Hi guys,
I've just finally received my long waited PiDrive 314GB but it turned out there was't a special WD cable kit inside. As it takes too long to wait for package to arrive in my country I'm thinking about some workaround. Hence the question - is it possible to connect a PiDrive to my Raspberry Pi without the use of this WD cable kit?
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DougieLawson
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Re: Is it really necessary to use WD cable kit for PiDrive 314?
The cable provides two things.
1. SATA to USB2.0
2. Divided power, one leg to the drive, one to the RPi
It's a very good, well-designed system built by folks who understand both hard disks and Raspberries.
1. SATA to USB2.0
2. Divided power, one leg to the drive, one to the RPi
It's a very good, well-designed system built by folks who understand both hard disks and Raspberries.
Note: Any requirement to use a crystal ball or mind reading will result in me ignoring your question.
Criticising any questions is banned on this forum.
Any DMs sent on Twitter will be answered next month.
All fake doctors are on my foes list.
Criticising any questions is banned on this forum.
Any DMs sent on Twitter will be answered next month.
All fake doctors are on my foes list.
Re: Is it really necessary to use WD cable kit for PiDrive 314?
I connected my Pi 3 to a Pi Drive with a straightforward USB 3 cable. It boots from the SD card not the PiDrive and is powered by a 3A power supply (actually the one I got with my recent purchase of PiDrive cables).
It does mount the PiDrive successfully and I can write to it.
I guess it would work with a micro USB cable too, though the PiDrive has a USB 3 socket.
I don't think the PiDrive cable converts from Sata to USB, that's built in to the drive.
What I think is perhaps more interesting is that the PiDrive cable should let you use any USB 3 external hard disk enclosure. It has a USB 3 plug, though the Pi only has USB 2. Is the drive itself USB 3? I don't know.
It does mount the PiDrive successfully and I can write to it.
I guess it would work with a micro USB cable too, though the PiDrive has a USB 3 socket.
I don't think the PiDrive cable converts from Sata to USB, that's built in to the drive.
What I think is perhaps more interesting is that the PiDrive cable should let you use any USB 3 external hard disk enclosure. It has a USB 3 plug, though the Pi only has USB 2. Is the drive itself USB 3? I don't know.
Re: Is it really necessary to use WD cable kit for PiDrive 314?
The WD drives are native USB3, backwards compatible with USB2. There's *no* SATA conversion involved (save for hidden in the drive's electronics itself, maybe).
Just use whatever USB cable you have to hand - even a micro-USB will poke into one half of that widened connector on the PiDrive314 HDD. With a beefy enough power supply & thick/short enough cables all should be OK.
Just use whatever USB cable you have to hand - even a micro-USB will poke into one half of that widened connector on the PiDrive314 HDD. With a beefy enough power supply & thick/short enough cables all should be OK.
Re: Is it really necessary to use WD cable kit for PiDrive 314?
Correct. As
http://wdlabs.wd.com/products/wd-pidriv ... ition/#hdd says
"HDD version comes with:
Native USB 7mm HDD
microSD™ card (preloaded)
WD PiDrive Cable
2-year Limited Warranty"
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Re: Is it really necessary to use WD cable kit for PiDrive 314?
The official Raspberry Pi power supply is £8 (ish)
WD are offloading 3A power supplies with the PiDrive cable for £6.50. When you buy one they even give you a 20% discount code for future purchases, Postage is a bit heavy though.
https://www.wdc.com/en-gb/products/wdla ... it-3a.html
WD are offloading 3A power supplies with the PiDrive cable for £6.50. When you buy one they even give you a 20% discount code for future purchases, Postage is a bit heavy though.
https://www.wdc.com/en-gb/products/wdla ... it-3a.html