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1x molex --> 4x SATA provide enough power for HD's?

D

DisgruntledVirus

Lifer
I'm looking at Performance PCS "clean cable" series for power cables which take 1x molex and convert it into either 2, 3, or 4 SATA (or molex) connectors. Here is a link.

My question is regarding if they supply enough power. So, can I take a 1x to 4x SATA cable and power 4 HD's? What about taking 2 of them and powering 8 drives off the same cable (1 cable from the PSU with 2 molex connectors on it)? Should I stick to 2x or 3x cables instead?
 
How much you can put on a wire is about the same whether it is home wiring or pc wiring. You need to look at 2 things, power and length.
For power a typical hard drive uses .75A @ 5V, .5A @ 12v.
The rules for DC voltage allow for a wire length of 2ft using 18AWG wire for 4 drives at those ratings. That would be if all the power is going through just two wires. In a pc that is split though and that brings it to 8 drives on 18AWG wiring.

So with a wire gauge of 18 you can run 8 drives off one set of wires for up to 2ft . The site doesn't list the gauge of the wires for sale so you need to find that out. Wire gauge goes backwards, so 16 is bigger wire than 18. If it is 18 or lower then it is fine, above 18 and it would cause the voltage to drop.
 
Last edited:
Modelworks said:
How much you can put on a wire is about the same whether it is home wiring or pc wiring. You need to look at 2 things, power and length.
For power a typical hard drive uses .75A @ 5V, .5A @ 12v.
The rules for DC voltage allow for a wire length of 2ft using 18AWG wire for 4 drives at those ratings. That would be if all the power is going through just two wires. In a pc that is split though and that brings it to 8 drives on 18AWG wiring.

So with a wire gauge of 18 you can run 8 drives off one set of wires for up to 2ft . The site doesn't list the gauge of the wires for sale so you need to find that out. Wire gauge goes backwards, so 16 is bigger wire than 18. If it is 18 or lower then it is fine, above 18 and it would cause the voltage to drop.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for the reply. Very helpful.

That cable itself is 17.25 inch long (12 to first connector+1.75 second+1.75 third+1.75 fourth). Add in the PSU cable, I'll be using a Corsair HX620, which depending on which cable is another 21 or 33 depending on which cable I use. Assuming worst case, that means 51 inches (rounded up). I.e. over 4 ft in length.

The case I'm looking at (Lian Li V1020) supports 7 HD's. Also, I can use a different power cable from the PSU to support the other drives right? So it would be two different set of cables from the PSU powering at most 4 drives. I should be fine if I do it that way right? I just can't put all 8 on a single cable.
 
I've used that same cable to power four 10K RPM SAS drives in a 5.25" to 4x2.5" enclosure - it'll should work fine.

Daimon
 
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