20GB External Storage for my ChiPod NanoCLone

Ok, the title is a little misleading. You can't really hook up an external drive to the nano clone. But here's what I do...

I love my Nano clone. It's only 1GB but that holds about 15 or so albums which is usually plenty for me. But I also like to use my nanoclone for videos. But it will only hold about 3 or 4 movies. I have tons of music, movies and tv shows that I have converted into .amv format for my nano clone. I store them on a small laptop hard drive that is installed into a small usb hard drive enclosure. When I want to transfer files to my nano clone I just plug them both into any available Windows PC. With Windows 2000 or Windows XP, no drivers are needed! They both just show up as removable drives. I can then easily drag and drop to transfer files from the USB hard drive to the nano clone. Simple!
The Laptop hard drive is small and doesn't require a power supply since it gets it's power from the USB port. Same with the nano clone. This is the best way that I have found to increase the storage of my 1GB NanoClone. I hope somebody finds this usefull.

Paul

Hey Paul!!
I wonder how much such small laptop hard drive cost? Where do you get them? Sounds pretty interesting to me... Smile

I may buy one...

mpi-chan, it varies with the size of hard-disk you want. I got my external 2.5" hard-drive last year, Samsung 80GB with the external casing and accessories for about AU$150 total.

You might want to take note that there are 2 types of external harddrives you can use, 3.5" and 2.5". The 3.5" are those used in desktops and requires AC power supply (not very convenient!), whilst the 2.5" are used in laptops and do not require AC power supply, just USB will do.

You can get them from practically any computer shops.
Hope this helps.

ahh...

You see.. My mp4/3 player doesn't take more than 2GB, so I stored much of the .amv files on my laptop. It's just so inconvenient to load the laptop and bring it everywhere if I want to play other video files which is not on the mp4/3 player... Rolling Eyes

..But it looks like I got a solution for that... Cool

Thanks...

Here is a hard drive enclosure I found on ebay. This is the same guy that I bought mine from. They're nice and small and cheap, too!

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-5-INCH-USB-2-0-PORTABLE-HARD-DRIVE-ENCLOSURE-CASE_W0QQitemZ300036022625QQihZ020QQcategoryZ41911QQcmdZViewItem

As for the hard drive, just do a search on ebay and look for a 2.5inch laptop hard drive. I just lkook for the biggest capacitry, cheapest drives I can find.

Thanks for the information Paul and lattesurf!
The enclosure looks neat, but it's only shipped in the United states.. Wink

I think I will find one somehow or get my big brother to do it for me (if he has time Cool

)..hehe..

Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 8:17 pm Post subject:

You can get yourself a nice USB transfer host, for transferring between USB drives. I saw one at compusa a few days ago for around $15 shipped... anyway, then you can use any portable storage device to put your tunes on.

How does that work? How do you know what your dragging where wihout a screen?
Do you have a link to a specific item so I can go look at it?

Paul

Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 10:03 pm Post subject:

Found it.
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?pfp=cat3&product_code=335859&Pn=TravelSync_Portable_Transfer_Device

Hmm. But I don't know if it would be able to power an external hd. Sad

I've got one one the way, so I'll let you know how it works.

Paul

It states in the Compatibility/Capacity that external hdd needs external power source. You'll need a USb cable that has 3 usb plugs in total (1 to hdd, 1 to USB transfer host, and 1 to a power supply), most external casings should come with these 3-way cables.
Not sure how big is the power supply or whether is it portable. But seems to be getting more and more stuff (USB transfer host & power supply), not very convenient!

Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2006 12:55 pm Post subject:

Bugmenot-User wrote (View Post): › Found it.
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?pfp=cat3&product_code=335859&Pn=TravelSync_Portable_Transfer_Device

Warning as this is an 1.1 USB protocol .... Hope you like coffee , cause you will drink a lot waiting to transfer your datas Laughing

I wonder if you could make a battery power supply for the hard drive. What are the power requirements for an external 2.5" hard drive?
Seems to me the hard drive based MP3 players do pretty good running off of a battery.

paulm64 , there are external power supplies running off batteries, can be the normal disposable batteries or internal batteries which needs charging.
I'm not very sure about the power requirements of the external hdd, but it should be somewhere between 4.35V-5.25V and upto a maximum of 500mA. See This.