External USB disk drive as storage

[Foundas]

Hello all,

is it possible to connect a 2.5 inch usb harddisk on the Pi? (the version with USB and Ethernet)

If not, what is the alternative?

thanks in advance

[abishur]

Of course you can! why wouldn\'t you be able to?

[Chris]

I think that generally you can add anything USB, you just need the linux drivers. But that being said what you want is classed as USB Storage which is generally universally usable from the word go.

[eicristian]

it is possible to connect a 2.5 inch usb hdd to the Raspberry Pi , alternative? using a usb flash drive as an additional storage device.

[abishur]

Isn\'t that the same question that the OP asked and had answered?

[Foundas]

thanks a lot for your answers. much appreciated

[WASD]

I\'m intending to do this. I know certain routers with USB support don\'t output enough power for an external harddrive. I hope this is not the case for an R-pi. Then the harddrive would need external power-supply.

[Svartalf]

[quote]Quote from WASD on October 13, 2011, 20:08
I\'m intending to do this. I know certain routers with USB support don\'t output enough power for an external harddrive. I hope this is not the case for an R-pi. Then the harddrive would need external power-supply.[/quote]

Depends on whether there\'s 1A available from the mains supply accounted for to be split between the two ports properly on a Model B board, or the single port on a Model A. You need 500mA being sourced to the port for USB 2.0 HD\'s to work. You might need to put a powered hub in the mix there to make it work.

[Lob0426]

If you use one of the \"laptop\" sized (2.5\") external drives they will work just fine. They are 5v. They can be a bit slow powered only off of one USB as there is little or no surge allowed. You can solve this with a USB \"Y\" cable which powers it with two USB ports. The powered hub is another option also. A third option would be too power it externally by cutting into the cable. You leave the green and yellow wires connected to the USB connecter and run the red and black wires to an external 5v power source. The green and yellow are the Data wires. The dis advantage of this direct method is that the RasPi will not spin down the drive when it is not in use. Some of the USB adapters may have their own power management but most likely it will spin until it is turned off.

[euxneks]

Or, just get a large SD card.

[abishur]

I believe there\'s been some question about the compatibility with larger SD cards. Last I heard they were going to check it

[obarthelemy]

the possible issue is not so much with larger, but with *faster* SD cards. Class 4 is supposed to be safe, anything above...

[jamesh]

I\'m not sure (don\'t think anyone is) - I\'d heard that at least one 32MB card had issues, but that another worked - not sure about the class ratings though.

[Lob0426]

@jamesh a 32 MB card has one big issue, not big enough! Ok Ok I know you meant 32Gb but it still is funny!

[WASD]

I would like to use a high-speed small SD-card, like 4 or 8GB. And a portable USB-harddrive for storage.

Will SDHC cards work fine? I would like to buy a class 6 or 10 SDHC card if the R-pi supports such speeds.

[jamesh]

[quote]Quote from Lob0426 on October 15, 2011, 00:52
@jamesh a 32 MB card has one big issue, not big enough! Ok Ok I know you meant 32Gb but it still is funny![/quote]

Indeed!

On the whole though, I\'d use a USB HD, as it\'s bigger and faster for swap.

[xen]

please note before anyone gets any ideas..... windows doesn\'t like to install and boot FROM \'removable storage\', so its linux all the way, unless you VNC to a windows pc that is elsewhere.

[NoSuchNick]

[quote]Quote from xen on October 15, 2011, 23:33
please note before anyone gets any ideas..... windows doesn\'t like to install and boot FROM \'removable storage\', so its linux all the way, unless you VNC to a windows pc that is elsewhere.[/quote]
If you were still talking about the raspberry, the point is moot, since there is no reasonable way to run any windows from 1.0 to seven natively on it anyways.

[Lob0426]

I think the main disadvantage of the USB HDD is their size. Even the 1.8\" drives are large compared to the RasPi. The 1.8\" are fairly expensive and have lower performance than the 2.5\" drives. Overall from jamesh\'s test it looks like the USB HDD will be the fastest option for a swap drive if size is not a large problem for your use. The micro drives are smaller but at only 8Gb in size they are designed to work in a compactflash type II adapter. They are ATA33 and 3600RPM. Prices are not bad but you will have to use an USB adapter with them. These might solve issues with swap files but are not really large enough for all the possible uses for a RasPi. They may work well in combination with a larger SD card using the microdrive as virtual memory only.

Since the issue seems to be with the higher class rating cards it does kind of put a crimp into using them for the swap file. The higher the class rating the faster the write speed. The class rating does not really effect the read speed.

Its all a shooting match at this point. It will be interesting to see what strategies play out on the RasPi!

[obarthelemy]

I still think the most important point is to .. not have to swap, so sharpen your \"lightweight distro\" mad skilz. I have none, and am currently playing at breaking a perfectly workable Ubuntu by peeling stuff off... Apt has a very dumb uninstall function, it uninstalls related stuff semi-randomly ^^

[WizardOfOZ]

Anyone looking for a lightweight Linux distro might want to have a look at Tiny Core Linux. Only x86 though.

Have been tinkering with it today on my recently resurrected P-II machine, and it does what it says on the tin. The default install takes just 40 MB of RAM when it is up and running in Xvesa. Very clever concept with a fun (ab)use of the kernel loopback interface to get around library dependency h*ll. As usual there are a few kinks in the base install, which shouldn\'t be a problem for experienced experimenters.

[Skygod]

[quote]Quote from Lob0426 on October 13, 2011, 22:38
If you use one of the \"laptop\" sized (2.5\") external drives they will work just fine. They are 5v. They can be a bit slow powered only off of one USB as there is little or no surge allowed. You can solve this with a USB \"Y\" cable which powers it with two USB ports. The powered hub is another option also. A third option would be too power it externally by cutting into the cable. You leave the green and yellow wires connected to the USB connecter and run the red and black wires to an external 5v power source. The green and yellow are the Data wires. The dis advantage of this direct method is that the RasPi will not spin down the drive when it is not in use. Some of the USB adapters may have their own power management but most likely it will spin until it is turned off.[/quote]

White surely?

[rwaltman]

[quote]Lob0426
...the \"laptop\" sized (2.5\") external drives they will work just fine. They are 5v. ...can solve this with a USB \"Y\" cable which powers it with two USB ports. The powered hub is another option also. A third option would be too power it externally by cutting into the cable. ...[/quote]

Many external 2.5\" USB enclosures have a separate power connector, in addition to drawing power from the USB port(s).
With one of those no cable cutting is necessary.

--
Roberto Waltman

[Vindicator]

I stole the drive out of my Western Digital drive my passport, and kept the controller and cable for various uses for SATA 2.5 drives.[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/ ... cture8.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/ ... cture7.jpg[/IMG]
Yes I know the drive is a PATA, the drive is there for a size comparison.
I have used this controller/cable combo on 320Gb and down to 120Gb on multiple brands Samsung, Seagate, Western Digital, and Hitachi.
Original drive size was 250Gb

[Lob0426]

The problem with a \"Y\" cable is it uses two USB ports. By powering the device directly you are not subject to the 500ma limit of USB2.0 per port. I have used this setup before and it works well. The Pocket sized USB HDD normally do not have an external power adapter. They are powered by the USB port alone. If you are using a desktop sized external drive they always have an external power supply. Usually 12v. I have a USB harness with a switch that allows me to turn off the HDD when it is not needed. You also could gain back the ability to use power management and eject by using a relay in the circuit.

And yes I stand corrected it is a white not a yellow wire. It was a yellow wire on the pl2303 cable I was recently using. Standard USB wire is white for Data- .