Question about SATA Drive Power Requirements

Aeonsyll927 · May 17, 2021

Hello

I have some technical questions with regards to the power requirements of SATA Drives (Hard Disk Drive/SSD Sata Drive, etc.). I am trying to understand the maths behind the power requirements of components.

1.) How many SATA drives can you connect to a SATA cable that has 4x SATA plugs on it?

Quick googling shows that SATA can handle up to 4.5A

However a 3.5" drive typically uses power from both the +5V rail (for its circuit board) and +12V rail (for its motor) from the PSU (source)

While a 2.5" Sata drive only uses power from the +5v for both its motor and circuit board

Let's say I have 4x of a 3.5" Hard disk drive that has this specs for its power:

5v DC: 0.6A

12v DC: 0.45A

So if I connect all 4 (four) of these 3.5" Hard disk drives to the SATA cable, it will still be able to handle them all?

Because: (0.6*4) + (0.45*4) < 4.5A

4.2A < 4.5A

1a.) With regards to the above

I am looking at a spreadsheet of Seagate hard disk drives and they have a start up Power of 2A each

https://www.seagate.com/www-content/datasheets/pdfs/3-5-barracudaDS1900-7-1706US-en_US.pdf

SO if I connect lets say a 2TB, 3TB and a 4TB Seagate Barracuda - each having a startup power of 2A each for a total of 6A Startup power, then I would exceed the 4.5A limit of the SATA connector. Will that present any issues?

I think this is a similar issue/concept where in if you have a device that has a very high inrush current when you turn it on and that inrush current exceeds your circuit breaker's amperage, it can trip the circuit breaker on your panel - causing your lights to flicker for a split second.

2.) Is the amperage of a typical 2.5" SATA SSD similar to that of a 2.5" Sata HDD for laptops? (Or in other words, are their power requirements similar?)

3.) (A little off topic) My power supply is the Seasonic Prime 1000W SSR1000PD.
So long as I don't exceed the 83A on the +12V rail and the 25A on the +5V rail, the 25A on the +3.3V rail and 3A on the +5 VSB rail then I would be safe?

Can anyone identify what voltage rails do each of these components use and how much amperage (typical) do they draw?
-Motherboard

-CPU

-GPU

-RAM

-CPU Heatsink

-Case Fans

-NVMe M.2 SSD