged in the back - a wire is better)

 

[aesir911]

does the Pandora allow me to click and drag files from that HD to the SD cards like a normal computer would?

It surely would.
Now an important question for you: is that external HD USB powered or does it have an external power source? If it is powered by the USB itself, then it is very important to ensure that it does not exceed 500mA load. The USB spec says that devices shall not exceed this 500mA, but not all devices respect this. A desktop PC, being plugged into the wall, usually has no problem maintaining a higher load. The Pandora is very limited in what it can provide, so sticks pretty close to the standard. If your hard drive tries to draw more than 500mA off the USB, bad things will happen.

would this work with it? cause this is the external hard drive i own.

 

[tsh]

Would this work with it? cause this is the external hard drive i own.

Probably. Impossible to tell without testing. Just testing it in linux is pointless.
I see someone added today to the wiki the result of testing one which does not work on the Pandora (even with external power). Once you can test, please let us know - that will help anyone who wants to buy an external drive.

 

[urjaman]

I bought a surprisingly well-built ädapter from Dealextreme. I have no Pandora to use it with, but it was dirt cheap, and should fit nicely in the case along with SD cards.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.26783

It's $1.46 so at the current exchange rate... that's 1.13 Eur or .95 GBP.

This doesnt have pin4 grounded. End of story unless you want to take it apart, and its really PITA.

EDIT: And yeah it is mini USB.

 

[dnlgreenwood]

Here is to clear up the confusion:
the one on the right works for the pandora, yes?

And this would also work for the pandora, yes?

 

[Fishbong]

Does anyone know why OPT didn't use a USB mini A connector? I mean it's far more widespread, so it would be the obvious choice it seems.

 

[Farewell]

Does anyone know why OPT didn't use a USB mini A connector? I mean it's far more widespread, so it would be the obvious choice it seems.

You might want to look at this http://pandorawiki.org/USB_reference ...

It is "USB mini-AB", as far as I can tell, accepting both in some respect. I have a USB mini A OTG adapter and it fits into my phone which has a USB mini B connection...

The distinction might be to do with the OTG aspect of it having to deal with it working in both host and slave.

This is the adapter I bought, although I will only know if it works when I get my Pandora.

 

[dnlgreenwood]

If anyone is going to buy a portable hard drive for their pandora, I advise them to make sure they can take it back if it doesn't work. TheSource lets you return something if you don't like it as long as the packaging is not destroyed and you have the receipt.

oh, and wait until you have your pandora before you get it.


from the wiki:
http://pandorawiki.org/USB_compatibility_list#OTG_Adapters

 

[Ollonk]

Well, if it's money wasted, I'd rather learn that now than later.

I'd feel like even more of an idiot if I went out ranting that my Pandora's OTG port was broken... Hehe. I had never even seen a mini-A port before, or if I had, I didn't notice the difference.