portable 160Gb/6+ hrs continuous access....no plug in! - maemo.org

bunanson | # 1 | 2008-08-11, 02:01 | Report

I am posting something even I myself wont belief! Tekkeon MP1550 w 4X 2700 mAH NiMH batteries can drive my Harddrive LONGER than driving the N810.........6 plus hours with 33% juice left behind under CONTINUOUS access! I believe this is the first report that a tablet is hooked up with a harddrive WITHOUT plug-in! Succeed!

Similar system as posted here, http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...light=palmsize. Well, that one was plugged in. So, the next hurdle is to get rid of the plug. I tried several battery extenders as well as plugged in USB outlet of various laptops, big and small, all failed except the Tekkeon MP1550. YES! I can plug my 160 G palmsize HD into N810 and the y-tail plugged into the Tekkeon with 4X freshly charged 2700 mAH batteries and it worked! And it worked for 6 plus hours with continuous access without plug in!

Plug HD into your tablet using the straight tail, you will need a female to female adapter, http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...light=palmsize, connect the y-tail to your Tekkeon and turn on the Tekkeon. Now, your HD should have a steady light suggested there is enough juice. Turn your tablet into host mode, USB control or whatever you use will be fine, then momentrary plug and unplug the USB connection to the HD to 'wake' up the USB port..........that is it! You should see:

"USB device not supported"
then USB icon showed up on the task bar
then file manager came up with your HD shown.

The whole thing does not require ANY plug in. WOW, I am totally thrilled.

I copied 10 Gb music, yes, not 10 Mb, into the HD and ran it with media player continuously. And I can see the blinking light suggested the HD is being CONTINOUSLY accessed.........it ran all the ways down to 1 sq on the Tekkeon (power meter has 3 squares), about 33% juice left for 6 plus hrs. I stopped it before the power ran out. I worried what will happen to the HD when juice ran out.

I compared to this post, http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...ad.php?t=20117, under extreme conditions, the Tekkeon can drive the HD longer than the tablet! I remember from physics 101, any moving part is going to use 'a lot' of energy. Well, the palmsize HD fares pretty good.

So, if one carries a few sets of 2700 mAH batteries, travelling with the tablet without plug in for 24 hrs is NOT going to be a big problem.

How does this fare with the 32 G SDHC, http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...d.php?t=21315?

Dollarwise, this setup is under $99! Spacewise, it is one continuous space, not 32G X 5. Convenientwise, it is NOT as good as the SDHC card though.

A picture tells a 1000 words, here we go,

One question I have: Why those big laptop batteries USB outlet CANNOT drive the palmsize HD but the Tekkeon can? It is intriguing/puzzling!

Hardware: palmsize harddrive and the rest of the stuff are listed here, http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...light=palmsize.

Tekkeon MP1550, http://www.amazon.com/Tekkeon-MP1550...8422427&sr=8-1.

enjoy,

bun

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Last edited by bunanson; 2008-08-11 at 03:08.

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bunanson | # 2 | 2008-08-11, 03:34 | Report

Yes. It also worked with 4X alkaline disposable batteries. I cannot believe a HD can be driven by disposable batteries. Wow, there must be a lot of technology added to those palmsize/small footprint HD. Nice work, Tekkeon!

Edit: 4X alkaline batteries, not fresh, age unknown, lasted 1.5 hr compared to 4X 2700 mAH batteries freshly charged lasted 6+ hours.

bun

Last edited by bunanson; 2008-08-11 at 05:02.

nikolajhendel | # 3 | 2008-08-11, 07:27 | Report

I have successfully used a external harddrive without additional (external power). I bought a cyber mate "photo mate", which is a 2.5 enclosure + card reader + battery. (http://lc-power.de/)

It works pretty well - even the card reader works with the n800. I haven't done any stress tests - only bad thing is that the sd reader is not sdhc.

Last edited by nikolajhendel; 2008-08-11 at 07:31.

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bunanson | # 4 | 2008-08-11, 07:51 | Report

Originally Posted by nikolajhendel View Post

I have successfully used a external harddrive without additional (external power). I bought a cyber mate "photo mate", which is a 2.5 enclosure + card reader + battery. (http://lc-power.de/)

It works pretty well - even the card reader works with the n800. I haven't done any stress tests - only bad thing is that the sd reader is not sdhc.

I am very interested in your system. I would like to have more info. What hard drive you have installed and what spec is your battery? and how long does it run? pics? I went to your link, it gives a power supply and there is no search function

bun

bunanson | # 5 | 2008-08-11, 07:59 | Report

I found it. It is here, http://lc-power.de/images/upload/pdf/power_116.pdf.

Questions:

what is the capacity of the battery? and how do you charge it, via USB?
What kind of HD will it support and what is the harddrive interface/connector? and how big is the partition and how fast?

Pics?

Thanks for the info.

Edit: More info here, http://www.vesalia.de/, go product/search 25BD, $45.23 + S/H. Sounds like exactly what I am looking for. Would like to hear your experience with this item.

bun

Last edited by bunanson; 2008-08-11 at 08:18.

nikolajhendel | # 6 | 2008-08-11, 09:27 | Report

hi
it charges both via supplied power plug + usb.
In the documentation it says that it automatically charges when plugged in to an usb - but it didn't complain when I plugged it into the n800 (via otg cable).

The version I have takes pata hd's. I have added an 160gb disk which I formattet as fat32.

There are "newer" versions out there that use sata + sdhc reader - loads on ebay - called digimate III

I will get back to you on how long it runs.

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qole | # 7 | 2008-08-12, 20:59 | Report

I have a MP1550 clone, the NOMA RX4 battery pack (which looks like your one, just white). It kept my N800 charged in the backcountry for three days, and it is currently powering my 160GB HD. Very nice little package. It also powers my mobile pentesting kit.

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nikolajhendel | # 8 | 2008-08-15, 20:44 | Report

finally got around to testing the thing.

I did a copy from my external sdhc card to the fully charged hd.
Everything wen't fine - but it only lasted for about an hour (transferring 3.37 GB in500 files).

After that I recharged and tried to play media directly off the hd - but this seemed to be too much for the N800. Seems that the usb transfer takes close to 100% cpu - so nothing left for playing media.

So all in all - you only get 1 hour out of the external hd solution I have.

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qole | # 9 | 2008-08-15, 20:48 | Report

I have listened to hours of MP3s off of my HD, which only scratched the surface of what I have available now, since I now have my entire 17GB MP3 collection on the HD. But yes, when the batteries get low, things get ugly.

I have found that I need 2500mAh+ batteries, fully charged. 2300mAh batteries didn't seem to have the necessary juice.

Last edited by qole; 2008-08-15 at 20:50.

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nikolajhendel | # 10 | 2008-08-15, 20:59 | Report

yeah - I have the MP1550 too, but just wanted to see how an "all in one" solution worked out.

to be honest, I actually think a 2.5 external HD is "old news" anyway.
With 16 gb sdhc card + lurking for a 64 gb corsair flash voyager usb pen (which hopefully will be released soon) - space shouldn't be a problem

By the way, I use sanyo eneloop batteries. Only 2100mAh - but they don't lose power the same way normal nihm's do - so a week after a recharge they probably have more power left.

Last edited by nikolajhendel; 2008-08-15 at 21:01.

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