Drivers for exteral hard drive

[andrew502]

Hi guys,
Not sure if anyone has come accross this before but I've got an external usb hard drive (laptop drive in case).I'm not able to get it to work with my Acer n300 PDA though, I know it should work as in the review on PDA Gold (http://www.pdagold.com/articles/detail.asp?a=268) it worked. I've got the mass storage drivers from softick (http://www.softick.com/pocket-pc/cardexport2/) but tis still not picked up. Is it hard to get drivers for this type of thing for Windows Mobile? It need an USB to IDE driver in normal windows.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Hi Andrew, welcome to PPCT.

I've got the mass storage drivers from softick (http://www.softick.com/pocket-pc/cardexport2/) but tis still not picked up. Is it hard to get drivers for this type of thing for Windows Mobile? It need an USB to IDE driver in normal windows.

First - the Acer already has the required drivers. The Softick program does just the opposite of what you are attempting - it turns the Acer into a flash drive rather than allow it to detect other mass storage devices.

There are two immediate issues that I can think of:

1. Most standard 2.5" laptop drives need about 400-700mA in power to spin up and continue operating. Ordinarily, a USB port provides 500mA which is sufficient for most uses. However, the USB host port on the Acer, as with other USB host enabled PDAs, is limited to 100mA only. If you want to get it working, you'll need to supply the hard drive with external power, or get a self-powered enclosure.

2. PPCs will not read NTFS formated drives - check to see if your drive is formated as NTFS or FAT/FAT32.

[andrew502]

Hi,
Thanks for the tips. I have the drive formatted as FAT32 already, I guess NTFS may be an issue. I was a bit concerned about the requirement for power, so I've tried it with an external PSU (which came with the drive). What made me think it was drivers was that even a usb thumb drive wasn't detected until I installed the softick program.

Is it possible to get drivers for Windows Mobile at all? I have no idea why mine would be missing them when the review seems to imply that they would normally come with them.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Is it possible to get drivers for Windows Mobile at all? I have no idea why mine would be missing them when the review seems to imply that they would normally come with them.

That sounds really weird - Windows Mobile already has the necessary drivers, and I know Acer probably modified them as well. I suggest giving these (http://www.ratocsystems.com/english/support/driver/cfu1.html) a try. You'll want the WM5_PPC2003 mass storage driver from that archive.

Warning: if you install these drivers, make sure you make a backup first - uninstalling them removes all USB host-related registry entries.

[andrew502]

Thanks for the help on this, still no luck though. I can only guess that my hard drive requires a USB to IDE driver as well as the mass storage drive (Windows installs one first for the drive). Does anyone know of a cheap hard drive enclosure that's compatible with Windows Mobile?

[isajoo]

i know i am going to get whaled on for asking this...but why would u want to hook up a hard drive to a ppc... before the comments starts...let me asure u i am all in when it comes to cool stuff to add to a ppc... i have my ppc running off my plasma tv with a mouse/keyboard...basically the nine yards a few hundred more... but if u want to have access to that much content i.e. movies/mp3. just do what i do and what is much easier... stream the files over wifi home network... i watch many podcasts/movies and even listen to mp3's will there a no cords or harddrives connected to my ppc... the only way i see anyone getting use of a hd through usb is if they are travelling all the time. but chances are if you r going to go somewhere u need a hd...why not take a laptop. ok..whale me.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

You asked for it!

... but if u want to have access to that much content i.e. movies/mp3. just do what i do and what is much easier... stream the files over wifi home network...

But wifi takes a tremendous amount of juice, especially when you're loading the bandwidth by streaming stuff.


... the only way i see anyone getting use of a hd through usb is if they are travelling all the time....

Think 80GB to 120GB of mp3s/movies in the car - just hook up and go. No more flipping cards in and out, no more worrying about "darn, I've heard these songs too many times already".

[andrew502]

Pretty much hit the nail on the head there, I wanted something to replace my 40GB mp3 player that I could leave plugged in all the time. Videos would be pretty cool but I haven't really given them any thought yet. I bought this PDA specifically as it mentioned in the review that it worked with a 2.5" hard drive, never thought I'd have so much hassle getting it to work.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Andrew - have you had a go at connecting a USB flash drive? That way you could establish whether its the PDA or the enclosure.

FWIW, every enclosure I've tried worked (as long as it was sufficiently powered).

[isajoo]

media is a funny thing...once u have a litte...u always want more...

yes... i agree on the car setup...120gb of media would be great...but u and i both know that once u have this setup...u will end up loading up that harddrive with the latest hits and blockbuster films... so i still think it is a lot of hassle to setup...by the way... how is the hard drive powered...usb? car charger? or pda? i think i may get a 40gb usb drive for the car...but wondering if power will be an issue. also... streaming media off wifi is about the same as surfing web on ppc... i get around 2 1/2 hours...enough for a movie or a looong workout on the treadmill. plus i dont have to load up any harddrive...whatevers on my pc... i even got a few ppc games to work from the network. i also read the review of this acer ppc... seems the reviewer also had a hard time getting the hd to work...unit is also not the best vga media output device...he said its has slow graphics. and no infrared port... in the pics it show him hooking up the hd through the cradle...does the ppc have usb...or only cradle.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

yes... i agree on the car setup...120gb of media would be great...but u and i both know that once u have this setup...u will end up loading up that harddrive with the latest hits and blockbuster films... so i still think it is a lot of hassle to setup...

