On Thursday 15 July 2004 12:46, Ted Harding wrote:
One thing I'm (perhaps too theoretically) concerned about: To write a CD, the unit will need power which would be drawn from the laptop (unless the unit has an external power supply). Any known issues about this aspect of the matter? Might the laptop not be able to cope with the power demand?
Assuming that both the drive and the laptop perform to USB spec this won't be an issue (apart from your Laptop's battery life)
USB spec says that any one device can consume up to 500mA at 5V and that any host should be able to provide 5V @ 500mA to a single directly connected device.
A conventional Slimline drive may consume up to 5 watts while spinning up, naturally this works out to 1 Amp....However the drives they fit into the USB caddies have modified firmware that spins up the disk more gently, and therefore uses less power. The power consumption of the laser (even when writing) is pretty insignificant compared to the power required to accelerate the disk.