I have read the article on connecting an external HDD to a PC. I used to have an external USB DVD drive for my W10 tablet PC but it broke down and is no longer available. I have had to return three drives as they would not work at all, probably because there is not enough power for a mechanical drive? To overcome this some drives have two sockets, both USB. I have not yet found a DVD drive in which one socket is for AC, as is quite common with USB hubs. So I am intending to try using my one USB 3 socket which gives greater power than USB 2 I believe. But I have not found a suitable cable, such as a USB 3 Y cable with the correct connectors, although I guess an AC power supply might be better?
Any comments / advice would be very welcome.