Can't connect External HDD to my Win8.1 Tablet !

[Gh0sT-NoVa]

Hey guys , my Dad just recently bought a new tablet for me as a Chinese New Year present Ainol* iNoVo8.
Tablet is great and all , but one problem. It uses a Micro USB B if not mistaken , the ones that we are using on our External Hard Drives ? Like my W.D Passport Ultra.

Ok the tablet did came with a OTG USB Converter from traditional USB to the Micro USB B. So I tried plugging in my USB Flash Drives , it all works fine.
But I tried plugging in my W.D Passport Ultra external hard drive , it won't work my tablet won't detect my hard drive. Not just that my drive started to make some funny noises. Thank God , nothing happened to it though...

So I was wondering what's the problem here? Is there a solution or Im doing something wrong ?
Basically the connection is something like W.D Passport Ultra > Micro USB B > USB 3.0 Male > USB 3.0 Female > Micro USB B > Ainol* iNoVo8 Tablet

Another question , will the Corsair Voyage GO USB Flash Drive work on my tablet ??

 

[hokiealumnus]

My first question would be one of power - is the drive powered via USB? If so, the tablet probably doesn't supply enough power output for the drive to function. Flash drives take a small fraction of the power a mechanical HDD does.

If it's not power, I'm just not sure. I've never even heard of someone trying to hook up a mechanical HDD to a tablet tbh.

I presume a Voyage GO would work with your tablet; AFAIK it's just a thumb drive without needing to use the OTG converter.

 

[Gh0sT-NoVa]

My first question would be one of power - is the drive powered via USB? If so, the tablet probably doesn't supply enough power output for the drive to function. Flash drives take a small fraction of the power a mechanical HDD does.

If it's not power, I'm just not sure. I've never even heard of someone trying to hook up a mechanical HDD to a tablet tbh.

I presume a Voyage GO would work with your tablet; AFAIK it's just a thumb drive without needing to use the OTG converter.

Hmmm my knowledge about External Hard Drives are very limited , they are too Mechanical HDD ??
I think it is powered using USB as well , since it's using the Micro USB B 3.0
There's a pic here , the 4th one on the right ( From left to right ) this is what my External HDD uses.

http://www.cnet.com/news/usb-type-c-one-cable-to-connect-them-all/

If it's power , is there any way to resolve this ? I never expected an external HDD will consume so much power @@ I always thought they are something like USB Flash Drives

EDIT : Yup , confirmed it uses power via USB connection, here's the W.D site, at the bottom as Quoted...

USB-Powered
"Powered directly from the USB port on your PC. No separate power supply is needed. "

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1000#Tab2

 

[hokiealumnus]

No, an external HDD uses the same power an internal mechanical HDD uses. It's just in a box to make it portable. It requires a good bit of power to spin up a mechanical platter, I'm quite sure it's more than your tablet can supply. If there isn't a separate power plug to put in the wall, it uses USB for power, and that's asking too much of the tablet.

USB flash drives have nothing mechanical. They just require minor power for running chips. It's that mechanical platter spinning that takes so much juice. If there is a place for a plug on your mechanical HDD and you really want to use it with your tablet, you can try plugging it into the wall. Even then, I've never seen someone try using an external HDD on a tablet, so I'm not sure it will work. In theory it should; I don't see why it wouldn't, it's just something I've not seen.

 

[RGone]

From WD community forum...

...I saw this as a power requirement for Usb port to be able supply for that external hard drive to function.

The WD Passport Ultra is a USB 3.0 device. Unless your tablet can supply 900mA through the USB port then it will not be able to power the external hard drive.

So I expect as does "hokiealumnus", that a power hungry external hard drive will not work unless it is a self-powered drive with an external transformer supplying the power to the HDD.

RGone...

 

[dyckah]

you could probably plug a powered USB hub into the tablet, and then plug the external drive into that!