Let's see - 120GB is about 160 typical Divx movies, or about 33,400 5MB mp3s. The way I see it, load once and fire away.


by the way... how is the hard drive powered...usb? car charger? or pda? i think i may get a 40gb usb drive for the car...but wondering if power will be an issue.

You're quite right, power can be a problem in a car. A 3.5in desktop hardrive requires 12V naked (the adaptors for these cost a bomb - look it up on any CarPC site), or 120/220V in an enclosure. You can probably get away with 5V (USB standard) for 2.5in notebook hard drives - they have those in 120GB sizes now. I just use an inverter (12V->240V) - no power problems with anything at all, including charging/running laptops, PDA, or anything else for that matter.


also... streaming media off wifi is about the same as surfing web on ppc... i get around 2 1/2 hours...enough for a movie or a looong workout on the treadmill. plus i dont have to load up any harddrive...whatevers on my pc...

I detest anything that creates heat and/or kills battery life - and streaming does both. I only use wifi these days if I have no other choice.


i also read the review of this acer ppc... seems the reviewer also had a hard time getting the hd to work...unit is also not the best vga media output device...he said its has slow graphics. and no infrared port... in the pics it show him hooking up the hd through the cradle...does the ppc have usb...or only cradle.

Yeah, doesn't seem the best choice really - my Loox is fine with almost anything out there, including keyboards and mice, and I've got a nice short USB host cable to work with. I did a test once connecting 2 hardrives and a flash drive all at once through a powered hub - the Loox didn't even blink, handled the lot with no problems at all.

[andrew502]

I got a USB flash drive to work with those drivers, I guess the drive is just incompatible. I'm going to try another driver off ebay and give it a go.

I power it through the cigarette lighter, eventually both the drive and PDa should be powered through this (if it works). The drive lights up and sounds like it spins up OK (it sounds the same as when plugged into my PC). I couldn't really see myself putting that many movies on this, probably just one or two to watch then switching to new ones. MP3 and satnav are my main concerns which aren't quite so capacity hungry.

Thanks for the help guys.

[isajoo]

same with me.. i can only watch a movie once...then would have to load the newest ones... unless it is a hit like the jackel...or back to the future. its sounds cool. good luck.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

I power it through the cigarette lighter, eventually both the drive and PDa should be powered through this (if it works). The drive lights up and sounds like it spins up OK (it sounds the same as when plugged into my PC).

Are you using a 2.5" (notebook) drive? What's the rating on the cig lighter adapter? Most that I've seen won't be able to run a HDD properly - not enough amps. You need at least 1A to start an HDD correctly, and 2A if you're going to try and charge both PDA and HDD. 2A cig lighter adapters aren't terribly common.

[andrew502]

I thought as a usb port could only milliamps and the drive runs fine from that there shouldn't be a problem. The on I've ordered is a card reader with hard drive and has its own battery builtin, so at least I know that it only requires the mass storage driver and power shouldn't be an issue. Bit of a bargain at only £18 delivered too. I'll find out soon how it works though.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

I thought as a usb port could only milliamps and the drive runs fine from that there shouldn't be a problem.

500mA actually, though it can peak higher depending on the design of the port. Some ports can actually run at 1A or higher. The problem with a lot of car cig adapters is that they peak at 400mA (they're designed for phones), which is barely sufficient to keep the drive running - it's not enough to actually spin the drive up.

Just because it's a USB connection doesn't mean the power output is the same for all of them, I've actually got USB adapters rated at 2A and 1A.

[andrew502]

500mA actually,
Yeah, I had the num lock off and missed the numbers out there. I'm starting to wish I'd just bought a sat nav system and PMP system, would have been a million times less hassle. I stupidly believe it would just be a case of buying the right PDA with a USB hard drive. Its quite surprising how hard it is to get a decent car audio / video system without spendingsilly money. The technology seems to run about 3 years behind the PC world.

Thanks again for all your help, I'll report back once the drive arrives. Keeping my fingers an toes very much crossed, this is all looking like a very expensive mistake!

[risc999]

Has anyone tried one of the new smaller HD's ? Like this one for example.

http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?level=SK&id=521316&No=40&Nr=200000&N=200094&An=browse

Wonder what the power requirements are.

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Wonder what the power requirements are.

This looks like one of those 1.8" drives, like the ones used in the Sony UX, OQO and Thinkpad X40 (among others). IIRC, these have a min requirement of 400mA.