[aeropl]

I tried to search but am not coming up with much good info. I am looking to buy an external HD, or at least an enclosure, that supports Firewire 800. However, most of these seem to require external power which is a real annoyance of mine. Doesn't FW 800 provide enough power for these drives? What about the new generation of Western Digital models, which use less power?

Thanks for any input.

[CharlesS]

Here's a FW800 enclosure that supports bus power.

Cheaper refurb unit

[mduell]

For 2.5" drives, you can bus power them with Firewire or USB.
For 3.5" drives, you can't bus power them from anything.

[aeropl]

Thanks for the replies. I am looking for the storage capacity that 3.5" provides so it looks like I'm stuck with a power cord. I am disappointed because comparing the power that FW800 provides and the consumption of newer generation 3.5" HD models, bus power should be possible in theory.

[mduell]

While the Firewire standard allows for enough power to run several 3.5" hard drives, it doesn't doesn't guarantee any power at all. So different manufacturers support different power levels, sometimes even varying between the different models in their lineup (Mac Pros support 15W (possibly shared between ports, I forget), but the Mac laptops only provide <10W shared among all ports). External drive manufacturers don't want to get into that kind of "might work, might not, might depend on what else is plugged in" hassle.