I have purchased a SATA to USB 3.0 with two USB cables and it works great with 2.5'' hard drives. But apparently 3.5'' drives require not only 5 volts but also 12 volts. Nowadays there are a lot of quick chargers which provide 12 volts via USB. Will the converter work with 3.5'' drives if I insert one of the USB cables in a quick charger and another one in a computer? If no, then what are other ways of getting 3.5'' drives to work with that cable?
1
-
3You need a power supply specific to 3.5" drives, you are best to buy a hard drive to usb adapter which comes with one, they are cheap these days....sabrent.com/product/USB-DSC8/…– MoabCommented Oct 5, 2019 at 15:59
Add a comment
|
2 Answers
You can't simply plug a USB cable into 12V instead of 5V - chances are, you'll just fry something: Best case only the USB/SATA adapter, worst case the mainboard of the Computer.
SATA Adapters with only USB power supply are by design only usable for devices, that can be powered by USB - these are all SSDs I know of and the majority of 2.5" drives. The 3.5" drives not only need another voltage (which could be created via a step-up converter in the adapter), but due to the much bigger mass of the platters also a much larger amount of power to spin them up. USB is not able to provide that amount of power.
So, long story cut short: You can not use this adapter with 3.5" drives.
answered Oct 5, 2019 at 16:01
No. For multiple reasons.
The first is that that 12 volt power needs to be negotiated between the device and power supply, and to hard drive lacks the ability to do that negotiation.
In order to get the drive to work you need an appropriate adaptor which just outputs 12 volt at sufficient current and wiring it in without blowing up the USB -> SATA converter and pc usb port (been there, done that) You are probably better off getting a USB enclosure/converter which includes a 12 volt supply.
