I have 3 external hard drives. I would like to connect them all to the Raspberry Pi and make them into a NAS server. How can I do this? Raspberry Pi's voltage is too low to power disks, but I have a usb 3.0 hub for 7 ports and the power supply (5V 2A) is also too weak (This is what I actually have). I don't know anything about electricity at all, but I found information that the power supply needs to be more amps. I don't know if this would allow me to power all the drives (in general, I want to manage their power supply with hdparm), but if so, I can't find a suitable power supply anywhere. Is there any sensible way to connect all the drives to the Raspberry Pi and give them the right amount of power, or is there any other way better than a usb hub?
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Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an adequate answer.– Community BotCommented Sep 15, 2022 at 19:36
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That power supply is way to under powered to handle your load/ You have not mentioned if you are using ssd or 2.5" or 3.5" disks (which makes a difference). If your disks are 3.5" with their own power supplies this will work, otherwise you need 3 times the current Im not convinced a 3 disk Pi is a good idea. You may be better with an old pc. I googled 5 volt 10 amp power supply and was innundated with results. Of-course, there is a risk the hub will not handle the amount of current... which would mean hacking the drive cables to directly feed the power into them.– davidgoCommented Sep 15, 2022 at 20:16
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Also, AFAIK the Pi wants 5 volts (and 3 amps, but maybe version dependent). If you have 3.5 inch disks you likely don't need to worry about voltage as they will be externally powered for 12 volt (or use a compuer psu with bith 5 and 12 volt outputs). If its 2.5" disks, its not the voltage you need to worry about, its the current.– davidgoCommented Sep 15, 2022 at 20:21
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Look for a power supply which is rated for 5 volts and at least 8 amps. Id look at 10 amps, but if you find sonething with more then 10 amps it will work - voltage is constant, the hdds and pi will only pull the amount of current (amps) it needs. The problem is that large amounts of current - and 8 amps is a lot here - can burn up the tracks. I would not want to pull 8 amps through a pi - and I would be concerned about doing it on a hub (but it could work)...– davidgoCommented Sep 15, 2022 at 20:30
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A USB cable has 4 wires. I would open each use cable and join the 5v and ground wires directly to the powet supply, as well as cinnecting it to the Pi.– davidgoCommented Sep 15, 2022 at 20:32
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