Powering an external 3.5" HDD

[Infernalx]

I have a 3.5" WD Purple HDD I want to have as an external, always-on storage for my surveillance system.

It will connect to my NVR system via eSATA, so I assume a sata-to-esata cable will work just fine for that.

The problem is how do I power it? I think a 3.5" HDD needs both 12v and 5v power via SATA. I was thinking of using a sata to molex adapter, and then powering the molex via mains power with something like this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32809227367.html

The problem is that these seem to be low quality, some reviewers have had theirs blow up, and others show the voltages vary a lot (5.8v when it should be 5v). So I don't want to take risks blowing a £100 HDD, even if the adaptors are so cheap.

 

Does anybody know of a better quality version of these, or a different solution? Hoping to spend <£25 in all.

[Guest]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inateck-Adapter-Converter-Support-Include/dp/B074M25FNC/

 

[dizmo]

Why wouldn't you just buy it an enclosure?

[keik]

40 minutes ago, Infernalx said:

I have a 3.5" WD Purple HDD I want to have as an external, always-on storage for my surveillance system.

It will connect to my NVR system via eSATA, so I assume a sata-to-esata cable will work just fine for that.

The problem is how do I power it? I think a 3.5" HDD needs both 12v and 5v power via SATA. I was thinking of using a sata to molex adapter, and then powering the molex via mains power with something like this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32809227367.html

The problem is that these seem to be low quality, some reviewers have had theirs blow up, and others show the voltages vary a lot (5.8v when it should be 5v). So I don't want to take risks blowing a £100 HDD, even if the adaptors are so cheap.

 

Does anybody know of a better quality version of these, or a different solution? Hoping to spend <£25 in all.

I got two of these and they work fine, and adding passive or active cooling ie literally putting cpu heatsink on the power supply does the trick imo.

[Infernalx]

11 hours ago, jonnyGURU said:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inateck-Adapter-Converter-Support-Include/dp/B074M25FNC/

 

I need an esata out, not USB.

 

 

10 hours ago, dizmo said:

Why wouldn't you just buy it an enclosure?

I was looking at a few 3.5" enclosures, but they tend to be >£50 and the cheapo generic ones have bad reviews https://www.amazon.co.uk/NEWLink-NL-HD29-ESATA-IDE-SATA-HDD-Enclosure-B/product-reviews/B000S8BZ12/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_show_all_btm?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Infernalx said:

I need an esata out, not USB.

I was suggesting the brick in that kit.  You don't have to use the USB cable.

 

[Infernalx]

2 hours ago, jonnyGURU said:

I was suggesting the brick in that kit.  You don't have to use the USB cable.

 

The brick with the barrel plug?

There are some other adaptors on aliexpress that use a barrel plug but it only provides the 12v and not the extra 5v the HDD needs.

 

The amazon one blocks the data sata port on the HDD.

[Guest]

29 minutes ago, Infernalx said:

The brick with the barrel plug?

No.  Sorry.  What's showing now is not what I originally linked to (freakin' Amazon).

 

It was similar to the one you linked earlier (a brick with +12V and +5V output going to a Molex), but from a less shady vendor (direct from Amazon).

 

It came with a SATA to USB cable, but you wouldn't have to use that.

 

What's showing up now wouldn't work for you.

 

[TomvanWijnen]

I recently bought this https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32630911049.html (the newer variant, usb 3.0, EU plug) which works really well for me, for both 2.5" and 3.5" drives. The plug and cable seem to be of good quality. I've bought lots of great stuff from Ugreen and this one hasn't let me down yet. It's currently just $17.72.  There also seems to be a 3.5" enclosure version for $27.99: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32834541568.html

[chocolatekarma]

IMO it's best to just get a hard drive dock.  Then you can use literally any 2.5" or 3.5" HDD or SSD.  And a dual drive dock is perfect for mirroring a drive. 

 

https://www.newegg.com/vantec-nst-d328s3-bk-dock/p/N82E16817986030

https://www.newegg.com/rosewill-rx234-dock/p/N82E16817182145