USB 2.0 PC-Card with an ext. hard drive

[malachont]

hi all,

I have an A31p TP. I want to use my external 40gb 2.5" HD with a USB 2.0 port, so I'm considering buying a USB 2.0 expander Cardbus card like this one: conceptronic CSP480C2
http://www.conceptronic.net/Site/Deskto ... h=CSP480C2

however better safe than angry, so I checked google groups and found lots of complaints on this card failing to recognize (or the OS) external unpowered hard drives like mine. curiously, they are all spanish and all relate to the same spanish notebook, a brand name called BEEP.
so perhaps its a system specific issue.

one of the other cards (has no brand name, model PC033
) says max power is 500mA from each port. I have no idea how much my HD draws.

Has anyone experienced this type of configuration?

p.s.
my ext. HD has a power cable but it goes into the same USB port the data cable plugs into. there is no AC adapter of course (its not a 3.5" drive).

thanks

[Nolonemo]

This is a little OT, but I would make sure that whatever cardbus USB card you buy includes a cable to supplement the power the card draws from the slot. Some come with a cable that plugs into a PS/2 port, other with a cable that plugs into the USB slot.

[storage_man]

malachont

I have a R31 which only has 1.1 usb. A while back I purchased a USB 2.0 Cardbus adapter. It did not come with a External power supply. Well my trackball worked, but not much more. If you want to run a External Harddrive which requires power from the usb ports, you will definately need a power supply for the cardbus adaptor.

Hope this helps - Storage_man

[daeojkim]

Belkin makes a PCMCIA card with a power supply.
I am using that with my A31p.
One thing that I don't like about this card is that it sticks out.

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductP ... _Id=123940

Here is the site. I am sure you could get a better price somewhere else.

[DIGITALgimpus]

I use(d) an iogear USB2 card with my A31 with no problems. a GPU202 in case you want to check it out.

[GpsPasSion]

Same here, got an X23 as a backup for my X31 and I'm finding out the hard way that the external PC card with two USB2 connectors is not liking my external 2.5" HD as the mouse freezes as soon as I plug it in. USB card reader works fine though. It does have power in, but that doesn't seem to help.

Another issue is that if I unplug it, that pretty much kills the PCMCIA slot and I need to reboot if I want to plug in my WiFi card.