Western Digital starts selling a 314GB PiDrive

[tllim]

The thing is, will this work with power from just one USB port from the Pi/Pine? The info is somewhat limited. I've read somewhere that this drive comes with a power adapter and cable that can feed both the HDD and the Pi. I don't see a point in doing this. If it is to use external power for a HDD, I'd rather be using a powered USB hub.

Anyone knows what amperage is that new HDD? If it's rated under 500mAh it should work connected directly to the Pine. There are mSATA SSD's like one made by Kingston which is rated at 3.3V - 0.35A and  work flawlessly with Pine/Pi or any other low power electronic device. If the new WD does not carry similar specifications, I don't see why someone could be bothered to get it.

Power to Harddrive thru Pine64 or RPi USB port is a tricky thing, especially thru the microUSB power connector. When backer received the 2GB board, they will observed one jumper on the middle of the board, this is a new add-on to allow USB ports getting power from the DC in directly or thru PMIC (default). The direct DC in option wiring similar to the WD PiDrive cable arrangement.

You mean the 2GB version features more power efficient USB ports compared to the standard one with 1GV RAM? 

And a bit of an off topic, but as I have you here dear TL Lim, I have a chance! Some users raised concerns that there are chances a number of boards come bended straight from production. Can you shed some light on this?

And another thing. There's a backer who has already received her board and has not been able to connect to the internet via the ethernet running Android OS. Is this a problem with the Android image in general? If yes, is this going to be fixed with an update? If Android won't support internet over ethernet this is really off-putting for many users including me. 

Thanks.

The 2GB board and 1GB board has same USB port. Just on the 2GB board, we add in a jumper that allow user able to select USB power source directly from DC in.

I have already send the QC request to production team on the board bended concern.

On the Ethernet issue, this is new to me, the Android build able to support Internet over Ethernet. Ask her to plug out and plug in the ethernet cable while the board running, if this work, it means the router doesn't assign an IP address to Pine A64 board.

Thank you very much for the response! Great to know that. I have a very efficient power supply (Anker with 5USB ports) and I will definitely be using that jumper.

That lady showed up over at the kickstarter campaign comments and stated the  problem with Android and ethernet.

Noted, I mostly focus on Pine64 forum and just occasion check out KS comments.