5 hours ago, PeterDB said:

Disks don't use 3A inrush on the 12V rail

See datasheet above.

14 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

See datasheet above.

From 2021.. try a newer drive like the Exos X24 https://www.seagate.com/content/dam/seagate/assets/support/internal-hard-drive/enterprise-hard-drives/exos-x24/_shared/files/Seagate_EXOS24_CMR_ISE_SED(10-12-16-20-24TB).pdf which has a max startup of 2.36A on 12v and only AC peak DC, while the steady DC Peak DC is 2.035A

14 minutes ago, PeterDB said:

From 2021.. try a newer drive like the Exos X24

Still common and exactly the kind of thing people are going to buy as recerts now because of the crazy prices of newer models... anyway OP never mentioned the actual model of their drives so it's just an example.

A few years back that was a big movement to make hard Disks more 'green' and the power consumption was reduced for many of them. I would also expect that drives with fewer platters (hence, less capacity/size) would have lower running and peak current specs. Rotation speed is another parameter that affects current requirements. One should be careful about using specific HD model data points to 'design' a setup with little to no margin of safety.

There have been numerous posts on the forum about disabled disks that have had as their cause power delivery issues. When selecting a PS, if the total power requirement is close to the maximum for a given model, use the next larger one. Avoid daisy chaining power connectors except for short term situation while you source parts to do things right. The headaches and time involved with dealing with a disabled disk is simply not worth it. And that does not even address the very real possibility of data loss!

9 hours ago, Frank1940 said:

A few years back that was a big movement to make hard Disks more 'green' and the power consumption was reduced for many of them. I would also expect that drives with fewer platters (hence, less capacity/size) would have lower running and peak current specs. Rotation speed is another parameter that affects current requirements. One should be careful about using specific HD model data points to 'design' a setup with little to no margin of safety.

There have been numerous posts on the forum about disabled disks that have had as their cause power delivery issues. When selecting a PS, if the total power requirement is close to the maximum for a given model, use the next larger one. Avoid daisy chaining power connectors except for short term situation while you source parts to do things right. The headaches and time involved with dealing with a disabled disk is simply not worth it. And that does not even address the very real possibility of data loss!

I think this is actually the best advice!

I wish a PSU manufacturer would make a power supply with more than maximum 6 SATA power connectors, because otherwise your options are dual power supply, (noisy) enterprise power supply, AliExpress expansion boards or custom cables