Can I throw the card away?

I took this Toshiba HDD drive out of its enclosure and discovered a card attached (controller?).

Can I remove that and use a SATA > USB connector instead? I think there's something wrong with that card because it stops working in the middle of a Copy operation.

Thanks - rev

I would not throw the card away until I had determined if it is bad. To do that, remove the card and attach the drive to a different SATA to USB converter, and then see if it works.

>I would not throw the card away until I had determined if it is bad
I'm pretty sure of that because it keeps dropping the ball before the Copy operation has finished.

The only thing I have to replace it is a SATA > USB (pic). Would that work?

How do you know it's not the hard drive that is failing? Did you run diags on it? I wouldn't just assume it's the USB adapter.

I can't see any detail about that SATA to USB adapter, but does it have external power? You'd need external power for 3.5" drives.

>Did you run diags on it?
No, because I didn't know diags could differentiate between disk problems and controler problems.

>You'd need external power for 3.5" drives.
I've never needed external power for any of my external drives, they get it from the USB port.

3.5" desktop drives usually require an external power adapter. The photo in your first post looks like it has a power plug. 2.5" laptop drives can usually run on USB 3.0 Bus power alone.

Yes, it does have external power but the adapter should take care of that.

If the drive could be run on USB Bus power alone, they wouldn't have added the AC adapter.

The picture in post #3 looks like a SATA to USB adapter for 2.5" drives, unless it has a separate power adapter. You can try it if you want, but don't be surprised if it doesn't work.

I don't get it. Here are two very similar drives, why does one need external power and the other doesn't?

Both of them should require a powered SATA to USB adapter. The power draw of most 3.5" drives is more than standard USB 3.0 can provide. A standard USB 3.0 port can provide 900mA (0.9A).

If I'm reading your pic correctly:
Toshiba MD04ACA500
12v = 0.85A
5v = 0.70A
1.55A max total

WD40PURZ
12v = 0.45A
5v = 0.60A
1.05A max total

So the WD Purple drive has a much lower max amp rating, but it still could exceed what the USB port could provide sometimes.

If you look for "usb sata 3.5 adapter" on Amazon, you'll see that most of them have an AC adapter.

Thanks for the whole conversation about power consumption because it prompted me to look at the adapter I was using. It was the wrong one so insufficient power was the cause of all my misery all along.