WD Elements power supply

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  smashman42 on 21/11/2021 - 19:28

  +5

  So long as the plug physically fits, has the same polarity, the same voltage, and enough amps for the thing you're using it'll be fine.

  If the device needs 2A you need an A/C Adaptor with at least 2A, it can have 3A or 5A and the drive will only draw what it needs - if you put a 1.5A power pack on it, the device could at best just not work or work in an unstable fashion, or it could damage it. Volts and polarity being wrong will likely blow up the device.

  If you don't understand all of that then you could blow up your new drive if you use something with the wrong specs.

  AFAIK all my WD Elements drives so far (only 8TB and 12TB, and from Amazon US not UK) have had 12VDC 2A power packs which you can get Aussie versions of anywhere for around $15-30 depending on how fast you want it.

  The other option is a travel adaptor to use the US or UK or whatever plug the power bricks come with in an Australian outlet. The A/C Adaptor itself is multi voltage, like 110-240v or whatever, so you just need a cheap physical adaptor.

  The problem is most of the easy to get travel adaptors at Bunnings or Officeworks are for Australian devices overseas, not overseas devices in Australia.

  I bought a few of the use overseas devices in Australia type of physical only adaptor from Amazon when I ordered my first drives and they've worked fine.

  So TL;DR - depends on what's in your bag of adaptors and what the new drive needs

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  brisneylander on 21/11/2021 - 20:10

  Thanks mate. Very comprehensive reply. I'll go look at those power supplies and see if they'll do the job.

  Travel adaptor is another thing. Pretty sure I have a couple of those that I put somewhere "safe" from when I lived os about 20 years ago. Finding them will be the good trick.

  Cheers

  • 

    jong on 22/11/2021 - 00:01

    I was in the same situation as you, so I bought a couple of adapters like these from eBay.

    They lasted until I shucked the drives, and put them into my server.

    • 

      mskeggs on 22/11/2021 - 00:08

      One of these is almost certainly all you will need.

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  mskeggs on 22/11/2021 - 00:07

  I’d be very surprised if the power brick wasn’t 110v-250v so will work here with a 99c adapter. Since you have a bag of converters from past purchases, it would be very likely one of them will fit.
  If you mean the bag is full of power bricks, then smashman’s response above is right on the money. The new power brick will say output; something like 12v 500Ma or whatever. You need to find a brick with similar voltage an the same or higher current (A, or Ma). Higher current is fine, voltage much more or less might cause an issue. For a 12v brick, 9v to 15v is probably ok.
  Make sure the output is DC, not AC, and that the line/dotted line is the same way showing the center and outer pin +/- is the same, it is very likely to be. I haven’t bought anything this century that isn’t centre positive.

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  Montyjpm on 22/11/2021 - 05:24

  The power adapter is coming from a components factory in Vietnam. It was fast enough (one week or so) for me during the peak of the COVID-19 so I think it should be faster now. I believe most of the factories back in production over there.