Powering SAS HDDs in home NAS/media server

KalciumKing · June 25

Hello,

I'm having trouble with the best option for powering my SAS HDDs in my soon to exist NAS and media server.

I picked up a HP ProDesk 400 G5 MiniTower, with an i5-8500, and 8 GB of RAM, with a 240 GB SSD on eBay. I also bought two second hand HGST SAS drives, a Dell H310 HBA, and an HBA to SAS cable set (SFF-8087 to 4x SFF-8482), with molex included.

Unfortunately the included PSU is a crappy propietary 180 W one, so I think I need additional power for my drives, especially if expand to more than 2 in the future.

Should I buy a second hand/cheap (~50 euro/USD) ATX PSU and use that just for the HDDs (and maybe some extra fans) or should I buy a specific power brick to molex to power my drives?

Thanks in advance for the advice

Electronics Wizardy · June 25

I'd just get splitters or adapters for the current PSU. 180w should be plenty for that system + 4 HDDs.

Needfuldoer · June 25

If you're worried about how much power you've got to work with, your easiest upgrade path would be the optional 310w power supply for that model. You should be able to find one for a reasonable price on the used market, and it will be a drop-in replacement. (I have no problem buying fairly recent OEM power supplies used.)

HP part number: L33619-002

KalciumKing · July 1

Which cable/s am I splitting? From the PSU to the motherboard for CPU or system power, both are 4 pin, probably proprietary.

Or coming out from the motherboard port for SATA power? No idea if that port can take 4xHDDs.

I get that the PSU has enough power for 4xHDDs, but it's the ports from the motherboard I'm concerned about, or using the wrong cables from the non-modular PSU and starting a fire.