[Tfug] Failed drive == power problem?

[Zack Williams]

>> USB is limited to 5V at 500mA (2.5W), and many drives will use more
>> than that especially when they're spinning up.   That would most
>> likely be the cause of your problems.    This is why a lot of USB
>> external drives ship with an additional USB to power jack so the drive
>> can use two ports.
>
> But why would a failing drive cause this problem?  Because when I
> first stuck the drive in the external enclosure, I was able to power
> it up with no problems.

No idea - maybe it pulled more power after being on, or in some
non-standard state, or the 2nd time the bus was being overloaded?

- Zack