Sometimes we forget about the basics in life like flossing, ejecting our USB devices before removing them, or calling Mom on Mother’s Day (this one hurts most – trust us). The same can be said when choosing an external desktop drive. The power supply is an often-overlooked component when making your decision – but it’s one that OWC doesn’t take lightly.
At OWC, we’re always trying to bring more power to you. And one way we do that is by making sure the external storage solution you buy from us has a power adapter that can give you more than enough power to make your device run. This works twofold: not only will your drives be sure to have enough power for typical use, but there is also plenty of headroom to ensure the power adapter isn’t overtaxed during heavy usage times.
It’s kind of like a pulling a water skier; both an 85hp engine and a 150hp engine can pull a skier out of the water, but to do it, the 85hp engine has to work at it’s full capacity, while that 150hp engine isn’t anywhere near red-lining. As a result, the 150hp engine has a less chance of overheating. It’s the same thing with the adapters; while they both run fine for normal operation (while the skier is skiing) the energy required to spin up the drive (pull the skier out of the water) is much higher for the lower-powered adapter (85hp engine); it has to work at or very close to its maximum output, which can result in overheating. Our adapters (150hp engine) have a higher maximum output, so using the same amount of energy taxes the adapter less, resulting in lower heat levels in your adapter, which is a major contributor to failures, and ensures that nothing in your device “gives.”
Many drive makers not only use the bare-minimum power supply needed in adapters, but often don’t even list their specs on website. And since having just enough power and no “headroom” can risk the life of the power supply, this lack of information can lead to an uninformed decision-making process for customers. At OWC, our adapters provide a higher-than-industry-standard power supply, and we also make it easy to find our specs online along with our products. Look for yourself.
You might not take power supplies into consideration when buying and external desktop drive, but we do. It’s just one of the many ways OWC is different from the competition, and it shows our commitment to making sure our drives last.
