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I need an external drive to connect to my MacMini. I've been using an 80gb 2.5 drive in an enclosure and it's fine, but now I need a 1.5TB drive.

Unfortunately all the 1.5TB drives I found need a separate power supply. I'd like it to be able to feed its power off the USB drive (just like my 80gb drive does).

Does something like that exists?

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Only 2.5 inch hard drives can be powered off the USB bus. The current largest is a 640gb (http://www.gearlog.com/2009/09/toshiba%5Fintros%5Findustrys%5Flarge.php#).

3.5 inch drives require more power and cannot be powered by the USB bus because of thier power requirements. These drives are available up to 2Tb.

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not soon, but now. I have a sweet WD 640GB drive in my laptop bag. :D – AnonJr Oct 22 '09 at 20:56
Cool, I had not seen one for sale yet, just announced. Good to know. – Troggy♦ Oct 22 '09 at 20:57
Reluctantly accepted. – AngryHacker Oct 22 '09 at 22:47
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I know, it would be awesome if 3.5 drives could be bus powered for external drives, but unfortunantly, that is not the case. :( – Troggy♦ Oct 22 '09 at 22:52
Just wait. It wasn't that long ago that I was bemoaning the 340GB limit on my 2.5" drive. Hell, I still remember getting a 2GB drive back in High School and thinking "I'll never fill this!" – AnonJr Oct 23 '09 at 12:59
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Western Digital is shipping 1TB SATA 2.5: drives WD Scorpio Blue 5400RPM. Great if your enclosure is SATA. 750GB as well. No 1.5TB as yet

http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=685

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-1. eSATA != USB. Mac Mini has no eSATA interface. – Graeme Donaldson Apr 23 '10 at 17:59
Should have been 1 TB SATA(corrected) and enclosure dictates the interface. There are a number of 2.5 enclosures with USB that would power the 1 TB drive noted. Assume AngryHacker can grab this 1TB 2.5 drive and add an enclosure to get what was requested. I beliebve MAcally makes at least one PHR-S250CC – Dave M Apr 23 '10 at 18:11
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