Best way to power all these sata drives...


unraidun

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I have a Corsair CX 750M and I plan on running three power lines to each of the three drive cages (Rosewill server chasis L4500). That way, each line has at most 4-5 drives. Problem is, I can BARELY stretch to the middle drive cage. So I see three options...

 

1.) Daisy chain two sata power cables (I don't see a 1x female -> 4x male extension anywhere on amazon though...)

2.) Use a molex power cable, and then get a molex->sata adapter (effectively giving me a 2x length sata cable). Is it safe to do molex->sata power though?

3.) Get a dedicated 'extra long' sata power cable like this one... https://www.amazon.com/COMeap-Modular-Supply-Adapter-Mining/dp/B07PXBS54L/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=sata+power+cable+20&qid=1578786660&sr=8-8

 

*but that one only has 3 connectors so I will still need some kind of splitter...

 

Non of those options seem great.... How are you guys powering drive cages that are far from your power supply?

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Ok how about this, since I only have 2x 6pin -> 4 sata power coords, maybe two IS enough to power my entire array? Could I just get a couple of these splitters... 

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0086OGN9E/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

 

and divide the 15 drives (5400rpm WD 10tbs) between the two? So 7 drives on each? Is it safe to daisy chain that many sata drives?

 

That would solve both my lack of a third cable problem and my cable length problem (since daisy chaining would give me just enough extra length).

 

Otherwise, I don't see where they sell additional 6pin->sata power cables for my modular ps....

Edited by unraidun
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Be extremely careful when using power splitters. some models are very prone to being garbage and ruining your drives after catching fire. There's more details in a thread somewhere in this forum that goes into what exact style you want and what you need to avoid like the plague.

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Direct consumer review from the 1-to-2 SATA Cable and the 4 SATA Cable variants of the product you linked:

 

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I bought this SATA Y splitter power cable to use two drives because of the setup I had at one point. I will say it is a tempting buy but I found that these cables are not properly terminated at the ends and will either melt, catch fire, or both in the worst case scenario. There are better terminated cables that can be had online. If in the market for a SATA Y splitter cable, check for ones that have solid terminations, like the ones on high end power supplies.

 

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A fire waiting to happen.


The SATA standard only requires a sata power connector to handle 4.5 amps. A hard drive can pull 2.5A when it spins up (whenever the system boots, comes out of suspend, or and idle period followed by and I/O request). If you plug 4 drive in, that means you can draw over 200% of rated power from your PSU's s plug. Additionally the wires going to the plug are only rated to a certain amperage, and say putting 8 drives on ones string may exceed that easily.

If you absolutely need an adapter, use one originating from 4-pin MOLEX connector and no more than 4 drives on that wire in total.

 

Edited by BRiT
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