2.5" Hard drives >40Gb

M

mungbean

n00b
Joined
Mar 19, 2003
Messages
56
Evening all. :)
Tried searching various places, browsed here for a while, but to no avail.

I'm building a fileserver based round an EPIA 5000. It has to be very low power as it will be reliant on solar power at times (don't ask) (ie 55W).

I need a HDD that is low power and large (pref ~120Gb). I'm thinking 2.5" laptop HDD is the way to go, but I'm not sure where (or if) I can buy one from.

If anyone knows of a 3.5" HDD with similar size and low power drain I'd be equally happy.

Performance isn't a huge issue, so a low RPM would be fine.

Shipping to UK a must, price not really a problem.

Cheers ppl.
 
The largest 2.5" drives I'm aware of are 80GB. Hitachi makes a few models: 80GN (older, 4200rpm), 4K80 (newer 4200rpm, slightly lower power), 5K80 (newer 5400rpm). I have a 20GB 5K80 and it's quite nice (quiet, no noticable difference in battery life vs my old 12GB 4200rpm drive).

Now, I don't know good retailers in the UK, but real quick, here is one I found on Google with several models available:
http://www.span.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=23_503_575

Here are the power specs on the 4K80:
Requirement: +5VDC(±5%)
Dissipation (typical)
Startup (max. peak): 4.5 W
Seek (average): 2.25 W
Read (average): 2.0 W
Write (average): 2.0 W
Performance idle (average): 0.65 W
Active idle (average): 0.90 W
Low power idle (average): 1.65 W
Standby (average): 0.15 W
Sleep: 0.1 W

By comparison, a 3.5" drive is probably going to consume 2-4X as much power (depending on # of platters and rotational speed, but the lower ariel density of 3.5" drives is going to mean more than one platter for a larger drive)
 
Tnx Zuht :)

Why solar power?

Mainly cos I live in SW England where there is a lot of sun, and I want to try and make a PC that is running 24/7 as CO2 neutral as possible. I kind of feel guilty about leaving it running all the time and not using it for most of the day. I guess I'm a hippy at heart.

(plus it means I get to play around with wires, batteries and solar panels - good training for when I convert the roof to solar panels :D )
 
had this pdf in my documents folder
(so I tracked down the original)
http://www.homepower.com/files/laptoppv.pdf
a bit dated

this might interest you
http://www.seagate.com/newsinfo/technology/smallformfactor/
http://www.seagate.com/cda/newsinfo/newsroom/releases/article/0,1121,1720^4,00.html
not sure of the status

also of potential interest
http://www.romtecusa.com/
I have the original TRIOS, and basically, the 2 drives that arent selected arent powered either, switching both power and data connectivity, however it doesnt support "hot" switching, so a shutdown, selection and restart is required
 
Thank you.
:)

That stuff from Seagate looks interesting - I'll do a bit of digging & let you all know what I come up with.
 
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