Re: The //gs's power supply ...

[caw@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Calum Wilkie)]

In article <28dla7$1p4@r-node.io.org> taob@io.org (Brian Tao) writes:
>In article <CE42HB.3o7@dcs.ed.ac.uk>, Calum Wilkie writes...
>> 
>> I don't currently have the specs for the drive, but i believe it's
>> maximum power useage is 13W.  The GSs supply is capabale of supplying
>> 38W, is there enough left for the drive??
>
>    If this is any indication, all internal hard drives for the GS come
>with a heavy-duty power supply that replaces the standard one.  I don't
>know if this is just because having an HD power supply is generally a
>good idea, or because the drive needs one.  Does the maximum power
>consumption rating include the burst when you first start it up?

The specs say that on startup, which I assume is going to give the
most trouble, I can expect 2-3 amps, which with my bad Physics works
out to 15 watts.  I was told that I can expect it to be closer to 2
amps than 3, so the 13 Watts that I stated should be the maximum.  

I received some e-mail on the subject,  ( thanks) , which suggested
that the 31/2 drive causes a problem as it is continually starting up
and shutting down during the course of a normal period.  Does anyone
know ( or have a rough 'guess') what the requirements of a typical
(unladen) gs are?

thanks

calum